|
Game 1: Canadiens vs Hurricanes |
|
|
|
|
|
With the offer sheet Marc Bergevin extended to Sebastian Aho this summer, there's no love lost between the two teams and it showed tonight on the ice. While this was the very first game of the season, neither side looked rusty and it was clear that they both came out to play tonight. The Canes were the first to score late in the first and dominated that period face-off wise. Price looked good out there but while he stopped the original deflected shot, he was powerless to stop the rebound and the Habs trailed after 20 minutes.
To make matters worst, Necas doubled their lead early in the second period but the Canadiens were just about to wake up. Tomas Tatar scored the Habs' first goal of the season on the power play and unleashed an avalanche of Tomas Tataaaaaaaaaar GIFs on Twitter in the process. The Habs had 3 power plays tonight and managed to convert once for a 33% success rate which is better than last year, let's see the good side of things. Tatar's goal was nothing compared to the sweet game tying goal Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored just over a minute later. From then on, the Habs looked to be flying on the ice and Jordan Weal managed to make it 3-2 Habs before the end of the period on a very nice passing play that wouldn't have come to life had Nate Thompson not been strong enough to brush off a hit and maintain his balance before relaying the puck to Byron.
The 3rd period belonged to the Canes though and the shots numbers are clear about that, Price faced 19 shots while the Canadiens only recorded 9 and so it wasn't exactly surprising to see Haula tie things up. When the buzzer rang at the end of the 3rd, it was 3-3 and we were in for some extra time hockey. There were plenty of tight moments and chances to end the battle but neither team could seal the deal and the shootout was needed. Surprisingly, Douggie Hamilton came out as the Canes' first shooter and he squeezed the puck between Price's pads to settle the debate. No one else scored, Byron, Drouin and Suzuki were the Habs shooters but Mrazek stood tall.
In the end, the Canadiens leave Raleigh with one point and while they've lost there were plenty of positives in tonight's game:
Jesperi Kotkaniemi: He had a rough camp and plenty of so-called experts were ready to send him to Laval, but tonight, he was part of the best line out there. His goal was rather important and he showed poised and patience scoring it waiting for just the right time to unleash his shot.
Jonathan Drouin: He was nowhere to be found at the end of last season and his training camp performance left a lot to be desired but tonight, Drouin showed up big time. The Canadiens' second goal just doesn't happen without him. He made a play, which failed and instead of skating away shaking his head he came back to have a second go at it. That, ladies and gents, was a second effort...from Jonathan Drouin! Something we've all wanted to see from him for so long. The assist he got was his 100th points wearing the Bleu, Blanc, Rouge in 159 games, that's a 0.63 point per game. In Tampa, he averaged 0.58 point per game with 95 in 164 games. When you think about it, he's not doing that bad is he? Especially considering how well surrounded he was in Tampa.
Cale Fleury: Wow. One shot, four hits, one block and 14:52 minutes of ice time but what we should take away from this game is just how comfortable he looked out there. He most certainly did not look like a 20 year old kid. At one stage, the Habs quintet had been on the ice for much too long and the youngster just took the puck, skated it up the middle and safely cleared it, allowing the Habs to get a much needed change...It doesn't sound like much but his calm out there was quite something.
Carey Price: Yes he did give 3 goals in 60 minutes but on 43 shots...that's a .930 save percentage and the goals he did give sure weren't bad ones to give. He was both relaxed and focused out there and both his movement and positioning were spot on out there.
As always, nothing's perfect and some players didn't exactly have a great game...
Max Domi: In 17:32 of ice time, he committed 5 give aways and had a 42% face-off winning percentage. It's safe to say that this really wasn't his best game. That being said, it's hard to hold it against him considering that his bad games and few and far between.
Penalties: The Habs got a couple of bad ones, a face-off violation one and a too many men bench minor...we'll put that down to timing issues which should solve themselves out soon enough.
The Canadiens will next take the ice Saturday night in Toronto to take on the Leafs, their newly minted captain John Tavares and Auston Matthews' pornstache. The Leafs won their opener against the Sens last night and chances are, this is not going to be an easy game but this is what great Saturday nights are made of!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»