Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Game 2: Canadiens vs Maple Leafs AKA Attaboy Kapanen

October 5, 2019, 11:00 PM ET [71 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It started well, the Canadiens scored after a minute and 8 seconds but after that, it was all Leafs until the 3rd period. So much so that 5 minutes into the 3rd period, it was 4-1 Toronto. At that point, some teams would have packed it in but this Habs team didn't, they rolled up their sleeves and got going! To do so though, Claude Julien started mixing his lines as follows:



Hard to argue against this considering the end result isn't it? Tonight, Nick Suzuki looked a little bit like a deer in the headlights, on the Leafs' second goal, he got his pocket picked, the puck handed up in front of the net and behind Price in the flash of an eye... The poor kid on the bench looked somewhat frazzled and tonight, it was probably a good idea to shield him a little bit. At the same time, in 2 games this season, Drouin has looked like he meant business and he didn't steal this promotion to the 2nd line. Completing the 2nd line with Byron was also great, making this a speedy offense minded line and while the Finnish line isn't an offensive catalyst, there wasn't much choice but to put them all back together.

11 seconds after the Leafs made it 4-1 in the 3rd, Jonathan Drouin was credited with a goal after it deflected on Morgan Rielly and then, just over a minute later, Gallagher made it 4-3 sending shockwaves through Habs nation and cheers nationwide! After that, the Canadiens were on a power play and after breaking his stick, Kasperi Kapanen got what can only be described as a massive brain fart and threw the broken stick at Petry who had the puck. Result? A penalty shot taken by the Habs' d-man and yes, he buried it!



Sending everyone back to square 1. Tonight the Habs can say a huge thank you to Kapanen and well, Max Domi did...in his own way...



If you can't lip read, he says: Attaboy Kapanen you ******** idiot! The man really is a master of chirping! A couple of minutes later, Danault put the Habs ahed for the first time since the 6 minutes mark in the first and it looked like they might just run away with that one but it wasn't to by. In the dying minutes, the Leafs pulled their goalie and a errand blocked shot landed straight on Auston Matthews' stick. That is rarely good news. Of course, he made it 5-5 sending this insane game to overtime.

When the newly minted Leafs captain was sent off on a slashing in OT, the Canadiens deployed their power play and while it generated plenty of shots, it just wasn't good enough. Clearly, they wanted to set up Weber for a powerful slapper and they did about 4 times but everyone knew it was coming... The Leafs got their fair share of chances in OT as well but Carey Price stood oh so tall! Two saves on breakaways and huge one on Tavares from in close and the buzzer rang allowing everyone to breathe again...until the start of the shootout.

While the Leafs tried to win it with Matthews, Marner and Tavares, the Canadiens sent out Byron and Weal and yes, they won it. You may send out your stars to take shots but the Canadiens also have a star that shines so brightly! What a night! Or at least what a third period onwards! Gallagher got 3 points, Domi, Danault and Weber got 2 while Drouin and Petry got 1 those are the names that the Canadiens need to see on the score sheet. Speaking of Petry, he logged in over 28 minutes of ice time tonight and took 7 shots on net (so did Gallagher) but Weber topped everyone with 8 (including 4 in the OT period). It wasn't a great game conventionally speaking but it sure was entertaining and gave us heck of a Saturday night! If things carry on like this, the season will be far from boring.

The Canadiens are back in action Wednesday and they'll enjoy a day off tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what the lines look like at the next practice and the same goes for the duos. While Fleury didn't have an atrocious match, he did look like a rookie tonight and one can wonder how patient Julien will be before using one of his two scratched defensemen. Personally, I'd stick with Fleury for now, let the youngster build his confidence, there will always be growing pains when you use rookies and you have to accept that if you really want them to evolve...You live, you learn as Alanis once sang...
Join the Discussion: » 71 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Karine Hains
» Pregame: Canadiens vs Flyers
» In Hainsight: One for the Coach
» Pregame: Canadiens vs Avalanche
» In Hainsight: Canadiens Defeat the Cracked Kraken
» Pregame: Canadiens vs Kraken