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In Hainsight: A Good Show |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
The day started pretty well for the 21 thousand odd fans who had made the trek to the Bell Centre even if half the roads were closed for the Montreal marathon, they were greeted by the Canadiens’ players who fist bumped them all as they came in. Plenty of fan’s favorites were dressed for the occasion, including captain Nick Suzuki, sniper Cole Caufield, big center Kirby Dach and returning veteran Sean Monahan.
The two teams played two 30 minutes period, a 5-minute overtime period (even though the score wasn’t even after regulation time) and a shootout since the score was tied after the overtime period. In the first period, Cayden Primeau for Team Red and Jake Allen for Team White faced-off in net. The former, who had a tough time yesterday in Brossard, stopped the 12 shots he faced. He looked nervous early on and had some issues with rebound control, but once his nerves were settled, he seemed comfortable in net. As for the latter, he only allowed a single goal to Jared Davidson who had scored a hat trick earlier this week in Brossard.
The lack of scoring in the first period was a little bit worrying, especially for a team that struggles every season to get pucks into the net, but the rust eventually wore off and the goals started coming in fast and furious. Regulation ended 3-2 for Team Red, but a prolongation was played nonetheless, and Riley Kidney put everyone back to square one, meaning that the fans also got to see a shootout.
Unlike in Brossard, it wasn’t Emil Heineman who skated alongside Caufield and Suzuki but newcomer Tanner Pearson who, after taking some time to adjust, seemed to fit in well with the dynamic duo. Pearson created a goal himself, picking David Savard’s pocket and feeding Caufield who was all alone in front and buried a one-timer, showcasing the fact that his shoulder has healed and is ready for the new season.
Joel Armia was another player who had many opportunities on the day, but true to his form in the latest years, he missed them all, even the one he got in the shootout. Arber Xhekaj wasn’t dressed, but his younger brother was, and he got on the scoresheet when he deflected a Smilanic shot as he was creatin traffic by the goalie in front of the net.
There was a scary moment during the overtime when Kirby Dach fell to the ice and struggled to get up, but he was back during the shootout so hopefully, there was no harm done. Injuries are the last thing this team needs after being stricken so often in the last two seasons by the injury ninja.
Strauss Mann and Quentin Miller were on duty for the second period, the overtime and the shootout. Miller, who will be the Remparts’ main goaltender this season, was beaming with pride when he spoke to the media after he had stopped Caufield during the shootout.
Tomorrow night, intensity will go up a notch when the New Jersey Devils will be in town to face the Habs in their first preseason game. Martin St-Louis confirmed to RDS that the players who weren’t dressed for today’s scrimmage would be for this first game. Fans who tune in for that duel can therefore expect to see Josh Anderson, Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj, Samuel Montembeault, Owen Beck, David Reinbacher and Joshua Roy to name a few. After the game, Cedrick Guindon and Florian Xhekaj as well as goaltenders Quentin Miller and Jan Spunar were returned to their respective junior teams. There are now 68 players at camp, including the injured Wideman and Dvorak.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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