10 Thoughts: Habs Drop Opener in Toronto

After a promising end to the last campaign, a successful offseason on paper, and weeks of acknowledging heightened expectations, Wednesday night’s season-opener in Toronto was the first real taste of what this team might bring to the ice all season. They opened the season, as per usual, against a Maple Leafs team that had Montreal’s number last season. The Leafs won three of four, with the Habs only victory coming on opening night on the back of a Montembeault 48-save performance.

There was no need for that type of performance from Montembeault on this night as the Habs were the better team for most of the game. Unfortunately, the result was not as favourable as Toronto won 5-2 using two empty-netters to seal the deal. 

Habs Lineup

Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Zachary Bolduc — Kirby Dach — Brendan Gallagher
Alex Newhook – Oliver Kapanen — Ivan Demidov
Josh Anderson – Jake Evans – Patrik Laine  

Mike Matheson – Noah Dobson
Kaiden Guhle — Lane Hutson
Arber Xhekaj – Alexandre Carrier 

Samuel Montembeault 

10 Thoughts

1) The young Habs were guilty of trying to do too much to start as Slafkovsky overskated his coverage and Newhook did the same which resulted in a faceoff in the defensive zone. Bolduc lost the draw and Bobby McMann tipped home a William Nylander shot to give the home team the lead in the opening minute. The Leafs then controlled play for the first portion of the period. 

2) A penalty to Laine in the offensive zone five minutes into the period could have been doom for the Habs. Instead, a strong penalty killing shift by Evans and Anderson created momentum. Newhook and Kapanen kept it going as Kapanen was sent in on a partial breakaway where the sophomore beat Stolarz for a great first NHL goal. The rest of the period was mostly controlled by the Canadiens, including an okay power play effort, who finished the period with an 11-7 shot advantage. 

3) Toronto came out with another strong first shift in the second period, but the second shift went the other way as Gallagher came into the zone and delivered a rather mundane shot, doing so with enough intelligence to create a rebound. Bolduc, as advertised, was a hound on the loose puck as he beat Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the rebound, scoring in his first game as a Hab. 

4) Six minutes into the period, Montembeault, who was having a strong game to that point, bobbled a puck that sent the Habs scrambling. With Bolduc and Dach completely out of position, Calle Jarnkrok beat Xhekaj to a rebound and beat Montembeault to tie the game.

5) The Habs got a power play in the period and it looked better than their effort in the first, but it yielded no result. The Maple Leafs were the better team for most of the second period, even if the teams exchanged some interesting zone shifts. 

6) It was Montreal’s turn to come out roaring in the third period as they were all over the Leafs. Five minutes in, Chris Tanev got away with a blatant hold on Hutson and as is always the case in these situations, it was Demidov who was called for a rather harmless penalty on the same shift. The Habs were able to get out of the situation thanks to an excellent effort from Newhook and Kapanen. 

7) The Canadiens were right back in Toronto’s zone as Slafkovsky and Hutson were stopped point-blank. That’s when both Hutson and Matheson had sticks explode on them in the offensive zone to send the Leafs off to the races. A strong push by Matthew Knies created havoc and Morgan Rielly was all over a rebound to put the Leafs ahead 3-2. The Habs pushed and were the better team, but with Montembeault pulled, Auston Matthews and Nylander scored into the empty net in the last two minutes. 

8) Power play deployment is sure to be a hot topic around Montreal for the next few days. The Suzuki unit was dangerous but never scored. More importantly, they got over 90 seconds of time on both opportunities. This is opposite to what was sold to the fan base in creating two even units. This means that in game one of the season, Laine, Demidov, and Dobson got very little time with the man advantage which seems odd to say the least. 

9) Last year, the Habs won the opener against Toronto, but it was nowhere near as convincing as their effort on this night. They were outplayed but Montembeault was the hero of the night. The effort was far more balanced in this one, so at least it seems safe to suggest that they are not headed to a bottom of the standings first month of play. The most irregular player in uniform on this night was likely Dach, but even for him, it wasn’t a terrible performance. I’m still not convinced he belongs at centre, though. 

10) The biggest positive on the night was without a doubt the top line who spent the majority of the night in the offensive zone, forcing the Maple Leafs to defend. They weren’t able to score as Slafkovsky missed a long list of chances, but playing like that is unlikely to yield nothing very often. A very encouraging first game for the line that is most important to this team.

HabsWorld Habs 3 Stars

1st Star – Oliver Kapanen 

Some will lament that Kapanen was rather invisible at five-on-five. The counter, of course, is that this is pretty much his role as a bottom-six centre on the team. Never mind the idea that he needs to be offensive because he’s playing next to Demidov. Demidov needs to learn the game in the NHL and once that is done and he can turn it on offensively, he won’t be playing with Kapanen. What the Habs really needed was a Christian Dvorak and Kapanen was responsible at 5-on-5 and excellent on the penalty kill. 

Stats: 1 goal, +1, 2 shots, 3/6 faceoffs, 13:19 T.O.I. 

2nd Star – Zach Bolduc 

First Habs game, first Habs goal, scored exactly the way the player was sold to the fan base. Bolduc played like an F1 in hustling to the net on a rush and pouncing on a rebound. Exactly how everyone should be hustling, especially if they are on the ice with one Brendan Gallagher.  

Stats: 1 goal, -1, 3 shots, 2 hits, 13:34 T.O.I. 

3rd Star – Juraj Slafkovsky 

Some will point to the -3 for the line and wonder why I’m highlighting their performance so positively. Honestly, Slafkovsky played an excellent game on the forecheck which allowed the line to spend most of the night in the offensive zone. The three goals against happened to be two empty-net goals and one where both defenders lost their sticks simultaneously. I look at the six shots and the many others where he missed the net to tell me he was often in the right place to get those opportunities. 

Stats: -3, 6 shots, 2 hits, 19:42 T.O.I.