The Canadiens had started the preseason with 2-1 and 4-2 wins against the Penguins and the Flyers, before coming up with an embarrassing performance in the third game, where an outmatched Toronto team badly outplayed them in a 7-2 shellacking. Saturday’s rematch would be a chance to avenge that, even if the roster would be rather less powerful: Newhook, Kapanen, Bolduc, and Beck rather than Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Demidov, Dach, and Laine.
And yet … the team of prospects and AHL players played the way a team wearing the CH should play, with full effort, skating hard, attacking and defending, and keeping the shots to the outside. The reward was another 4-2 preseason win, and a well-earned one at that.
Starting Lines
Bolduc – Newhook – Kapanen
Blais – Veleno – Beck
Farrell – Belzile – Thorpe
Dauphin – Condotta – Kidney
Struble – Hutson
Xhekaj – Carrier
Del Gaizo – Engstrom
Kahkonen
Fowler
Ten Thoughts
1) Is this what Lane Hutson would have looked like playing in Laval? Hutson was skating circles around everyone, deking, avoiding checks, getting scoring chances, simply outclassing everyone else on the ice. He won’t have it as easy in the regular season, but he looked spectacular on the night.
2) Kaapo Kahkonen was steady early but the bar was not really very high, with the Leafs not getting their second shot on net until nearly the halfway point of the first period. As the game went on and the intensity cranked up, Kahkonen stayed calm and showed that he’s capable of doing what he was signed for, whether it’s backup duties in Laval or Montreal.
3) Max Domi interfered with Hutson just after the halfway point of the first period, but the expected Montreal power play was negated by Jayden Struble (unnecessarily) laying into Domi, turning it into a pair of matching minors. As it turned out, the four-on-four was just fine. Zachary Bolduc took advantage of the extra space on the ice to break into the Maple Leafs’ zone on the right side, and got the puck on the net. Anthony Stolarz had no trouble blocking the shot, but gave up a solid rebound to the front of the net. Alexandre Carrier, in a heads-up play, did not try to jam it through Stolarz, but waited for the hard-skating Alex Newhook to arrive. A quick flick of the puck to Newhook, and the Habs centre snapped it past Stolarz for a 1-0 Montreal lead.
4) Arber Xhekaj, surely proud to be wearing an “A”, even if only in an exhibition game, brought his “A” game as well, the game he needs to play if he wants to cement a regular role on the Canadiens defence corps. He drew a roughing penalty in the second, and did not make an appearance in the box himself, playing the steady, low-risk game the Habs need from him.
4) That power play Xhekaj drew got the Habs into a 2-1 lead, as the “PP3” unit, with Hutson, Oliver Kapanen, Sean Farrell, Riley Kidney, and Sammy Blais, had the puck moving well. It paid off, as Kidney tapped in a rebound from a Farrell shot to double the lead to 2-0.
5) Toronto brought it back down three minutes later, after Tyler Thorpe got his glove in Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s face. John Tavares, not covered by anyone, picked off an Owen Beck behind-the-net pass while just outside the blue ice, and had all the time in the world to beat Kahkonen. He aimed for the far post and ended up banking the puck off the post and into the net.
6) Not to be outdone in the needless penalties count, the Leafs sent six skaters onto the ice with just over four minutes remaining in the second. 21 seconds later, with the power play formation set up, Hutson got the puck, faked a shot, and then took a shot himself, beating Stolarz to make it a 3-1 game.
7) Adam Engstrom took a rather unnecessary interference penalty early in the third at the defensive blue line on Nick Robertson but Montreal’s penalty kill was nearly as good as their power play. The most significant thing to come out of that penalty call was a shorthanded Beck breakaway, unfortunately foiled by Artur Akhtyamov, doing third-period goaltending duty for the Leafs. Given the personnel on ice for the four-on-five, that may not say much of the regular-season shorthanded performance, though.
8) Alex Belzile, back in a Habs uniform again, broke up Domi’s pass to Robertson at centre ice near the halfway point of the third, setting up a three-on-two break for the bleu blanc et rouge. Belzile got the puck to Sean Farrell, who tucked it in behind Akhtyamov for a 4-1 lead.
9) Craig Berube pulled Akhtyamov with over four (!) minutes remaining, and the Leafs struck quickly, with Morgan Rielly getting the puck to the front of the net where Tavares and Nylander were both waiting with nary a defender in sight. Nylander put the puck in, but the hometown team was unable to do anything further in the remaining four minutes as the Habs shut down any scoring opportunities.
10) Now, with a pair of days before Montreal’s next game and Laval’s training camp set to begin, a big round of cuts should be coming, including quite a few players who played well in this one; their efforts likely won’t be enough to keep them up longer.
HW Habs Three Stars
First Star: Lane Hutson (1g, 0a, +1, 5 shots, 20:34 TOI) was able to do more or less anything he wanted on the ice. Even if expected, how could he NOT be the first star? We can only wait to see what he can do in the regular season.
Second Star: Arber Xhekaj (0g, 0a, +1, 0 shots, 2 hits, 21:33 TOI) played a solid, hard game, the kind of game that he needs to play on a regular basis. Martin St-Louis was clearly satisfied, with Xhekaj getting the most TOI on the team, and staying on the ice for most of the final four minutes of Toronto pressure.
Third Star: Kaapo Kahkonen (23 shots, 21 saves, .913 save percentage, 0.1 GSAx) could do little about the two goals he allowed, with John Tavares allowed to park himself in front of the net without defensive coverage. He’s not going to be the Habs starter or the future, but if he can play like this, he will have been an outstanding summer signing to shore up the goaltending rotation.