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The first week of the season is in the books for the Habs.  They only played in two games but they were both eventful.  In the end, despite some rough stretches, Montreal was able to come away with three points out of four to get them started on the right note.

The Week That Was

Sept. 29: Canadiens 3, Maple Leafs 2 – The season didn’t get off to a great start for Montreal as Toronto was on the board in the opening minute.  However, Josh Anderson, who always is at his best against the Maple Leafs, batted one past Sergei Bobrovsky to tie it before the end of the frame.  Zach Bolduc scored for the second straight opener to give the Habs the lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish.  An Alexandre Carrier point shot beat Bobrovsky with less than seven minutes left stood as the winner after William Nylander’s second of the night made things interesting at the end.

Oct. 3: Penguins 6, Canadiens 5 (OT) – This was a wild one, to put it lightly.  After Cole Caufield opened the scoring, Pittsburgh stormed back with five goals to make it a rout.  However, Nick Suzuki scored late in the second to put them in striking distance and the comeback was on.  Caufield added another while Chris Kreider and Ivan Demidov scored with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker to improbably tie the game.  However, a bad line change in overtime led to Thomas Novak scoring his second of the game to give the Penguins the extra point.  Still, the Habs picked up one point in a game they trailed by four.  That won’t happen often.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Cole Caufield (2)
Assists: Hutson/Suzuki (3)
Points: Nick Suzuki (4)
+/-: Nick Suzuki (+3)
PIMS: Noah Dobson (4)
Shots: Anderson/Caufield/Suzuki (6)

News And Notes

– The Canadiens are now the second team in NHL history to record either a regular season or playoff victory in all 12 months of the year.  The other?  Tampa Bay, who the Habs played in the Stanley Cup Final in July 2021.  (They got their August win the year before in the playoff bubble.)

– You don’t have to look too far back to see when the Habs last allowed a goal in the opening game of a season.  That occurred last year, when Bobby McMann scored exactly 1:00 minute into the season opener.

– The last time Montreal started a season 2-0 was back in 2015-16. 

– Oliver Kapanen is dealing with a lower-body injury while Alexandre Carrier was injured against the Penguins and is undergoing further evaluation.

Last Game’s Lines:

Caufield – Suzuki – Kreider
Slafkovsky – Newhook – Demidov
Texier – Danault – Dach
Bolduc – Evans – Anderson

Hutson – Carrier
Matheson – Dobson
Struble – A. Xhekaj

The Week Ahead

Tuesday vs Carolina: What a fun team to open up the home portion of the schedule against, the one that steamrolled them in the playoffs.  That said, the Hurricanes are off to a sluggish start, dropping two of their first three games while only scoring five goals overall, three of which have come from Sebastian Aho.  They’re also without blueliner Alexander Nikishin who remains an unsigned free agent while hoping for a trade.  (It’s believed his camp reached out to Montreal but was told the interest wasn’t mutual.)  After being an unsung hero last season, Brandon Bussi has allowed six goals on 47 shots so far this year.

Thursday vs Nashville: The Predators, who underwent a bit of a roster overhaul this past offseason, have only scored three goals in their two games though that was enough to beat Dallas on Saturday.  Former Hab prospect William Trudeau made his NHL debut in that contest after being claimed off waivers in training camp.  Interestingly enough, his addition pushed Justin Barron, another former Hab, to the waiver wire.  (Barron was claimed by St. Louis to cover Logan Mailloux’s absence, as the game of former Canadiens musical chairs continues.)  The Preds recently recalled KHL signing Vitali Pinchuk, who was one of the more intriguing centres available this offseason and it will be interesting to see where he slots in.

Saturday vs Detroit: Fun times in Hockeytown.  Dylan Larkin’s trade request remains unfulfilled and Simon Edvinsson (an RFA defender) apparently prefers to be moved too now.  Oh, and fans were chanting for the team to be sold at the home opener.  Larkin should be back from his injury by this game which will certainly be interesting.  They’ve lost both games they’ve played so far, though both were pretty close contests overall.  Not a great start, to put it nicely.

Final Thought

We’re two games into the season and while it may be fair to say there are some early positives and negatives, I say forget them.  The overall sloppiness of the first week of the season is directly attributable to the shorter training camps, itself directly attributable to the two extra regular season games being added to the schedule.  League-wide, teams have had good stretches of control in games, only to look discombobulated for an extended stretch moments later.  Frankly, the Habs have been guilty of that themselves in both contests.

So, what should we glean from this?  Absolutely nothing.  As far as I’m concerned, these early games were the final two games of the preseason; they just happened to count for points in the standings.  Players are clearly still working off the rust or in some cases, adjusting to new linemates while playing against teams in the exact same situation. 

Accordingly, while there are some concerning things over the first two games, it’s too early to start singling out those performances or individual plays just yet.  That is, except for the tried and true tradition of sleepwalking through second periods.  That was a problem last season, this preseason (at times), and was evident in these first two regular season matchups as well.  That can be fixed anytime now.  The rest?  I’ll be a little more patient.