In what was an incredibly entertaining game on Monday, some interesting players had solid games as Jonathan Drouin led a group of Ryan Poehling, Alexander Romanov, Sami Niku, and Joel Armia to keep the game close. It wasn’t enough as the Habs ran into Thatcher Demko who made some great saves in the third to preserve a 2-1 victory for the visiting Canucks.
When the front office news broke prior to puck drop, I figured the intermissions would be the most compelling parts of Saturday’s game. However, the Habs came out and showed some determination and fought hard to preserve multiple leads en route to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Habs never showed up on Thursday night and Cayden Primeau could only hold the Penguins off the board for so long. Primeau was pulled after allowing five goals through the first two periods while Pittsburgh added another in the third for a 6-0 shutout victory.
Saturday’s game was one that the Habs controlled for the most part. They were clearly the better team for at least 45-50 minutes. But 45 seconds with a cold goaltender was enough to keep the team from earning a second consecutive victory for the first time this season as they lost 3-2 in overtime to the Red Wings.
The Habs delivered an emotional and determined performance on Thursday as they hounded the puck all night long and made life miserable for the Flames. They won many races and battles to overcome a shaky start and skate away with a 4-2 victory to end their homestand.
The Habs took another one on the chin Thursday night against the Islanders as they completely crumbled in the second half of the second period and allowed Brock Nelson a four-goal night leading to a 6-2 loss that concluded with the Bell Centre fans mocking their own team near the end of the game.
Over the first two games of the season, the Habs have failed to pay the price to win puck battles. The results are therefore not surprising as they lost their second consecutive game on Thursday, this time by a 5-1 score against a team expected to float at the bottom of the league standings, the Buffalo Sabres.
The Habs got off to an okay start on Tuesday night in Toronto but things fell apart early and often as Samuel Montembeault faced plenty of shots in his first game in a Montreal uniform, one that saw the Maple Leafs pick up the 6-2 victory.
Ryan Poehling had a strong second half. Jesse Ylonen was one of the best players in the second period. Arber Xhekaj was quite strong. But all of these flashes came after the team’s top unit of Suzuki, Toffoli, Gallagher, Petry, and Romanov stepped up and led the way as the Habs played a fundamentally strong game to earn a 2-1 win over Ottawa on Saturday night.
As is usually the case, Monday’s preseason contest against Toronto was not very exciting. However, the team’s would be second line had a huge night as they hit the back of the net three times and combined for 10 points in a 5-2 victory.