After a fun first preseason game on Monday, the Habs were right back in action on Tuesday as they welcomed the New Jersey Devils to the Bell Centre.
While the forward group was less intriguing than Monday, the Canadiens still sent Sean Farrell, Owen Beck, and Filip Mesar into the mix. The blue line was similar as Lane Hutson was not in action, but David Reinbacher played. Logan Mailloux was the lone player who played his second in two nights. They faced a Devils’ squad that featured few regular NHL players in what turned into a rather boring affair. Montreal once again played a big third period to come away with a 3-0 win.
Montreal’s Lines
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Juraj Slafkovsky
Joel Armia – Jake Evans — Brendan Gallagher
Sean Farrell – Owen Beck – Filip Mesar
Michael Pezzetta – Florian Xhekaj – Xavier Simoneau
Mike Matheson — David Reinbacher
Jayden Struble — Logan Mailloux
William Trudeau — Zack Hayes
Sam Montembeault Connor Hughes
10 Thoughts
1) The first period was once again penalty-filled as the Habs took three penalties and received two man advantages. No goals were scored as the veterans looked uninterested by the power play while Mailloux looked like he belonged on the second unit. On the penalty kill, Montembeault was the best Hab as the coverage was far less convincing than on Monday night.
2) The Devils outshot the Canadiens 9-8 in the period but neither team was crazy dangerous in their attempts toward the net. The best two shots versus Jake Allen came from the stick of Beck who managed to get open in the slot on a few occasions.
3) I understand that this is preseason and that veterans are slowly rounding into shape, but Matheson had a terrible first period. The passes were off, his coverage was lacking, and he was simply not engaged. He might want to get going because there’s a young Lane Hutson that is hunting for his position on both the Habs regular roster and on the power play.
4) The second period was much like the first where both teams were guilty of obvious penalties that broke any semblance of rhythm to the game. Despite this fact, Montreal had the better chances in the period whereas the Devils had a better first period. After two periods, the Canadiens were ahead on shot clock by a 18-17 margin.
5) On a play that I would mostly credit to Xhekaj, Pezzetta opened the scoring three minutes into the second period. Xhekaj won the faceoff which allowed an exchange between Trudeau and Simoneau before the puck came to the slot where Pezzetta quickly fired it home to fool Allen. While this exchange was taking place, Xhekaj was in front of Allen attracting double coverage which opened the space for Pezzetta to be open in the slot.
6) Montembeault faced few shots in his half period, but Connor Hughes got far more action in the second half of the period and fared quite well. He made a few quality, if unorthodox, saves before the Habs settled down and regained control of the end of the period.
7) The snoozefest continued into the third period, as did the parade to the sin bin. Seriously, this one felt a little like we were watching these two teams face each other in 1998.
8) Slafkovsky skated hard in one shift in this whole game (I’m sure that’s wrong, but it felt that way). On that shift, he created two scoring chances before the puck found itself on the stick of Trudeau on the blue line. For some reason, the Devils were already clearing the zone as they left Suzuki wide open in front of Nico Daws. Trudeau sent a hard pass to Suzuki who simply redirected it behind Daws to extend the Habs’ lead.
9) Late into this contest, Xhekaj committed a late hit against Seamus Casey, drawing some criticism from the Devils. The next few minutes saw the Devils target a bit of the smaller Habs. It was short-lived as the Canadiens sent out Pezzetta and Simoneau who appeared to be able to calm what was happening.
10) At 2-0, what also helped calm the physicality was that the Devils started to focus on getting Daws out of the net to try to get back into the game. With Daws out of the net, Pezzetta was soft on a clearing attempt that failed. Luckily for him, Beck was there to back him up as he beat two opponents to win a puck battle and clear the puck. That clear went straight to Pezzetta who raced down the ice and buried his second of the game to complete the game.
HabsWorld 3 Stars
1st Star – Samuel Montembeault
Montembeault only played half the game and wasn’t very busy in the second period. He was key to keeping the Habs in the game in the early portions of the first period though as Montreal’s young players looked wide-eyed and unable to keep up with the speed with which the game was coming at them.
Stats: 11 saves, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%, 31:28 T.O.I.
2nd Star – Owen Beck
Beck won a ton of faceoffs and contributed mightily to a penalty killing effort that was tested often in this game. He was also likely the most dangerous Hab on the night as he consistently attacked the middle of the offensive zone which created chaos and scoring chances for himself. Finally, he was the player who corrected a defensive miscue that led to Pezzetta’s empty-net goal, which sealed the deal of this contest.
Stats: 1 assist, +1, 3 shots, 56% F.O. wins, 12:19 TOI
3rd Star – Logan Mailloux
Mailloux couldn’t crack the top three last night despite playing a better game than he did on this night. His 5-on-5 play was uneven, but he was quite good on the power play. Considering the youngster was the only one playing a second game in 24 hours, I’ll consider the entire body of his two games and say he deserves to be here if combining both efforts. Not sure if that’s a huge compliment to the players who were on the ice tonight versus yesterday’s roster, though.
Stats: +1, 1 shot, 19:26 TOI