Special Teams Failure | RECAP: MTL @ TOR

By
Rick Stephens
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1
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Joel Armia, Alexander Romanov, Jake Allen (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs Game Recap: Habs, Line-up, Score, Statistics, Highlights, Post-game, Interviews, NHL, Three-Stars

FINAL | Game 1, Away Game 1 | Wednesday October 13, 2021
Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

CANADIENS

Montreal

1-2

MAPLE LEAFS

Toronto
Joel Armia, Alexander Romanov, Jake Allen (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Canadiens Lineup

Forward lines

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Cole Caufield

Jonathan Drouin – Christian Dvorak – Josh Anderson

Joel Armia – Jake Evans – Brendan Gallagher

Mathieu Perreault – Cedric Paquette – Artturi Lehkonen

Defence pairings

Brett Kulak – Jeff Petry

Ben Chiarot – David Savard

Alexander Romanov – Chris Wideman

Goaltenders

Jake Allen – Samuel Montembeault

Scratches

Alex Belzile, Adam Brooks

Injuries

Joel Edmundson (undisclosed), Carey Price (player assistance program), Paul Byron (hip), Mike Hoffman (lower-body), Mattias Norlinder (lower-body), Sami Niku (concussion), Shea Weber (multiple injuries)

Game Report

The Canadiens regular season is underway. And what a pace to start this game!

Montreal came out flying pushing the play with the defence fully activated supporting the scoring threats. Brett Kulak had an early chance being the feature shooter of an unlikely set play. Later in the period it was Kulak creating a turnover and Josh Anderson assisting on Jonathan Drouin‘s first goal of the season.

But then the Canadiens ran into penalty trouble and the Leafs power-play cashed in. Toronto fed off the momentum of the goal and carried the play in the second period.

Just one minute into the third period, William Nylander took a shot that fooled Jake Allen and the Leafs had a lead that they would not relinquish. The Habs had a golden opportunity to tie the game five minutes into the third period. But they managed just one shot on goal during a 1:44 5-on-3 power-play.

The good, the bad and the ugly (it’s the power-play)

So what about the new look Montreal Canadiens? Fans were promised more offence but the Habs managed just one goal on the night. Fans were promised a group of centres that would win more draws. Toronto dominated the faceoff dot all game. Fans were promised two strong, creative power-play units. The Canadiens were horrendous with the man advantage tonight.

But there were bright spots too. Cole Caufield was a threat each time his line was on the ice. The Canadiens weren’t spending an inordinate time in their own zone and the defence was joining the rush. Montreal’s second line, their best tonight, will be fun to watch. 

Expect that third defensive pair to be an adventure until they get comfortable with each other. And putting Kulak on the Habs top pairing is playing with fire. Montreal looked like a team that was forcing things and that has the potential to unravel very quickly.

Faceoffs were an issue. Christian Dvorak led the way but after him, the rest of the Canadiens centres were underwater: Nick Suzuki – 41%; Jake Evans – 25%; and Cedric Paquette didn’t win a draw all game. It should be noted that Ryan Poehling (currently in Laval) led all Habs centres in the pre-season with a 58% success rate.

Up Next

The Canadiens headed to Buffalo following the game and will face the Sabres for their second game of the season Thursday.

Plus

▲  Jake Allen, Artturi Lehkonen, Christian Dvorak, Jeff Petry, Cole Caufield

Minus

▼  Cedric Paquette, Brendan Gallagher, Jake Evans, Mathieu Perreault, Alexander Romanov

The Numbers

Game Statistics
CANADIENS   MAPLE LEAFS
32 Shots 30
42 Face-off % 58
0-for-4 Power Play 1-for-3
6 Penalty Minutes 8
32 Hits 14
44 Corsi For 52
Scoring Summary
FINAL 1 2 3 OT SO T
Canadiens (0-1-0) 1 0 0 – – 1
Maple Leafs (1-0-0) 1 0 1 – – 2
Scorers Goalies
  • MTL: Drouin (1)
  • TOR: Engvall (1)-PPG, Nylander (1)
  • MTL: Allen (L) (0-1-0)
  • TOR: Campbell (W) (1-0-0)

Stars of the Game

Three Stars
NHL3stars
  1. William Nylander  TOR
  2. Jack Campbell  TOR
  3. Jake Allen  MTL

Watch

Video Highlights

What Did They Say?

Post-game Quotes

Dominique Ducharme

  • “I really liked our start before we got the two penalties in the first period and that kind of slowed us down.”
  • “Our pace, our intensity. I think that’s the difference tonight. When you have a 5-on-3 in the third period, when you’re trailing by one goal, you have to take advantage.”

Christian Dvorak

  • “I felt like we had good stretches in each period, but just didn’t play a full sixty (minutes) and lost the special teams battle.”

Jonathan Drouin

  • “It was a nice relief to obviously get a goal.. wish we had the two points instead.”

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com

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1 COMMENT

  1. salut-bien chers amis allhabs,
    merci rick pour le post-game
    infos,analises,commentaires et projections
    game 1.not bad.close.competitif.not enough to get the win.
    some thoughts?
    leadership?capitaineCH6,careyCH31 out.we lost corey perry and eric stall.it needs to be replaced.
    CH25,we need to make room for him.he is undeniable.
    jake allen needs to “make hay” until carey returns.his time to shine.otherwise the hill may be too high to climb at season-end?
    “we can never have enough defenceman”.cale fleury,noah juhlson;we lost them both last season.2 building blocks?
    gotta keep our kids.
    de tout facon,better luck with buffalo tomorrow nite
    merci pour l’ecoute
    portez-vous bien
    sain et sauf
    guyCH10 soit avec-nous en prieres et pensees

Comments are closed.