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Canadiens Return Home | Habs Notepad

Chris G
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Canadiens Return Home | Habs Notepad
Joel Edmundson, Alex Galchenyuk (AFP Photo)

Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, Carey Price, Paul Byron, Marc Bergevin, Dominique Ducharme, Brett Kulak, Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson, Alex Galchenyuk (AFP Photo)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — The Canadiens began their 2021 post season on Thursday with a 2-1 win versus the Maple Leafs. The night will unfortunately be remembered by John Tavares stretchered out of the Scotiabank arena on a stretcher, after receiving an accidental knee to the head by Corey Perry.

“I honestly felt sick to my stomach when I saw it. I saw the way he was and it’s a scary situation. I’ll reach out to him and talk to him. Hopefully, he’s ok,” Perry said. Tavares will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a concussion and a knee injury.

On the ice, Paul Byron scored the game-winning goal from his knees on a shorthanded breakaway. “I just try to read the play and react. I cut the play and won the foot race against their defenseman,” Byron said of the moment. “It’s incredible to experience moments like that. It was a special moment.”

Carey Price delivered a solid performance stopping 35 pucks in his first start since returning from injury. “That’s Carey Price for ya. He was an absolute wall tonight. He loves playing in these big games,” said Josh Anderson.

On Saturday, Jesperi Kotkaniemi opened the scoring during the eighth minute of action, but the Maple Leafs responded with five unanswered goals for the 5-1 win to tie the series at 1.

Kotkaniemi drew back into the lineup on a line with Paul Byron, and Artturi Lekhonen replacing Jake Evans, after he suffered an undisclosed injury in the series opener.

Costly Indiscipline

The main reason to explain Canadiens’ loss on Saturday was indiscipline. Montreal was assessed four minor penalties in the second period alone, that placed them on the penalty kill for 7:20 of the frame. Toronto capitalized only one of the opportunities, but the momentum swung in their favour.

“We lost momentum because of the penalties, we had a good start, we deserved some of the penalties, but not all of them,” Philip Danault commented. “The momentum changed in the second. It wasn’t us who changed it, though, and it wasn’t the Maple Leafs either,” added the frustrated coach.

“There were a lot of penalties in the second, so I think that killed a little bit of the game for me and maybe our team a little bit, just kind of being in the box that much. We just have to keep it 5-on-5,” added Kotkaniemi.

Whether the infractions were earned or not is up for debate, but there’s no doubt that the penalties got Montreal off their game. “I think that’s what happened to us in the second period last night, myself included, kind of just going at the referees instead of going at the Leafs. That kind of killed us there,” Joel Edmundson said. “We’ve just got to stay composed and good things will happen.”

The team seemed to be upset that all the calls were one-sided. “They’re calling a lot of stick penalties. Just be smart with our stick, they’re letting the body checks go, so just be physical, and finish every check,” Edmundson added.

Shea Weber was fined $5,000 on Sunday for an unpenalized cross check against Wayne Simmonds.

Lack of Scoring

The Canadiens have scored three goals through the first two games of the series. Being shorthanded for 9:15 doesn’t facilitate the task, however the lack of production has been an ongoing issue in the post season for the Canadiens.

“There are a lot of things we can do. It isn’t just one particular thing. We have to be more dynamic. We need more traffic in front of the net. Our defensemen have to be more dynamic on the blue line. We have to use our style of play to avoid pressure in the offensive zone,” the coach said on Sunday.

Montreal clearly has the advantage in this series in net, and they need to capitalize on it. After his long absence and a 40-minute conditioning stint in the AHL, Carey Price is on top of game, and showing no-sign of rust. Toronto’s Jack Campbell has played a total of 86 NHL games in his career, making his first career playoff appearance.

“We’re generating the most chances when we’re hanging onto the puck and making plays. It’s about confidence with the puck. We have to pick our spots when to go and when to make a move on a guy and when you have to just put a puck at the net off a goalie’s pads to create another scoring chance. Those are things we do when we’re at our best. We’re hanging onto the puck, we’re making plays, we’re using each other and we’re wearing the other team down over the course of the game and they start to crack,” added Kulak.

Back Home

The Habs were heavy underdogs to come out victorious in the series against the Maple Leafs, therefore splitting the first two matches on the road is a win for Montreal.

“We’re happy to be back home. We were happy to get one on the road there. It’s not easy. It’s tough hockey in the playoffs. Toronto’s a good team too. We played them well. We like where we’re at and we’re excited to get back at it at home,” Kulak said.

“We’ve got home ice advantage now. We came home with one win, but it would’ve been nice to get two. We’re not satisfied with just the one. But, we’re comfortable playing at home. Having the last change is huge, especially in the playoffs,” said Edmundson.

If the series is extended to a sixth game, the Quebec provincial sanitary measures allows the Bell Centre to host 2,500 fans. “It would be nice to have the fans in the building. It would be crazy in there, but they’ll be there soon enough.”

Ducharme didn’t rule out the possibility of making lineup changes for game three on Monday. With the team’s trouble in putting pucks in the net, the coach might be tempted to have Cole Caufield make his playoff debut. Ducharme would be able to shelter the rookie with the last change.

Caufield co-led the team with four goals during the final 10-game sequence of the regular season. Two of the goals were scored during 3-on-3 overtime, a scenario that won’t occur in the post season.

He may be looked at as a solution for the team’s power play that has been shut out in six opportunities against Toronto.

Coach’s Challenge?

There was a lot of noise on Saturday when Rasmus Sandin’s goal was challenged for goalie interference. Fans, observers, and experts debated the merit of the decision. The Canadiens felt that Joe Thornton caused interference by lifting Carey Price’s stick. Following a lengthy review, the officials confirmed the call on the ice.

The television networks caught Marc Bergevin‘s and Kyle Dubas’ reaction to the goal. You can take a guess on which general manager thought there was goalie interference, and the one that had no doubt that it should count.

The images caught Bergevin visibly upset as he was watching the replay in his suite with  John Sedgwick, Canadiens Vice-President Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs, who held a walkie-talkie in his right hand.

At the conclusion of the match, Ducharme explained that Sean Burke, Mario Leblanc, and Eric Gravel from the coaching staff are on the line, along with Sedgwick to provide input. Prior to joining the Canadiens, Sedgwick was a member of the NHL’s Operations Department for seven years.

Since Ducharme took over from Claude Julien, Montreal has won three of the five coach’s challenges. The coach said that he makes the final decision after discussing with his group. Regardless of how close (or far) from the truth that is, the images caught on TV don’t look good.

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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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