CANADIENS
Montreal

4-5

SENATORS
Ottawa

Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Kassian
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
De la Rose – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly

Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert
Tinordi – Pateryn

Tokarski
Condon

Game Report

On Thursday night, there was the sense from the players that they were ready for the season to be underway. Tonight, the words of angry fans and cranky old mainstream media folks confirmed that the pre-season is indeed too long.

The pitchforks were out again for Jarred Tinordi, as they have been most of training camp. Mark Barberio is plugger but he’s a local guy. Being able to handle oneself in a post-game press scrum always takes precedence in Montreal.

By allowing three goals in just eight shots on goal in the first period, Dustin Tokarski also drew criticism, much of it justified. But some of it, from people who are paid to offer analysis, was way over the top.

With the anger taps opened wide, other players were caught in the flow, even Brendan Gallagher.

During the game former Canadiens captain Vincent Damphousse claimed that forward Brendan Gallagher had been the biggest disappointment of training camp. Utter nonsense.  A few minutes later, almost on cue, the scrappy Montreal forward scored a typical Brendan-Gallagher-type goal: redirecting a shot by Nathan Beaulieu while parked in the Ottawa crease. It was the third Canadiens third goal, tying the game.

Damphousse thought that Jacob De la Rose was invisible in tonight’s game. He was dead wrong about that too.

Tokarski would allow two more goals on the night.  His coach said it was a “difficult night” for the Canadiens goaltender. To his credit, Tokarski faced the media post-game saying that he wasn’t at his best and that he accepted responsibility.

Still there were the silly accusations that Tokarski was lazy or didn’t care.

In his game blog, Mike Boone correctly wrote that “Tokarski was beaten five times on 15 Ottawa shots.”  Just a few sentences later, Boone wrote, “Playing for a spot on the opening-night roster, Jarred Tinordi was minus-3,” seemingly oblivious to the effect of soft goals on a defenceman’s plus-minus rating.

Former Habs piled on. Jacques Demers said that Jarred Tinordi lacks hockey sense. Not being satisfied with trashing Gallagher, Damphousse said that Tinordi lacks talent. Those comments are moronic.

Tinordi has all the physical tools: he’s a very good skater, has great reach, can play physical and has a heavy, accurate shot. But it is clear that his confidence in handling the puck and making decisions is shaky. At the very least, building confidence is a shared responsibility in which the head coach has never participated.

Putting their prospects in a position to succeed and assisting them to achieve their potential is an organizational obligation. It would be a shame to let Tinordi walk before the Canadiens have fulfilled their part of the bargain.

With respect to Tokarski, he had a bad game, that is clear. And he hasn’t looked good in camp. But this should be no surprise as Tokarski continues to play small in the net. The same talking heads that are stabbing him in the back now were claiming that there was no step down when Tokarski took over from Price in the 2014 Eastern Conference final against the Rangers.

There were plenty of positive storylines in this game: Max Pacioretty looked better scoring his first goal of the pre-season. Jacob De la Rose and Devante Smith-Pelly both played well as they each made their case to secure a roster spot. The Craig Ramsay-coached power-play showed great puck movement and player rotation scoring twice. And Tom Gilbert’s goal in mandatory 3-on-3 overtime will be one of the highlights of his career.

The roster decisions and the new season can’t come soon enough. The Canadiens open the 2015-16 campaign in Toronto on Wednesday.

▲     Jacob de la Rose, Devante Smith-Pelly, Nathan Beaulieu, Alexei Emelin, Tom Gilbert, Max Pacioretty

▼     Zach Kassian, Dustin Tokarski

1.  Kyle Turris  OTT
2.  Mark Stone  OTT
3.  Mike Hoffman  OTT

• “[Max Pacioretty] looked better than he did in his first game. He needed those two games to be ready for the regular season.“

Dustin Tokarski

• “I didn’t play very good and It’s unfortunate. I didn’t get the bounces but you have to be accountable and I wasn’t very good.“

Brendan Gallagher

• “We’re moving the puck better (on the power-play.) We didn’t get off to a good start last year and it just built and built, so we’re trying to get off to a good start and create more shots.”