Habs Shed Light In Pre-Season Debut Against Leafs

Prospect Michael McCarron along with Jeff Petry, Zack Kassian, and Carey Price shined some positivity on Habs fans everywhere during their first pre-season game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal.

Young gun McCarron gave the Canadiens their first goal of the night with a little over 4 minutes left. Number 34 grabbed the puck off a blank shot by Petry, which brightened the play after the Habs had a slow start to the first period.

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The 20 year old right-winger has already shown promise as a centre for the Canadiens, especially during the NHL Rookie Tournament where he displayed comfort at the middle of the ice and exhibited the responsibilities that come with the position.

Petry, who assisted McCarron’s goal, signed a 6-year deal worth $33M with the Habs on June 2nd. His style of play, along with a successful 19 game regular-season had him fit in so well with Montreal.

The first period ended with shots on goal being 10-9 in favour of the Habs.

While Leafs prospect William Nylander tied the second period off a feed from Jake Gardiner, the Habs seemed sluggish and couldn’t put any pucks past Garret Sparks. Both teams played tightly, but the messy penalty kills along with the decline of shots on goal from the Habs kept the two rivals at a tie.

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The Habs came off strong in the third period, controlling play and testing Sparks early on, but Toronto’s strong defensive play didn’t give Montreal many chances to break through. It ended up becoming a very dull period with the scoreboard staying at 1-1

A mandatory 3-on-3 overtime was scheduled, but a tripping penalty from Devante Smith-Pelly with just 1 minute and 28 seconds left in the third led to the Leafs power play going into overtime, giving them a 4-0n-3 advantage for a minute and 20 seconds. Overtime ended quickly when just 16 seconds in, Gardiner’s wrist shot gave the Leafs their winning goal on the power play. Brad Boyes and Peter Holland were credited with assists.

Goaltender Fucale stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced after taking Carey Price’s place during the second period. The 20 year old 2nd round draft pick from 2013 had a rough time last season with the Quebec Remparts. When it comes to making saves on non-scoring chances, he’s not at the top of the QMJHL’S list, and only seems to be above-average when it comes to making saves in “high-danger” situations.

Fortunately, Fucale is still young and can possibly make it up to the Canadiens’ ice as Price’s back-up. However, his shaky rebound control during the Red vs. White scrimmage showed that more work needs to be done. Of course, Price got his first pre-season shootout of 2015, making 11 saves on the 11 shots that hurled at him.

Newcomer Kassian also showed strength in battling along the boards as well as having good puck control.

Sep 22, 2015; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Frederick Gauthier (70) is checked into the boards by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry (26) during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

From my perspective, it wasn’t the best pre-season opener the Habs have had but it also wasn’t the absolute worst. While there were upsides, like Sven Andrighetto playing big with speed while delivering a few hits and Alexei Emelin reminding us all of his importance when he put out his first big hit on Josh Leivo, it did give us a look at Zach Fucale’s possible future with the team and Jarred Tinordi‘s shaky game play that could stop him from making it to the NHL.

The pre-season opener also both Habs fans and Leafs fans a chance to look at the new guys who may be suiting up for Toronto this season. For Leafs fans, players like Nylander, who had a great offensive play, are a gold mine when it comes to getting back on track after a long season last year.

For Habs fans, it means yelling at your television screen more during this season, as per usual.

Overall, it’s the pre-season so there’s no need to worry about the little losses. Plus, you have to expect the line ups during the pre-season to not feature all of the top players on the Canadiens roster. It’s time to give the young guns a chance.

What did you think of the pre-season opener overall? Who did you feel made a positive impact on the game? Which players would you like to see not play for the Canadiens? Did you too need Advil after watching Montreal lose to Toronto? Let us know in the comments below!

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