The Montreal Canadiens Blow Past the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2

The Montreal Canadiens prospects defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in their first game of the Rookie Tournament by a score of 5-2.

We finally get some quality Montreal Canadiens hockey. To make it better, they won! The Habs’ Rookie Camp continued this weekend with game one of the Rookie Tournament at Ricoh Coliseum. All were accounted for except for 2017 2nd round pick Scott Walford who missed the game with the flu.

The Habs had Noah Juulsen, Simon Bourque, and Daniel Audette serving as captains. Juulsen had the C while Bourque and Audette both had the A’s. Goes to show what the organization thinks of the young defenceman so far. To already be considered a leader in the room before playing a single professional game is not something to be taken lightly.

Here were the line combinations from the game:

Addison-Audette-Rèway

Pezzetta-Petti-Bitten

Boucher-Ebbing-Fortier

McEwan-Alain-Waked

Mete-Juulsen

Leblanc-Brook

Bourque-Fleury

McNiven

Samuel

And the #Habs are out! #RookieTournament pic.twitter.com/f7D9s4kjyj
— A Winning Habit (@FSAWinningHabit) September 8, 2017

It was a rough second period for the Habs, but they were able to pull together and get it done in the third. Four unanswered goals later and Montreal has its first win of the tournament.

Thoughts and Observations

The energy was at an all-time high right from puck drop. Both teams were throwing hits and there were solid scoring chances. Alain definitely got himself noticed for the Canadiens as he was very physical. It also helped that he potted in a goal in the third period.

Speaking of scoring chances, thanks to McNiven, chances is what all they were. He was unbelievable for the Habs stopping 36 of 38 shots. Another aspect of McNiven’s game that stood out was his ability to play the puck.

"Ya I love playing the puck. It makes it a lot easier for my forwards and my D as well. It’s a fast paced game and if you can catch the team off guard, you have to try to get it up there."

Offensively, you have to give it up to Thomas Ebbing. He had two goals for the Montreal Canadiens, and each happened fairly quickly. To put a little icing on the goal success cake, Ebbing made a player a lot of Leafs fans are high on in Timothy Liljegren look pretty silly.

https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/906303947333304320

Rèway was also a standout for the Habs. Obviously it was tough for him to keep up at times conditioning-wise after missing a year of play, but he didn’t let that stop him. He was no doubt one of the fastest on the team and set up a lot of his teammates well. His set-up on Audette’s power play goal was a great example of patience and especially his vision.

When director of player development Martin Lapointe was asked about Rèway’s play, he said:

"Vision, sense, passing, puck skills. You can’t teach that, you have that. It’s a process, you’ve been out for a year, he’s a special kid. We’re going to be patient with him. He knows that. For him it was a good start, he stood out anyways, even though he’s not in top shape."

Rèway himself didn’t shy away from the fact that he was tired at some points during the game. However, he knows that it will get better in time.

"I didn’t expect anything else. I know that I am going to be tired. I will practice, every game is going to make me better, (and) stronger."

Montreal Canadiens Scorers:

First Period: Ebbing

Second Period: None

Third Period: Bitten, Alain, Ebbing (2), Audette

Next: Will Reway Make the Habs?

What did you think of the game? Who stood out to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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