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Montreal Canadiens Fall 8-2 to the Ottawa Senators

By Omar L

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 09: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Victor Mete (53), Montreal Canadiens center Daniel Audette (48) and Montreal Canadiens center Alexandre Alain (68) celebrate a goal during the first period of the NHL rookie tournament game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators on September 9, 2017, at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 09: Montreal Canadiens defenceman Victor Mete (53), Montreal Canadiens center Daniel Audette (48) and Montreal Canadiens center Alexandre Alain (68) celebrate a goal during the first period of the NHL rookie tournament game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators on September 9, 2017, at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photograph by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Game Two didn’t go nearly as well as Game One for the Montreal Canadiens as they finish the Rookie Tournament with a massive loss to the Ottawa Senators.

At the end of the day, it’s just a Rookie Tournament and all about the experience. The Montreal Canadiens dropped their second and final game of the weekend to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 8-2. There’s no way around it, to lose by six goals is never a good look.

The team made minor changes between Saturday and Friday’s game. Josh Brook remained out of the line-up still dealing with an upper body injury. Scott Walford made his tournament debut slotting in for Jarret Tyszka on the third pairing. Additionally, camp invite Antoine Samuel was the Hab’s starter.

Besides that, the lines remained the same. Going into the game, eyes were on Thomas Ebbing, William Bitten, Martin Rèway, and Daniel Audette. They had a great performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs before, and the hope was that they could do it again.

Related Story: Habs Defeat the Leafs 5-2

https://twitter.com/CanadiensMTL/status/906646284207116288

Unfortunately, the game didn’t go the Montreal Canadiens way from start to finish (literally). It was a combination of a lot of things, but the Senators overall were the better team.

The next stop after this will be the completion of this camp into the days leading up the Habs main camp. Fans will probably see a lot of these names there looking to make a further impression. Additionally there are some camp invites who have definitely deserved to get another look.

Related Story: Standouts at the Rookie Tournament

Thoughts and Observations

Remember when I said the game didn’t go the Montreal Canadiens way from start to finish (two paragraphs ago)? It literally didn’t. The Senators got the lead 18 seconds into the game off a loose puck.

In total the Habs gave up three goals in the first, two in the second, and three in the third. It’s safe to say that Samuel didn’t have a very good game. A couple of loose pucks buried in and some poor rebounds didn’t keep the Habs in the game long. Also the third goal that came from behind Samuel wasn’t nice either. Montreal pulled the 20-year-old after the fifth goal. It was pretty much a mercy pulling by coach Martin LaPointe:

"We had a rookie goaltender and it was his first game. We gave them, I think, five or six goals, created turnovers and all that. He had a tough time with his rebounds. For him it was good to get his feet wet. Our plan was to let him in the whole game, but we have to protect the kid too."

Before getting pulled, Samuel stopped 28 of 31 shots. It’s unfortunate because that’s definitely not the way he wanted his tournament to end. He did make some great saves though After the game Samuel said:

"It was special to put the Montreal Canadiens jersey on. Obviously I was a little nervous before the game…I had some good flashes and I just battled through."

Defensive Issues

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However, coach LaPointe was right, the Habs did make it very easy for the Senators to score. Was it Ottawa themselves or fatigue from playing the night before which led to their sloppy play? It was definitely a combination of both.

As the game stretched out it was very difficult for Montreal to get things going at times and complete a pass. On the other hand, the Sens were playing a very structured and condensed system that made it pretty difficult to break out of their zone. In fact there was a long period of time where the team was completely hemmed in.

Once the score was getting out of hand, you could tell that players on the team were trying to do more things on their own. The fancy individualistic plays led to some scoring chances against as well.

Glass Half Empty

It wasn’t all bad for the Montreal Canadiens this game. After Ottawa scored the first goal, the top line with Addison, Audette, and Waked (Rèway sat after taking a big open ice hit) along with the Mete-Juulsen pairing sustained great pressure in the offensive zone. A Mete shot through traffic found the back of the net.

Not only was that great for Mete, but for Juulsen as well. Habs fans commented on how they didn’t notice the 2015 1st round pick, and an assist is a good way to get noticed. Juulsen also made a great defensive play in sprawling out to stop a 3-on-2 chance. When asked about his play over the weekend, he responded saying:

"I’m happy with the way I played. Tonight was probably a little bit better for me than last night even with the score being 8-2."

The team’s second goal was scored by Thomas Ebbing. That was his third goal of the tournament in two games. We’ll definitely be seeing more of him in the future.

It was an overall poor performance from the Montreal Canadiens, but William Bitten and Daniel Audette stood out. Additionally camp invite Maxime Fortier had some good flashes as well.

Montreal Canadiens Scorers

First Period: Mete (Waked, Juulsen)

Second Period: None

Third Period: Ebbing (Fortier, Walford)

Next: Prospect Competition at Training Camp

What did you think of the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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