Much Better Effort, but the Montreal Canadiens Drop Their 2nd Game 4-2

It was the same result at the end, but a much better performance as the Montreal Canadiens lose in their second preseason game 4-2 against Washington.

Glass half empty: The Montreal Canadiens outshot the Washington Capitals 43-22 but still lost the game. Glass half full: it was a much better game overall with some key individual performances.

The second half of the training camp roster got their chance to partake in some preseason action Wednesday night. Meaning the likes of Jonathan Drouin, Ales Hemsky, Mark Streit, and Jakub Jerabek were making their debut in a Habs sweater. Fans also got to see their favourite #1 goaltender Carey Price get some playing time.

There were some similarities overall between this game and the previous one. In particular, how much time either team spend on the man advantage or killing penalties. On Monday, the Canadiens took three penalties in the first eight minutes of the game.

They managed to continue that “record” against Washington with three in the first 10. Hard to pin all of it on the Habs, the refs are making a serious effort to call infractions nowadays.

Thoughts and Observations

Montreal didn’t have their greatest start tonight. Halfway into the first period, they were already down by two after the Capitals converted on their power play opportunities. The first goal was scored by Evgeny Kuznetsov, and it made Streit look pretty bad. Kuznetsov easily got past him and Jordie Benn after some apparent confusion and had a free track to the net to score.

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Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time Streit stood out negatively. It didn’t look like he was able to keep up 5-on-5 and made some questionable decisions at times. The only time he looked alright was on the Canadiens power play.

Save for Streit, the other players making their debuts looked great. Drouin and Hemsky showed us why the power play for the Montreal Canadiens is going to be deadly. Why? Because there are so many other options.

Drouin will be the guy, he’ll dictate where the puck can go. It could either be moved to the point for a Shea Weber blast, send to Hemsky to set up another play, or Drouin can take the shot himself. Max Pacioretty got on the scoreboard using option two.

There’ll be some areas that Drouin needs to improve on as a center, in particular his faceoffs (47% in the dot), but with this new violation rule it looks like the whole league needs to as well. Coach Claude Julien had this to say about Drouin’s performance:

I think he did well tonight. It’s his first game, and for a guy that played his first game I can’t say I’m disappointed. I think he showed a lot of good things and there’s adjustments to his game that he’s going to keep making here as we go along.

Jerabek also had a great debut for Montreal. He was so much better than how he played in the scrimmage game Sunday. Comfortable would be the best way to describe it. He was usually in position, but not afraid to make a play with the puck at times.

Related Story: Don't You Forget About Jerabek

Now to the meat of this recap. All preseason, save for Drouin, talk has come down to three names: Charles Hudon, Victor Mete, and Charlie Lindgren. Did they look great that game or what? At this point there is absolutely no way Hudon doesn’t make the team. He had a dangerous scoring chance in each of the three periods and was able to convert on one of them:

It was a solid but difficult pass to handle in the slot from Mete, but Hudon managed to send it where it needed to go. Then minutes after that happened, he did this:

We’re just buying time before we see Hudon play for the Montreal Canadiens against the Buffalo Sabres next month. Mete is continuing to make Julien’s job difficult. He just doesn’t look out of place, he looks like he belongs. Lindgren as well, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he will be an NHL goaltender one day.

The Habs will play their third preseason game Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. Hopefully their luck changes and more players impress.

Next: We Underestimated Victor Mete

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