Nick Suzuki shines but the Montreal Canadiens fall 4-2 in Game One
Nick Suzuki showed off some skill, but the Montreal Canadiens start the 2019 Rookie Tournament with a loss off of a Vitali Abramov hat trick.
No one wants to give up a hat trick to start out anything, but that’s where the Montreal Canadiens found themselves against the Ottawa Senators.
The first period was scoreless but still had somethings to pay attention to. As fate would have it, Nick Suzuki quickly made his presence known on the ice making crisp plays, but what stood out the most, in my opinion, was his impact on the team’s zone entries.
Whether it was by breaking the puck into the zone himself or finding a teammate ahead, the Habs were able to enter the zone more and more as the period continued and Suzuki was behind a lot of it. A personal favourite was between Suzuki and Josh Brook in the middle frame.
What wasn’t as good was the team’s inability do much with the puck once they got there instead capitalizing off of turnovers and mistakes from the Senators to score.
Gianni Fairbrother was another Habs player who stood out in a positive way. He skates very well, and it showed along with Otto Leskinen as they weren’t afraid to not only skate the puck into the zone but also drive it below the goal line and attempt to make a play. Thankfully, they had the coverage to do so.
That said, the first period was still pretty bland. It wasn’t until the second period where things turned up a bit. The scoring chances continued with Suzuki still at the helm. The harmless “throw the puck on net and see what happens” method created a close scrum for both Poehling and Hawel, but the Senators were still getting the stops.
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Frustration started to kick in as the Habs couldn’t convert on powerplay opportunities while the Sens quickly scored on theirs. Alexandre Alain went to the box, and a tip-able point shot from Erik Brannstrom found the back of the net off a Vitali Abramov deflection.
However, the recognition of a small hole got them on the board via Rafael Harvey-Pinard. Again, it started with Suzuki who found Harvey-Pinard down below the goal line. The Sens had three players in front of the net, but there was a small hole based on poor positioning which Harvey-Pinard recognized and went for. He charged the net and managed to get the puck past Joey Daccord.
Cayden Primeau was also steady for the Montreal Canadiens. His biggest stop came right after a powerplay as the Sens got a breakaway out of the box.
The third period saw more of Poehling show off his ability. With the puck in the neutral zone, the 2017 first-round pick entered the Sens end with speed sending a solid no-look pass in front which was stopped. It continued on the Drake Batherson penalty which saw Poehling start two tic-tac-toe plays to Harvey-Pinard in the slot. Unfortunately, still no goals, at least for the Habs anyway.
Ottawa quickly climbed to a 3-1 lead via Abramov with a pair of defensive issues. The first started in the Sens end with a Brook turnover at the defensive blueline. The puck deflected in front of Primeau for Abramov to scoop up and score on.
The second started with Daccord fumbling with the puck which drew in a number of the Habs players in. The Sens used that to stretch them out getting a two-on-one heading the other way. Primeau had no chance as Abramov sent the one-timer past him to complete the hat trick.
The Montreal Canadiens tried to get a few more past Daccord to no avail instead, letting another goal in after Primeau left for the extra attacker. On the bright side, Cam Hillis was able to set up Hawel with ten seconds left in regulation. It was a 4-1 decision by the final buzzer and the team’s first loss of the tournament.
The entire top line of Harvey-Pinard-Poehling-Suzuki was good for the Habs and generated the most. Jake Evans had a semi-quiet performance but also got some looks converting on neutral zone errors.
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Brook and Fleury didn’t have the strongest performances as they struggled to settle in either trying to do too much or not enough. It is only the first game, and there are a lot more players battling for NHL spots on the Sens then there are on the Habs. That said, a lot of things need to change and perhaps those can be found in Sunday’s match.