Montreal Canadiens: Plenty of Skill on Display in Red vs White Scrimmage

The Montreal Canadiens training camp is well underway as they have already played one preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yesterday, they also took part in their annual Red vs White game at the Bell Centre in front of 7,500 fans in the arena.

It was many of these fans first look at the Habs in a while as they were not allowed to have fans in regular season games last season. They were allowed to have small crowds by the end of the postseason, but most games at the Bell Centre last season were in front of empty seats.

The Red vs White game is an annual scrimmage where 40 hopefuls get to show off their skills in an atmosphere that is quite a bit less physical and intense than a playoff game would be. It is usually a fun game where players skill and talent is on full display, but defensive abilities and battling isn’t turned up quite all the way.

With that in mind, it opens the game up a bit and that led to some pretty goals in yesterday’s intra-squad contest. Let’s take a quick look at them all.

The scoring opened when Jean-Sebastian Dea fired a puck from a wide angle but it somehow landed on the tape of Danick Martel for a tap-in goal inside the crease.

While the opening goal was a lucky bounce, the second goal was a thing of beauty. Joel Armia carried the puck into the offensive zone before camping out in the high slot to buy time. He dished the puck down low to Jake Evans who quickly fired a cross-ice pass to Rafael Harvey-Pinard who made no mistake one-timing the puck into the net.

Joshua Roy, who has since been sent back down to the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL, scored the third goal of the game after stealing the puck in the corner and beating two defenders to the slot. He ripped a backhand over the glove of Cayden Primeau.

Armia set up another goal when Roy scored his second of the game. Armia stole the puck in the offensive zone and swooped around the net before finding Roy wide open in front. Armia’s pass was on the tape and Roy made no mistake finishing off the great pass.

The teams played a short 3 on 3 period to end the game and Armia once again found the scoresheet. This time he picked off a pass at the top of the defensive zone and went in on a breakaway, deking backhand before pulling the puck to the forehand and firing it upstairs.

The final goal of the day was scored by Ryan Poehling. The young centre is looking to make a good impression in camp and steal away the final lineup spot up front from Cedric Paquette. He started, and then finished a nice passing play with Alex Belzile in the offensive zone.

The Canadiens will be in action again tonight when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs at the bell Centre in their second preseason game.