Montreal Canadiens: Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Corey Schueneman Team Up For First NHL Points in First NHL Games

The Montreal Canadiens roster has gone through some reconstruction over the past few weeks.

The team has been struggling and will likely start selling off assets in the near future, but they haven’t moved anyone out yet. Probably because they can’t afford to lose any healthy players right now.

The team has a handful of players still out with injuries, but also have nine players on the Covid list that are ineligible to play. So, they have had to call up a number of players from the Laval Rocket to fill in the gaps.

Two of those players, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Corey Schueneman were both making their NHL debuts tonight. Harvey-Pinard was a 7th round pick of the Habs in the 2019 NHL Draft and has played well for the Laval Rocket over the past two seasons. The left winger has 14 points in 24 games in the AHL this season.

Schueneman is a quick left defenceman that has also played the past two seasons for the Laval Rocket. He has eight points in 24 games this season and carved out a top four role for himself with the Rocket quickly after joining the team for the oddly scheduled Canada only division in 2020.

Not only did both players make their NHL debuts tonight, but they combined on a goal to get their first ever NHL points.

The Canadiens have the puck in the offensive zone and Schueneman jumps into the play. He gets a pass in the slot and kicks the puck up to his stick but sort of fans on a backhand shot and the puck goes into the corner. Sami Niku grabs the loose puck and makes a great pass to Harvey-Pinard who is standing in front of the net and redirects the puck into the back of the net without issue.

It was the first goal of Harvey-Pinard’s NHL career and the first assist of Schueneman’s career in both of their debut games.

The only question is what to do with the puck? They could ask Cole Caufield who once broke a goal scoring record for the United States Development Program while Jack Hughes broke a points record on the same goal. They sliced the puck down the middle like they were cutting a bagel and shared the puck.

Perhaps Harvey-Pinard and Schueneman will do the same.