Montreal Canadiens: 5 quick hits from the home opener victory

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The Montreal Canadiens emerged victorious in their first contest of the season. The Habs came out on top thanks to a last-minute goal from forward Josh Anderson to give the team a 4-3 lead over the Maple Leafs.

Even with a young defense core and some newcomers in the forward core, the Montreal Canadiens were able to get things done. There were some ups and downs, but head coach Martin St. Louis and the Habs collected a victory in the 2022-23 home opener.

With that said, let’s look at 5 “quick hits” or just five takeaways from the Habs home opener. I chose to roll with three positives from the game and two things that stick out as things that could be improved. Let’s dive in!

1. Montreal Canadiens’ top line had things working all night long.

The Montreal Canadiens’ top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Josh Anderson was locked in from start to finish. These three had their game in sync and were able to get the job done all night. While Anderson picked up the game-winner late in the game, throughout the game, he used his physicality to create scoring chances often.

Anderson’s physicality and bigger frame compared to Caufield and Suzuki work well. The three are able to create scoring chances, and both Caufield and Suzuki excel in the transition game. They were able to show this against the Leafs with several 2-on-0 and 2-on-1 situations where they were able to make a good transition and create these quality scoring chances.

Oct 12, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens forward Sean Monahan (91) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Montreal Canadiens newcomers stepped up and played well in the first game.

The Montreal Canadiens had several new faces taking the ice for them. While I’m not talking about the younger players, but forwards Sean Monahan and Kirby Dach played very well in their first games with the Habs organization.

Monahan potted a goal and looked strong in all facets. He added benefit to the team’s special teams unit and he was able to be effective in the defensive zone, finding ways to force turnovers and get the Habs transitioning to the other end of the ice.

Kirby Dach also looked good, almost netting his first goal with the Canadiens, though, after review, it was deemed no goal. He grabbed the puck and went for the wrap-around, but Matt Murray barely kept it from going in. Beyond that, he was able to win puck battles which helped on both ends of the ice for the Habs.

3. Montreal Canadiens goaltending could be shaky moving forward.

With good things, there has to be a catch or a caveat. This is the first negative of the five quick hits. For the Montreal Canadiens, the goaltending game in 2022-23 could be a little shaky. While this is not all the fault of Jake Allen or Samuel Montembault, there will be room to improve.

Allen stopped 29 shots, allowing three goals against the Leafs. Asking Allen to make 30 saves is fair, but if the Habs let him get a peppered night in and night out, he’s going to give up more goals than most would like.

Montembault will likely fare worse in that situation as well. So for the Habs, trying to limit the opposition could be tough. Now, it was the first game of the season, so it may not always be an issue since the Maple Leafs offense is their calling card.

The Leafs are going to get pucks on the net and find ways to create offense, but leaving Allen out to dry is not going to be a successful strategy. The Habs have to do a better job trying to cut down the opposing team’s shots and if they are going to give up a ton of shots on goal, avoid the high-danger scoring chances.

Oct 12, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Headsot of Montreal Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj (72) during the warmup period before the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /

4. Montreal Canadiens’ young defenders handled their first game well

For clarification, these two “quick hits” tie in with one another, with one being positive and one being negative, so I wanted to put them together on the same slide rather than rolling with three positives and two negatives just to re-visit a topic.

That said, it was great to see the Montreal Canadiens’ youthful defense core go out and handle their first game quite well. Kaiden Guhle made his NHL debut and played top-pairing minutes with ease. While there were things to clean up (we’ll get there), he handled his first NHL game well.

Arber Xhekaj also made his debut against the Leafs and brought that physical presence. While he was not involved in any fights, he threw the body around and was able to get things going. When Xhekaj got called for hooking, giving Kerfoot a penalty shot, he went on to miss, and the next shot on the broadcast was Chris Wideman grabbing Xhkeaj by the helmet and saying, “it’s over.”

This stuck out as Xhekaj was able to let that go and get back to it. It was a rookie mistake, and Xhekaj was able to learn from it. It was good to see Xhekaj learning on the fly and making adjustments.

While Jordan Harris and Johnathan Kovacevic did not make their debuts, they fared well, given the circumstances. Kovacevic was more than Harris as he was throwing the body around and playing a role in the defensive zone.

5. But Montreal Canadiens’ young defenders have work to do.

The last quick hit feeds off the fourth one; with the young defenders having a good performance, there is still work to do. The Leafs put up three goals, and at times there were some defensive responsibilities that were missed.

At times it felt like Jordan Harris was out of sorts and got outplayed by the opposition. Harris threw the body around, which was good to see, but there are certainly holes to clean up. This is not the biggest shock, though.

These are kids. Harris has played 10 NHL games which makes him the defender with the third most games played in the team’s defense core. Beyond that, since the Habs were playing the Leafs tonight, the broadcast shared that Mark Giordano has played more games in his career than all six Habs defensemen who were in the lineup tonight.

Things can “hopefully” only go up from here. So while there were a lot of positives from the youngsters’ performance in game one, there were things they can improve upon as well. On the bright side, the Habs finished on top and collected a victory.

Next. Martin St. Louis Comments Signal Long Rebuild Coming. dark

The Connor Bedard fans may be punching air, but it’s always nice to give the fans a win on home ice to kick off a season.

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