The stage was set for an epic battle at the Bell Centre on Saturday night. Even though the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs have both been struggling of late, this is the kind of rivalry matchup that brings out the best in everyone and plenty of away fans, making the building electric.
With both Xhekaj brothers playing, the Habs wasted no time throwing big hits, and while they weren’t shooting much on net, they built momentum that way and by killing a two-minute penalty.
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A Rare Saturday Night Home Start For Dobes
With Samuel Montembeault having been pulled from the last game, Martin St-Louis decided to give rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes a rare Saturday night start at the Bell Centre, and the coach didn’t regret his decision in the first frame.
While Toronto put 11 shots on net, Dobes stopped them all, even though he was almost beaten on a wrap-around after overplaying a shot to his right, but he got to the puck in extremis to make the save. Aside from that, we saw some safe and sound goaltending by the Czech netminder in the first frame. The one shot that did beat him ended its run on the crossbar, and there was no harm done.
Toronto finally broke through on their 15th shot of the night, a bullet of a shot from Oliver Ekmann Larson that got the best of Dobes. While he received only six shots in the second frame, he remained alert and tracked the puck pretty well. This is the kind of performance that could go a long way toward rebuilding his confidence.
The Canadiens played a deep game in the final frame, taking only three shots and attempting to manage both the game and the puck, but it still allowed the Leafs to see more of the puck and attack more. Dobes was steady, stopping eight of the nine shots he faced. Toronto did hit another puck, but you’ve got to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky, as they say.
When all was said and done, Dobes stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced, giving him a .923 save percentage, the kind of number he had accustomed us to earlier in the season.
A Successful Baptism Of Fire
Much had been made of Florian Xhekaj’s insertion in the lineup, and it turned out to be a good move by the Canadiens’ coach. St-Louis had said earlier in the day that he wanted the youngster to play his game in the Canadiens’ game, to be smart even if he’s walking the line, and that’s precisely what he did.
He seemed to energize his line, and after 40 minutes, four Habs had three hits: both Xhekaj brothers, Josh Anderson and Jayden Struble. On top of it, Anderson also scored his fourth goal of the season, a picture-perfect shot above Woll’s shoulder, and the youngest Xhekaj got his first career point on the play.
In the third frame, defenseman Dakota Mermis took some liberties with Brendan Gallagher, pushing and shoving him for a whole shift before ramming him into the Leafs’ net. The younger Xhekaj took note, and when he had a chance, he forced Mermis to answer the bell, sending the Bell Centre into a frenzy. The crowd loved it, and so did his teammates, who went to congratulate him in the box for taking care of his teammates. Meanwhile, his big brother was beaming with pride on the bench.
As first games go, it would have been hard to write a better scenario, as the hero of the night said himself, it would have been if he scored a goal, but he had no complaints. As for the coach, when asked about the youngster’s first game, he replied:
He played to his identity; he brought his game: his toughness, his pace, his presence.
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The coach also spoke about the coaching staff in Laval, crediting them with how ready the players recalled lately have been:
I tip my hat to the staff in Laval. We got a lot of call-ups recently, and the guys come, and they look ready; they don’t look out of place. I know there are other players that are knocking on the door too down there, our staff do a great job to facilitate the transition.
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With the way Xhekaj’s first game went, Joshua Roy shouldn’t expect to get back in the lineup anytime soon.
Slafkovsky’s Big Night
Tonight, Jujar Slafkovsky wasn’t on the top power-play unit; he had lost that spot to Ivan Demidov, and he still found himself skating on the second line alongside the young Russian and Oliver Kapanen. After a challenging game Thursday night against the Washington Capitals, the first overall pick of the 2022 draft stood very tall and shone bright.
The coach obviously liked what he saw:
Listen, tonight was one of his best games of the season. That’s his standard; we try to keep him there, and it’s hard. But you know, when he plays like that, he makes you want that all the time. […] I think for any young player, the last box to check is consistency. They show their ceiling, and it’s hard to find that consistency at a young age, but that’s what we’re after.
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Slafkovsky’s stat line was impressive on the night: two shots, two shots blocked and two missed ones; one hit, one takeaway and one blocked shot. But what was even more impressive was the confidence with which he skated, the awareness he showed on the ice and his ability to play an effective transition game. Furthermore, even though he didn’t get an assist on Noah Dobson’s first goal of the night, that wouldn’t have gone in if it hadn’t been for the way he screened the goaltender. He did get an assist on the second Dobson tally, however, a tic-tac-toe with Demidov and the blueliner.
In the end, the Canadiens secured a much-needed 5-2 win and showed they can still be a dominant team when they pay attention to the details and commit to both sides of the game. Granted, this was a depleted Leafs side missing its number one goaltender, its captain, Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, but the Canadiens have their own injury woes as well and just rose above.
The Canadiens will take a day off tomorrow. Still, they will be back on the ice in Brossard on Monday morning at 10:30. Their next three games will be out west, where they’ll take on the Utah Mammoth (a side they beat 6-2 two weeks ago, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche in the second game of a back-to-back.
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