Hockey

Cole Caufield gives the Habs victory in their home opener
Félix Forget
Cole Caufield gives the Habs victory in their home opener
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

After three games on the road, the Canadiens finally played their first game of the season at the Bell Centre. And for the occasion, the Seattle Kraken were in town. For the occasion, Martin St-Louis kept the same lineup as the one we've seen since the start of the season.And unsurprisingly, Samuel Montembeault was in front of the net.

On the Kraken side, the club is without the services of Kaapo Kakko, an important piece of its forward group.

Before the game, we were treated to the classic pre-game ceremony, during which Lane Hutson received a monster ovation.The tribute to Ken Dryden was also a highlight.

So the Habs were propelled by their fans at the start of the game…. and Ivan Demidov gave them another reason to celebrate: he was there with a beautiful pass to Alex Newhook.And it allowed the latter to score his team's first goal at home this season.

After 20 minutes, the score was 1-0 in favor of the Canadiens. Early in the second period, Mike Matheson took a penalty that gave the Kraken a powerplay.And Jaden Schwartz took advantage of it to tie the score.

But minutes later, the Habs' top line took advantage of an offensive zone sequence.And that gave Cole Caufield his fifth career goal in a home opener.

Now, just before the end of the period, Jani Nyman deflected a shot to bring everyone back to square one.We're talking about a pretty… bizarre.

After 40 minutes, the score was 2-2.

Very early in the third period, Noah Dobson directed a puck toward the net… and Kirby Dach deflected it into the back of the net.It was Dach's first goal since January 23.

But once again, the Kraken found a way to tie the score: Jamie Oleksiak took advantage of traffic in front of the net to score his team's third goal.a major league shot.

Then, a few minutes later, the Kraken took the lead for the first time in the game.Jared McCann was alert on the sequence, allowing him to give his team the lead.

Late in the game, the Canadiens took advantage of a power play… and the club took advantage of it: Patrik Laine played with patience before handing the puck to Demidov, who was also patient.And that allowed him to tie the score late in the third period.

So, overtime was needed to decide the tie… And in the end, it went in the Habs' favor: Cole Caufield gave his team the win.

Final score: 5-4 Montréal (Prol.) The Canadiens return to action on Thursday evening, when the Nashville Predators visit the Bell Centre. The game kicks off at 7 p.m.

'Prolongation'

– It was a strange game at the Bell Centre tonight. The Habs seemed to lack energy as the game progressed, but Ivan Demidov managed to reinvigorate the club late in the third period. The referees didn't have a great night's work either, but that can't be an excuse– Late in the third period, Brendan Gallagher took Patrik Laine's place on the Jake Evans line.

It's also worth noting that Kirby Dach took Oliver Kapanen's place at Ivan Demidov's center and Alex Newhook's at the end of the game. Interesting.

– The quality of the ice was clearly not optimal tonight. We saw a lot of falls on the ice, which hurt both teams. Maybe the fire on the ice before the game didn't help, hehe– Nothing less.

– Interesting. Was he here to see Nick Suzuki, Noah Dobson, Samuel Montembeault… or all of them?

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