A loss for the CH against the Hurricanes in the season opener

Michaël Petit
A loss for the CH against the Hurricanes in the season opener
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Carolina Hurricanes for the season opener at the Bell Centre. It was a rematch of the conference finals.

What stood out during player introductions was that there were boos when Chris Kreider and Kirby Dach were introduced.

It was to be expected that there would be some tension during the game because of the last playoffs.

Things had gotten heated during the playoffs, and with it being an opening game at the Bell Centre, it was clear the players wanted to put on a show for their fans.

Here is the Habs' lineup for tonight's game, with Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen out due to injury:

Unfortunately for the Habs, the Canes quickly opened the scoring in the game.

Taylor Hall found the back of the net after Juraj Slafkovsky and Jayden Struble turned the puck over on the same play.

However, less than a minute later, Zachary Bolduc brought the crowd to its feet at the Bell Centre.

Phillip Danault and Alexandre Texier assisted on the goal.

And one minute after Bolduc's goal, captain Nick Suzuki gave his team the lead following a great play by Chris Kreider. Kreider and Lane Hutson each earned an assist.

As Greg Lanctot said, the boos directed at Kreider should stop.

It's safe to say that this first line has been working very well so far.

That was already the fifth goal by this line.

Florian Xhekaj was added to the lineup since Demidov is expected to miss between two and four weeks of action.

He quickly made his physical presence felt. However, he was often a step behind the play and didn't make the right decisions, as Maxime Truman pointed out.

This game was definitely very offense-oriented.

Midway through the first period, the Hurricanes tied the game thanks to Eric Robinson on a somewhat lucky play.

However, the Canadiens had no intention of heading back to the locker room without a lead.

Who else but Zachary Bolduc to put his team back in the lead? He scored his second goal of the game on a power play. Alexandre Texier and Alex Newhook each recorded an assist on the goal.

Bolduc now has three goals in three games to start the season.

After 20 minutes, the score was 3-2 in favor of the Habs.

Unfortunately, the Habs fell back into their bad habits from the second period.

It took just four minutes for the Hurricanes to tie the game again.

Sebastian Aho scored his team's third goal, and Mark Jankowski gave his team the lead with just under seven minutes remaining in the second period.

Florian Xhekaj was unable to catch Noah Dobson's backhand lob pass, which ultimately led to Jankowski's goal.

After 40 minutes, the score was 4-3 in favor of the Canes, who held a 29-10 lead in shots on goal…

It really wasn't a good period for the Flanelle.

To start the third period, Martin St-Louis decided to shake things up.

Juraj Slafkovský was back on the first line, and Kreider was on the second line.

However, the top line has been performing quite well so far, and Slafkovský didn't have a strong game.

Moments into the third period, Nick Suzuki was called for a two-minute penalty for goaltender interference, even though the point of contact was outside the blue line. Fans were furious with the referees.

Meanwhile, Jakub Dobes lost his glove and even managed to make a save without it, with his hand behind his back, before play was stopped.

Taylor Hall, however, got the better of Dobes a few minutes later by scoring his second goal of the game.

We know the Habs have often shown us they can come back from behind, and Juraj Slafkovsky (who played pretty poorly in the game) decided to get the ball rolling with the Habs' fourth goal to cut the deficit in half.

Kreider and Suzuki teamed up on that goal.

Unfortunately, the Habs weren't able to complete the comeback, and the Canes scored into an empty net.

Final score: 6-4 for the Hurricanes.

The Habs' next game will take place Thursday night at the Bell Centre, when the Nashville Predators come to town.


Overtime

– Both teams were VERY undisciplined in this game. Special teams were in action very frequently, especially in the second period. A total of 30 penalty minutes were assessed during the game.

– Florian and Arber Xhekaj weren't afraid to dish out hits. The two brothers led the Habs in that category (along with Noah Dobson) with three hits each.

– As usual, Phillip Danault was excellent in the faceoff circle. He won 62.5% of his faceoffs.

– Zachary Bolduc saw a bit more ice time in the second half of the game, but he could very well see even more playing time, especially when he's producing like this.

– Overall, the Habs really didn't have a good game, but Lane Hutson was the team's best player. He was everywhere.

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