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Habs defeated by Leafs’ C team

 David Miller
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Habs defeated by Leafs’ C team
Credit: Getty Images
On this Saturday evening, the Canadiens faced the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Toronto had beaten the Habs a few days earlier.

Here are the starting line-ups for both teams.

For those of you who were tuning in, you’ve probably noticed that this was a pretty special match.

For the rest of you, here are my top 10 takeaways:

1. The injured

Obviously, it’s hard not to mention the injured.

Right from the start, Patrik Laine and David Reinbacher went down with injuries.

In Laine’s case, it looked much more serious. We hope it’s not the same injury as Kirby Dach, but let’s just say it doesn’t look good…

In Reinbacher’s case, the contact was much less severe, but his game was still over after 13 seconds.

2. Four defensemen for most of the game

Following Cédric Paré’s hit on Patrik Laine, Arber Xhekaj went after the Québécois and received a game misconduct.

With Reinbacher injured, the Habs played virtually the entire game with four defensemen: Lane Hutson, Mike Matheson, David Savard and Logan Mailloux.

In the second period, Lucas Condotta came to the aid of the defensemen by playing a few shifts at the blue line. He didn’t do too badly.

Here’s the final playing time of the four real defensemen:

  • Mike Matheson 27:08
  • Lane Hutson 25:16
  • David Savard 24:12
  • Logan Mailloux 21:36

3. I heard Xhekaj was gone

When Xhekaj was kicked out of the game, it was as if the players had forgotten Paré’s gesture towards Laine.

The Toronto defenseman wasn’t too busy…

I understand it’s a preseason game, but after his dangerous gesture (not penalized), there must be more replicas: stick blows, body checks, fights…

4. Juraj Slafkovsky and Josh Anderson throw down the gloves

Speaking of fights, Slafkovsky and Anderson threw down the gloves, but not against Paré.

In fact, both took on Toronto defensemen, but none with the first name Cédric.

During the preparatory schedule, I don’t like to see this, especially since both opponents were Marlies players and weren’t necessarily very small…

Slaf and Andy will start the season with the big club, them.

5. The guys came out flatter in the second half

The first period clearly frustrated the boys, and Martin St-Louis’ speech at intermission clearly didn’t whip his troupe into shape.

In the second period, despite numerous chances and powerplay advantages, the play was scrappy and sloppy.

Passes were imprecise, shots were off target… Not easy to play hockey on September 28…

6. Another game that wasn’t played 5-on-5

After Tuesday’s game, Martin St-Louis said he wanted to play a 5-on-5 game. And let’s just say he didn’t get his wish.

Especially early in the game, Toronto took a lot of penalties. Did the officials want to take back the no-call for the knee strike on Laine?

Still, the powerplay didn’t score.

It’s not doing very well, in any case.

Is it because of Alex Burrows’ departure? The five-man forward hasn’t scored in 20 chances since the start of the pre-season schedule (0/7 tonight).

7. Nick Roberston has the Canadiens’ number

Both Leafs’ goals were scored by Nich Robertson, who has the Canadiens’ number.

Going back to the last game, he scored his team’s last three goals.

In the third period, he hurt the Habs badly with a goal that Cayden Primeau would certainly like to see again.

Here’s his first goal of the match:

8. It would be hard to be in the mix without Patrik Laine

We still don’t know how many games Patrik Laine will miss (we’ll know more tomorrow), but if his season were well and truly over, it would be hard to be in the mix.

We know that in Montreal, that’s the goal.

With a top-6 of Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Kirby Dach, Juraj Slafkovsky, Joshua Roy and Alex Newhook and in a competitive division, I wouldn’t see Montreal anywhere near the playoffs…

One last top-5 pick before the more glorious seasons begin?

9. P.K. Subban had some fun

For Habs fans, the game was ruined pretty quickly.

Personally, I didn’t have a smile on my face for long.

P.K. Subban had fun. He even got a standing ovation.

10. Cuts to be expected

The Habs were supposed to make cuts on Thursday; they didn’t.

Expect players to be cut in the coming hours. Lucas Condotta, Jared Davidson, who seemed to have scored, and Sean Farrell, who played on the fourth line, may have been playing their last preparatory game.

With Laine’s injury, there might be an opening, however. Could one of them avoid the axe? I’d put my money on Oliver Kapanen and Owen Beck.

That said, it was a game to forget for the Habs, who lost 2-1 to the Marlies. Kirby Dach closed the gap late in the game (6 to 5), but it was too little too late.


Extension

– Ouf.

– Frank Corrado enjoyed watching Slaf fight.

– The two teams still don’t like each other.

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