Canadian 4 – Maple Leafs 3 | An almost perfect evening

If the Canadian offers such performances all season, it may not be so bad after all.

Richard Labbe
The Press

This if is a very big if, unclassifiable, sibylline, which must be taken with the greatest of precautions. It is well known, with ifs, we go to Paris, but with ifs, we do not win the Stanley Cups in October either.

Except that none of that seemed very important on this festive Wednesday evening at the Bell Center, the first of this 2022-2023 season.

An evening started with a complete presentation of the players, during which a hero of the very recent past, goalkeeper Carey Price, made the crowd jump one last time, before turning around, cowboy hat screwed on his head, and set off again towards the setting sun, like Lucky Luke before him.

Shortly after, Captain Nick Suzuki came with the torch, again this torch that we bring out like that, on occasion, when it’s really important and we have to whip the troops, the fans and the pigeons that occasionally fly between these walls. “It was incredible,” said young Juraj Slafkovsky with a sigh at the end of the game.

Incredible as the final mark, finally: Canadian 4, Toronto 3.

There was something in the air, that’s for sure. When Nylander went 3-3 in the end, these Maple Leafs already favored by many to take it all – they had to do it last year, then the other before, and then the other before, but no – would no doubt push each other with the win.

But that was without counting on the magic that happens here on occasion, less often than at the Forum, but probably more often than in Toronto, and with only 19 seconds on the clock, Josh Anderson decided no, that was not going to happen like this.

“It was like a dream,” added Slafkovsky. My first game here, we beat Toronto… what else could you ask for? »

Not far from there, another young man found it hard to believe.

“I can’t imagine how loud it was screaming in the square,” said another young man, named Arber Xhekaj, laughing. I couldn’t even hear myself talking on the bench. These fans are amazing, really…”

Before Anderson, Cole Caufield had put two in, Suzuki had added an assist, as had Harris and Dach… Aside from Monahan, there weren’t many old people on that score sheet, and again, Monahan is 28 …

It should be remembered here that in addition to Slafkovsky and Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle was also in the first game of his life in the NHL. Three recruits in training, like that, it’s not the club of 1986 (there were eight!), But all the same.

“Kaiden has improved so much every day and this time he just took another step forward,” coach Martin St-Louis said. We arrived here and there was a lot of emotion, and I can’t wait to see the young people go when the routine has settled in. There, you come to the arena, you are inspired just when you arrive, but when the routine sets in, the emotion drops a little. I can’t wait to see how they will behave at that time. »

Because there will be ups and downs. How could it not be otherwise? In addition to the three rookies, we could add the names of Harris, Kovacevic or Dach, who have not played in the NHL for years. “It wasn’t perfect, they made mistakes, but also good things,” noted St-Louis.

Perhaps the most encouraging end is Guhle’s play. For Slafkovsky and Xhekaj, we felt at times that things were going a little fast, but in the case of the defender at number 21? It was not going fast at all, although he was helped by his partner David Savard, author of nine (!) blocked shots.

“It was going fast, faster than during the preparatory calendar, admitted the young man. But that’s okay. The team was very well prepared… I know I’m going to make mistakes, but the important thing is how you recover from those mistakes. »

At the end of the evening, Guhle went to join his two young friends in the center of the locker room, and the three rookies took the break, match pucks in hand, a question of immortalizing the moment.

There are 81 more games left, and the result won’t be as perfect every time. But on this Wednesday in October, in any case, for these three recruits, it was an almost perfect evening.

In details

Under the gaze of… Richard Zednik!

Him, we did not expect him in the locker room. Richard Zednik, the former Canadian, was on hand for this duel and he came to greet his compatriot Juraj Slafkovsky, who had just experienced his NHL baptism. “He has the same number as me! “, underlined an amused Zednik. He did not often see his protege in action, since Slafkovsky was only used 10 minutes, in particular because of the many penalties. But Zednik knows him better for having seen him do it with the national team of Slovakia, where he shone. “He’s really big in Slovakia,” noted the former winger. He was the best player for the national team at the Olympics and the World Championship. He’s my son’s favorite player! His advice for Slafkovsky? “I told him to enjoy the city. You play in Montreal, people like hockey. Forget what is said outside, go to the arena and have fun. Zednik was making a whirlwind four-day visit to Montreal, notably to visit his daughter, who lives in the region. “She and her boyfriend wanted to attend the game. This is the first time I’ve been to Montreal since the pandemic. We can finally travel! »

When David becomes Goliath

All eyes were on the four recruits who make up two-thirds of the Canadian’s defensive brigade. Knowing that Chris Wideman was one of the two “veterans” of the group, that left a lot on the shoulders of David Savard. The maskoutain colossus did not play a perfect match, but his sense of sacrifice did not go unnoticed. He blocked nine shots, including just six in the final 11 minutes, and Jake Allen noticed. “He played I don’t know how many minutes, he played a whole match, he helped the youngsters. He is a very good resource, ”he said first, before adding to it. “He’s a good person. We need good people first, and then we can think about hockey. On the ice, he’s so consistent, he blocks shots, he plays tough minutes and he never gets credit. His partner, Kaiden Guhle, was more concise. “He won the Stanley Cup, he knows what it takes to win. When he blocks shots, he makes others want to do it, ”said the young man.

Anderson’s contribution

The proverbial “space-creating” player rarely gets as much attention as his more talented teammates. That’s how it looked for Josh Anderson, before he scored the game-winning goal 19 seconds from the end of the third period: good plays here and there, but no highlights. Still, Cole Caufield’s first scoring chance came as Anderson struggled up the ramp to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Ditto for Caufield’s first goal; because he tackled defender Morgan Rielly deep in CH territory, Anderson eliminated a player from the equation, allowing Caufield and Nick Suzuki to go two against one. “Josh always brings speed, a bit of toughness too. We also know that he has a good shot. Tonight, he took his shot at the right time,” noted Martin St-Louis.

They said

Interview by Richard Labbé and Guillaume Lefrançois, The Press

Rising

Kaiden Guhlé

In his first game in the NHL, he was the most used player (22 min 16 s)… of both teams!

Falling

Evgenii Dadonov

A big blunder on the Leafs’ third base, and very soft play overall.

The number of the match

3

For the first time since October 1995, the Canadiens had three rookies on their roster to start their season. Saku Koivu, Marko Kiprusoff and Patrick Labrecque had been the three youngsters last time out.