The Montreal Canadiens’ hopes were swept away by those of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the Face-à-face des espoirs, this weekend at the Bell Centre, but several players demonstrated their qualities during these two games.
Easton Cowan broke the tie late in the third period and the Maple Leafs won 5-4 on Sunday.
The Toronto club’s hopes won 4-3 in a shootout on Saturday.
Emil Heineman, Jared Davidson, Tyler Thorpe and Logan Mailloux scored for the Canadiens. Matteo Drobac stopped 25 shots.
Roni Hirvonen, with a pair, Sam McCue and Marshall Finnie were the other Maple Leafs scorers. Artur Akhtyamov allowed two goals on 21 shots before giving way to Vyacheslav Peksa midway through the second period. Peksa stopped 16 shots.
The Canadiens’ rookie camp will continue until Tuesday, with the main camp starting the following day.
On Monday, the Canadiens players and management will participate in their traditional golf tournament at the Laval-sur-le-Lac club.
Another good duel
The Maple Leafs opened the scoring just 1:26 into the game. Hirvonen tipped in a Cade Webber pass in the opening frame.
Hutson made his first appearance a few moments later. He made a nice zone entry before giving the puck back to Sean Farrell. Akhtyamov made the save.
The Habs threatened on the power play. Akhtyamov made another nice save on Davidson, then Riley Kidney missed the target a little later.
Hutson continued to get the crowd on their feet, making some nice plays in the offensive zone. However, he was unable to set up a real scoring opportunity.
The Maple Leafs got a power play late in the first period. Drobac shut the door with five saves.
Hirvonen, however, returned to the charge after 43 seconds of play in the second period. He scored on a rebound.
The Canadiens got going by scoring on a power play at 4:31. Heineman scored on a rebound after a one-timer from Logan Mailloux on a cross-ice pass from Farrell.
The Habs tied the game 44 seconds later. Davidson beat Akhtyamov off a pass from Charles Savoie during a two-on-one situation created by a nice rush from David Reinbacher.
The Maple Leafs regained the lead just 65 seconds later. Topi Niemela missed the target, but McCue put it in after a favourable rebound off the boards.
Peksa marked his arrival in goal for the Leafs with a spectacular save against Farrell midway through the second period.
The Canadiens tied it again 3:09 into the third period. Florian Xhekaj connected with Thorpe, who was darting between defenders, and the British Columbian scored with a backhand shot.
The Habs’ prospects continued to threaten the opposing net. However, it was the Leafs’ who scored with 9:04 left on the clock. Finnie scored on a rebound after a shot by Matthew Barbolini.
Mailloux put everyone back in the game with 5:12 left, scoring with a precise shot after a favorable bounce of the boards.
However, the Maple Leafs regained the lead for good with 1:33 left on the power play. Cowan’s shot slipped through Drobac’s equipment and just crossed the goal line.