(Toronto) The Canadian’s young players offered good opposition to a more seasoned group on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena, and goalie Jakub Dobes allowed them to stay in the game.
Nicholas Robertson broke the tie late in the second period and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal hockey club 2-1 in a preseason game.
Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia were the most experienced forwards in the Habs lineup, while Arber Xhekaj was the oldest defender despite being only 23 years old.
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The Maple Leafs controlled the game for the majority of the first two periods before seeing the Canadian attempt a final charge in the third period.
“We were counting on a lot of young players and I wouldn’t say they were intimidated, but maybe they needed a period to say ‘ok, we’re in Toronto against the big club,’” he said. Canadian head coach, Martin St-Louis. I liked how they calmed down and started playing.
“The guys fought. The effort was there, the commitment, the collective intentions. The guys worked hard,” he added.
Dobes shone in front of the Habs net. He made 32 saves, including 27 in the first 40 minutes of play.
“He played really well,” St-Louis said of the 23-year-old Czech. He gave us a chance to calm down, to breathe. »
“To date, he leaves a nice business card,” he also said.
Dobes said he felt more mature than at this time last year, when he was preparing to play his first season in the professional ranks.
“I understand that after a good match, you have to start again the next day, because there is always someone who wants to steal your chair,” he stressed. Tomorrow is another day and I have to get back to work and prove to the coaches that I belong here. »
PHOTO COLE BURSTON, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Adam Engstrom (42) chases Easton Cowan (53)
Dvorak scored the only goal for the Canadian, who had won his first two preparatory games by shutout.
Defenseman Lane Hutson once again made some nice moves in the offensive zone. On the attack, Oliver Kapanen stood out a little more often than the discreet Owen Beck. Luke Tuch also disturbed the opponent thanks to his robustness.
John Tavares was the other Maple Leafs scorer. Anthony Stolarz allowed one goal on 10 shots in the first two periods of play. Matt Murray then stopped seven shots in the third period.
The Maple Leafs lost the services of star forward William Nylander in the first period. He was hit in the head by a knee from Christian Dvorak after falling on the ice.
For his part, Tavares appeared to injure his leg in the first period when he took a hit from Michael Pezzetta. After remaining in the game, he only made two appearances on the ice during the third period.
The Canadian will continue their preparatory schedule on Saturday, when they welcome the Maple Leafs to the Bell Centre.
A different scenario
Even though the Maple Leafs quickly controlled the game, it was the Canadian who got the first good chance to score. Joshua Roy, however, hit the crossbar.
The Maple Leafs subsequently threatened on a numerical penalty. Dobes was vigilant against Chris Tanev, then Pontus Holmberg, each time on set-ups by Mitch Marner.
Tavares opened the scoring on another nice pass from Marner, this time on the power play and at 10:12 of the first period. Posted at the mouth of the net, Tavares was forgotten by defenders Jayden Struble and David Reinbacher and he only had to deflect Marner’s delivery in the opening.
Dobes made another great save late in the first period, when he pulled out his glove to catch a point-blank shot from Easton Cowan.
Robertson beat the Czech goalkeeper early after intermission, but his backhand shot hit the post.
Struble generated two chances for the Canadian in the same sequence, but his teammates were unable to complete the plays.
Dvorak finally tied the game 1-1 at 5:43. Alex Barré-Boulet took advantage of an errant pass to recover the puck at the top of Maple Leafs territory. He joined Dvorak, who appeared alone in front of Stolarz and beat the Maple Leafs goaltender between the pads.
Dobes kept the Canadian in the game for several minutes with several saves, including two spectacular right pads against Simon Benoit and Bobby McMann.
However, he was unable to do anything with 1:56 left in the second period, when Robertson appeared alone in front of him after stealing the puck from Adam Engström.
The Canadian finally continued the streaks in the Maple Leafs zone in the third period.
Hutson hit the post with just under six minutes remaining. Murray was then vigilant at the expense of Engström after a nice crossfield pass from Beck.
The Canadian, however, was unable to organize himself after replacing Dobes with an additional attacker.