(Montreal) If the Canadiens players had said the day before that they felt a particular enthusiasm for facing the Toronto Maple Leafs even during the preparatory schedule, that did not appear on Friday evening at the Bell Centre.
The two teams played a match without animosity and with modest intensity. The visitors benefited from goals from Matthew Knies and Mikko Kokkonen to defeat the Montreal team 2-1.
The Habs only had eight established players, while the Leafs also opted for their B or C club.
Few players stood out for the Canadian. The trio of Owen Beck, Jesse Ylönen and Joshua Roy were the most dynamic, while the colossus John Parker-Jones knocked on the door a few times in the second period.
Josh Anderson scored late in the third period to add some spice to the end of the game.
In the heart of a fight for a position on the right flank of the defense, Justin Barron made a blunder on the Maple Leafs’ first goal. Gustav Lindstrom also had a mixed game.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Matthew Knies and Justin Barron
Logan Mailloux was also more discreet than his first outing, which is not necessarily a bad sign. If he managed fewer spectacular climbs, he also made fewer errors in his territory.
Cayden Primeau, who hopes to force the hand of the Canadian management and start the season with the big club, made 24 saves. He had nothing to reproach himself for in the two goals he allowed, but sometimes allowed dangerous returns.
In front of the Maple Leafs net, Ilya Samsonov was perfect against 17 shots in the first two periods. Keith Petruzzelli took over in the third period and gave up once against seven shots.
The Canadian will host the Maple Leafs again on Saturday evening at the Bell Centre, in the fourth of their six preparatory games.
Calm evening
The first 9:08 of play was played without interruption, but neither team was particularly threatening.
For the Canadian, the trio of Beck, Ylönen and Roy caused a few turnovers without being able to challenge Samsonov.
At the other end of the ice, Primeau had to be alert against Ryan Reaves on a return shot.
The game got a little livelier in the second half. Parker-Jones had a few chances from the slot, but he didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet.
The Maple Leafs opened the scoring shorthanded at 10:23. Fraser Minten made Barron lose control of the puck behind his net. Minten followed up with a pass at the top of the slot to Knies, who surprised Primeau on the glove side.
The Canadian lacked so much cohesion on the power play that spectators voiced their discontent after another failure in this situation midway through the second period.
The Maple Leafs widened the gap with 3:26 left in the second period. A Kokkonen point shot deflected off Beck before slipping through Primeau’s pads.
The Habs goalkeeper redeemed himself while Arber Xhekaj was in the cell. He frustrated Nicholas Robertson three times during the visitors’ power play.
David Kampf hit the post to Primeau’s right early in the third period, when his shot deflected off the tip of Xhekaj’s stick.
The Canadian continued to have problems on the power play in the final third. It took a powerful one-timer from Anderson on a pass from Monahan to restart the Canadian with 5:21 to go.