The Canadiens have lost all of their preseason games, but the players remain in good spirits heading into the regular season.
Drake Batherson scored on the power play in overtime and the Ottawa Senators defeated Montreal 3-2 on Saturday at the JK Irving Centre.
The meeting was held in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, as part of the Kraft Hockeyville Canada contest.
By virtue of this setback, the Canadian ends his camp with a record of 0-6-2.
“There are a lot of positives,” defender Jordan Harris said. Yes, we had a lot of young players, but we wanted to win. We are all competitors and we have our pride. The guys worked hard. Victories are important and they will be the result of our progress as a team. »
Harris added that the losing streak was addressed by players and coaches in the locker room, but morale for everyone in the organization was still high.
“It honors the players and the coaches,” Harris said. It would have been easy to get down and affected by the situation. It’s the other way around in the locker room and that says a lot about the players, the coaches and the leadership group. »
The Senators had left out several veterans on Saturday, including Brady Tkachuk, Claude Giroux, Alex DeBrincat and Thomas Chabot. That didn’t stop them from beating the Canadian for a fourth time during camp.
General manager Kent Hughes and his advisers will now have decisions to make in order to reduce the Canadiens’ roster to 23 players.
Head coach Martin St-Louis pointed out that the state of health of many players will dictate certain decisions. Christian Dvorak, Mike Hoffman, Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia are notably struggling with injuries.
“I would have liked to be able to count on everyone for the last games, but it’s something that’s out of our control,” said St-Louis.
“We will go back (to Montreal), enjoy a day off (Sunday), and then we will reassess the situation,” he added.
Cole Caufield has once again signaled that he is ready for the season. Caufield scored a fourth power-play goal in camp with a perfect shot into the top left corner of the net.
Last draft first choice Juraj Slafkovsky had a good game, setting the stage for scoring opportunities from Rem Pitlick and Josh Anderson. He also came close to scoring in the second period and stood out thanks to good withdrawals.
“He played two good games,” St-Louis said of Slafkovsky’s performances in the two games in the Maritimes. ” He’s implicated. We see that he is more comfortable on small ice rinks. I am happy with his performance. »
Defender Kaiden Guhle was once again one of the Habs’ best players. Guhle notably scored his third goal of the preparatory calendar.
Harris, Guhle, Justin Barron, Arber Xhekaj and Corey Schueneman were in their last audition on Saturday. Chris Wideman was the only uniformed veteran on the blue line.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say I’m going to be a little nervous over the next few days,” Guhle admitted.
“Whatever happens, the good news for the fans is that everyone showed great things and they have good reason to be encouraged by the group of young defensemen,” added Harris.
Jake Allen, who hails from Fredericton, New Brunswick, made 26 saves in net for the Canadiens.
Derick Brassard and Scott Sabourin also scored for the Senators. Magnus Hellberg stopped 18 shots.
The Canadiens begin their regular schedule on Wednesday, when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.