When the lineups were revealed on Thursday, Montreal Canadiens fans thought their team would have no trouble handling the Toronto Maple Leafs’ watered-down lineup. Their stars had the night off, while Martin St-Louis decided to dress his top two lines and his first pairing. Kaiden Guhle was initially slated to play, but he ultimately sat out due to maintenance reasons, after the game, we were told that he was day-to-day with a groin injury, just like Noah Dobson who didn't finish the game. David Reinbacher was unable to finish as well, but evaluation is still underway for him at the time of writing.
A Tougher Night At The Office For Montembeault
If Samuel Montembeault was fantastic in his first game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was far from stellar in net against the old enemy. He surrendered two goals on the first four shots he faced. One beat him from the side, won a snap shop, and with no one preventing him from seeing it, while the second trickled down between his pads. He gave up a third goal before the end of the first frame, but he was screened entirely on that one. Still, the Canadiens were down 3-1 after 20 minutes, and Montembeault was part of the reason why.
The Leafs added another two goals in the middle frame, but those two were deflections that Montembeault couldn’t really have done much on.
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Demidov and Laine Link Up On Power Play
The joyous occasions were rare at the Bell Center, but in the second frame, the Canadiens got a power play opportunity, and Patrik Laine found the back of the net with a one-timer. That we’re used to; what we’re not used to, however, is the no-look cross-zone pass from Demidov to set it up.
The Russian has tremendous talent, accuracy, and deception skills. He’ll need to mix it up a bit, though, as he tried the same pass to Laine later in the period and the Leafs saw it coming.
The Coach Was Disappointed
St-Louis was to the point after the 7-2 loss to a Maple Leafs team his men should have beaten, at least on paper:
I think we were outworked tonight. They had more energy, more effort, everything. It wasn’t a good game for us. I look at our camp, and it’s the first day that I can say I’m disappointed. […] Up until now, we’ve had good involvement, but tonight, it was subpar. You’ve got to be sure it’s a one-off and it won’t happen again.- St-Louis on his team's effort
Questioned about his second line, the bench boss’s tone said it all; he wasn’t impressed, and when asked if there was pressure to make sure it works before the season, he explained:
Yeah, and it’s not even offensively, you know, to me it’s the defensive part of the game, that’s not as fun, you know. That’s got to be doubted now.- St-Louis on his second line
Clearly, St-Louis wants a team that is committed to playing a complete game. He doesn’t want passengers who only turn up in the offensive zone when there’s a scoring chance.
As for Patrik Laine, when asked what was lacking tonight, he confessed:
I think it was execution. I think guys, myself included, were sleeping a little bit. Simple mistakes cost us today. We’ve been working super hard in practice, but you have to execute when it’s game time.- Laine on Thursday night's game
Overall, this was an awful game for the vast majority of players, and you could feel how deflated St-Louis was in his post-game press conference. Something tells me the level of effort will have to be much better in Toronto on Saturday night. Preseason or not, a 7-2 defeat against a B-version of an NHL team just won’t cut it.
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