The Canadiens’ young players put up a good fight against a more seasoned group on Thursday night at Scotiabank Arena, and goalie Jakub Dobes kept them 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.
The Maple Leafs controlled the game for most of the first two periods before seeing the Canadiens attempt a final charge in the third period.
“We had 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 team,'” Canadiens coach Martin St-Louis said. “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 great,” St-Louis said of the 23-year-old Czech. “He gave us a chance to calm down, to breathe.”
“To date, he has left a fine calling card,” he also said.
Dobes said he feels more mature than he did this time last year, when he was preparing to play his first professional season.
“I understand that after a good game you have to start all over again the next day because there is always someone who wants to steal your chair,” he said. “Tomorrow is another day and I have to get back to work and prove to the coaches that I belong here.”
Dvorak scored the only goal for the Canadiens, who had won their first two preseason games by shutout.
Defenseman Lane Hutson once again made some nice moves in the offensive zone. Up front, Oliver Kapanen was a bit more visible than Owen Beck, who was discreet. Luke Tuch also bothered the opponent with his robustness.
John Tavares had the other Maple Leafs goal. Anthony Stolarz allowed one goal on 10 shots in the first two periods. Matt Murray then stopped seven shots in the third period.
The Maple Leafs lost star forward William Nylander in the first period, when he was hit in the head by a knee from Christian Dvorak after falling to the ice.
For his part, Tavares appeared to injure a leg in the first period when he was hit by Michael Pezzetta. After remaining in the game, he made only two shifts in the third period.
The Canadiens will continue their preseason schedule on Saturday, when they host the Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.
A different scenario
Although the Maple Leafs quickly took control of the game, it was the Canadiens who had the first good scoring chance. Joshua Roy, however, hit the crossbar.
The Maple Leafs then threatened on the penalty kill. 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. Positioned at the mouth of the net, Tavares was overlooked by defensemen Jayden Struble and David Reinbacher and had only to deflect Marner’s pass into the opening.
Dobes made another nice save late in the first period, when he stuck out his glove to take a point-blank shot from Easton Cowan.
Robertson beat the Czech goalkeeper early after the interval, but his backhand shot hit the post.
Struble generated two chances for the Canadiens on the same sequence, but his teammates were unable to complete the plays.
Dvorak finally tied the game at 1-1 at 5:43. Alex Barré-Boulet took advantage of an errant pass to retrieve the puck high in the Maple Leafs’ zone. It connected with Dvorak, who got alone in front of Stolarz and beat the Maple Leafs goalie between the pads.
Dobes kept the Canadiens in the game for several minutes with several saves, including two spectacular right-pad saves against Simon Benoit and Bobby McMann.
He couldn’t do anything with 1:56 left in the second period, however, when Robertson found himself alone in front of him after stealing the puck from Adam Engström.
The Canadian finally chained the sequences in the Maple Leafs zone in the third period.
Hutson grazed the post with just under six minutes to go. Murray was then alert at Engström’s expense after a nice cross-field pass from Beck.
The Canadiens were unable to organize themselves after replacing Dobes with an extra attacker.
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