The Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators players had smoke coming out of their ears after the teams met Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. And once again, it was just a preseason game.
The Senators scored four times on the power play and beat the Canadiens 4-3.
A dangerous check by Ridly Greig on Kirby Dach got the Canadiens’ blood boiling in the first period. Arber Xhekaj’s response to Tim Stützle in the second period, however, was beyond the pale and the Habs defenseman was sent off for the second straight game.
Dach returned to the game, while Stützle and Brady Tkachuk, who came to his defense by throwing his gloves in front of Xhekaj, saw their work nights end. Both suffered facial cuts.
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot did not finish the game as a precaution.
Greig and Dach came to blows in the third period and both players were sent to the locker room for the remainder of the night.
After the game, members of both camps were still furious and wondered how it had all gotten so out of hand during a preseason game. Especially since in the Canadiens’ case, it was the second game in a row of this kind, after Saturday’s against the Maple Leafs.
“It can be ugly during the preseason. Hopefully the next game will be cleaner and we’ll all stay healthy for the start of the season,” said Canadiens forward Jake Evans.
Would the situation have escalated the same way in a regular season game, with something at stake?
“Maybe we would have reacted differently,” defenceman David Savard said. “But with the last two games, there’s a lot of frustration in the group. You don’t want to see the best players in the league get hit like that. We want them on the ice, not in the infirmary.”
Oliver Kapanen, Jake Evans and Dach scored for the Canadiens. Cayden Primeau made 12 saves.
Alex Barré-Boulet had a strong game for the Habs, even if he didn’t blacken the score sheet. Kapanen also looked good during a try on the wing.
Carter Yakemchuk and Adam Gaudette each had a goal and an assist, while Michael Amadio and Greig also scored for the Senators. Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots.
Before the game, the Canadiens recalled forwards Lucas Condotta and Luke Tuch from the Laval Rocket. They were demoted after the game.
The Canadiens will train at the CN Sports Complex early Wednesday morning. They will then head to Mont-Tremblant for a few days before completing their pre-season schedule with a visit to the Senators on Saturday night.
Senators Advantage
Barré-Boulet made his mark during his first appearances on the ice, causing two turnovers in neutral territory to launch counterattacks.
He also attempted a pass to Christian Dvorak at the mouth of the net, but the veteran center was unable to complete the maneuver.
The Canadiens opened the scoring at 13:05 of the first period. Evans intercepted a Yakemchuk clearance at the Senators blue line, advanced to the faceoff circle and beat Ullmark glove side.
Emil Heineman also had a great scoring opportunity for the Habs. He got past defenseman Jake Sanderson and charged to the net. His backhand shot, however, hit the post.
It was after that that things started to get ugly. Greig tried to check Dach, who had gotten rid of the puck. The Canadiens forward never saw his rival coming and he remained lying on the ice for a moment, before retreating to the locker room under his own power.
Greig was assessed a minor penalty for interference on the play.
“I would have liked him to be sent off regardless of whether the hit was fair or not, otherwise it would have snowballed and that’s what happened,” Evans said.
Dach returned to the game for the start of the second period, but the two teams had already begun to exchange pleasantries.
Michael Pezzetta tried first to get at Greig, then Jayden Struble applied a hard check on the Senators forward. That led to players from both teams staring at each other for a long time near the red line before finally retreating to the locker room.
The Canadiens doubled their lead at 4:01, when a pass from Dach to Joel Armia deflected off the stick of Senators forward Matthew Highmore before sliding under Ullmark and into the goal.
The match turned around when Xhekaj attempted a move on Stützle in a manner similar to Greig’s move on Dach. However, Xhekaj appeared to hit his rival in the head.
Tkachuk immediately came to his teammate’s defense.
Canadiens head coach Martin St-Louis came to the defense of his giant-sized defenseman, refuting the theory that Xhekaj’s check was in response to Greig’s check on Dach.
“He was playing the game and it happens fast,” St. Louis said. “You can watch the replays, but live it looked like a hockey game to me.”
Xhekaj was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct.
The Senators took advantage of this power play to score three times.
Amadio first scored on a rebound at 11:16, Gaudette then tied it 2-2 with a precise glove-side shot at 14:02, then Greig gave the Senators the lead with a nice passing play at 14:50.
The Canadiens briefly thought they had answered before the end of the second period, but the replay confirmed that Struble’s shot had crossed the goal line with time remaining on the clock.
The Senators instead made it 4-2 in their favour 1:51 into the third period. Yakemchuk beat Primeau with a powerful one-timer while Armia was in the penalty box.
After a few face-offs, Dach and Greig finally threw down the gloves midway through the third period. Dach got his own back by landing a few punches on his rival.
The spectators chanted the name of the Canadiens forward as he headed to the locker room.
Kapanen got the Canadiens back on track, taking advantage of a rebound at 13:55 after Joshua Roy charged towards the net.
The Habs made one last push after replacing Primeau with an extra attacker. Ullmark saved the game with his glove against Evans with 1:20 left on the clock.
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