Canadiens vs. Senators: Pre-Season Finally Over

Both sides decided to err on the side of caution, with Montreal Canadiens’ bench boss Martin St-Louis deciding not to dress his first line or Kirby Dack. While the Ottawa Senators’ head honcho, Travis Green, gave the night off to Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, and Claude Giroux, to name a few. Both number-one goaltenders were on duty in net, with Samuel Montembeault taking on Linus Ullmark.

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The first frame saw three goals, with the Senators scoring the first two. One on a Joshua Roy turnover and the other on a five-on-three power play, both goals coming from Shane Pinto. As for the Canadiens, Dvorak got them on the board after Gallagher battled from in close to get him the puck in front of the net.

It took under two minutes for Zack MacEwen to come knocking on Arber Xhekaj’s door, probably to have a word about the Stutzle incident. The Sheriff waited long enough to make sure the Sens’ tough guy got the instigating call before answering the bell, but once he dropped the mitts, it was over in a flash. This is how Xhekaj can help his team, make a statement but stay in the game, that’s all I ask.

Related: Canadiens: The Pack Mentality, the Code and the Way Forward

Kaiden Guhle, playing his first game of the preseason, landed a big hit in open ice, which a couple of Sens objected to, but it was clean and showed the defenseman is ready to go, even though he underwent surgery for his appendix a little over two weeks ago.

Justin Barron saw eight minutes of action in the first frame, being called upon in all situations: even strength, man advantage, and penalty kill.

The Senators tripled their lead in the middle frame, Michael Amadio scored just 22 seconds in, and Pinto completed his hat trick, scoring a shorthanded marker, giving him a goal on each special unit and an even-strength goal. He dispossessed Alex Newhook on that shorty, who had absolutely no chance when Roy sent a pass right in his skates. It’s a tough game for the Beauceron and perhaps a costly one since he’s auditioning to play Patrik Laine’s part.

Related: Canadiens: How To Solve A Problem Like Laine’s Absence

The Canadiens could only muster six shots on goal in those 20 minutes and generated very little else. The highlight of the period for them was probably the fact that Xhekaj kept his temper in check when Pinto slashed Mailloux. He hit him as if to say, “I’m watching you,” but he didn’t cross the line. This is what St-Louis wants to see.

There was not much to write about in the final frame, aside from the fact that Xhekaj got the only goal of the period with a hard shot of the points that was deflected by a Senator. Guhle got an assist on the play and four blocked shots on the night, a successful debut for the blueliner.

Related: Canadiens: About the Guhle Contract…

St-Louis pulled Montembeault towards the end of the game to score a couple more, but it just wasn’t to be. Roy added another turnover to his name during what would turn out to be the Canadiens’ last real attacking sequence in what turned out to be a 4-2 defeat.

While the Montreal coach is still trying to figure out who deserves to play in the top six alongside Newhook and Dach, Roy most probably hurt his chances tonight with what has to be the lowest point of his already underwhelming camp.

Xhekaj undoubtedly had his best game tonight, not because he got on the scoreboard but because he showed he could control himself and play his role the right way. It’s certainly not a coincidence that he was finally made available to the media tonight for the first time since the Laine injury.

This is, without a doubt, the strangest pre-season I’ve seen. St-Louis started camp with the lines he hoped to deploy on October 9, and in the end, none of those lines took part in the final exhibition game, which usually serves as a last rehearsal. Injuries have ultimately sucked all the fun out of the pre-season.

The pre-season is finally over, and decision time is looming for St-Louis. The Canadiens will enjoy a day off tomorrow and return to Brossard from practice on Monday at 10:30 AM.

Teams have until 5:00 PM on Monday to submit their opening-day rosters. As things stand, the Canadiens are over $2 M above the cap and will have to get compliant by that deadline. Since Kent Hughes has already said he was hoping to start the season without putting Price on LTIR to maximize the cap relief, he could possibly send someone down to Laval just for cap compliance.

Related

Pre-Season Finale Preview: Canadiens Visit Senators for Rematch
Canadiens: St-Louis Errs On The Side Of Caution
Canadiens: My Opening Night Roster

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