Home All Habs news Good Start for Canadiens, Price, Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Romanov | Habs Notepad

Good Start for Canadiens, Price, Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Romanov | Habs Notepad

Chris G
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Good Start for Canadiens, Price, Kotkaniemi, Suzuki, Romanov | Habs Notepad
(Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)

Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Phase 4, Carey Price, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nick Suzuki, Alexander Romanov, Max Domi, Pittsburgh Penguins, Qualifying Series

(Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)

ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — It took 33 seconds into the Canadiens first game of Phase 4 to remind fans that the team finished 12th place in the Eastern Conference. The Maple Leafs never looked back after scoring the first goal and went on to win 4-2 in the exhibition game.

“We played passive a little too much tonight, and gave a good team with a lot of skill and a lot of speed, some time to make plays. That’s why we got ourselves in trouble,” said Claude Julien after the game. On that night, there was several bad decisions defensively, and Montreal allowed two goals while playing with the man advantage.

Slow Start to Game 1

The Canadiens had another slow start in the first game of the qualifying series against the Penguins on Saturday. Pittsburgh outshot their opponents 10-1 to start the night, however didn’t manage to get on the board.

Montreal took a 2-0 lead before Pittsburgh tied the score with a pair of goals in a span of 2:39. The first game was decided in overtime when Jeff Petry sealed it with a shot that beat Matt Murray underneath his right arm.

“The Penguins came out strong, and they skated well at the start of the game,” said Julien. “They found the holes in our slot area, and they got a lot of good chances.”

Price Outstanding

As the National Hockey League (NHL) was finalizing the Return to Play format, it was reported that the Penguins weren’t happy about a best-of-five series in the qualifying round due to the potential influence that Carey Price can have on a short series.

The Canadiens goalie delivered on Saturday night making 39 saves, and kept his team in the game when the Penguins started the game attacking with force. “He made some really big saves and gave us that calming influence that Pricer’s all about,” said Petry.

“Carey was huge throughout that whole first period and gave us a chance to come back and kind of adjust ourselves there for the second. But he made some big saves throughout the whole game. The first period is where he allowed us to stay in the game and gave us a chance to win this,” evaluated the coach.

Kotkaniemi Scores in Debut

Claude Julien has been throwing flowers towards Jesperi Kotkaniemi since the start of Phase 3 training camp, in comparison to the criticism from earlier in the year. Kotkaniemi opened the scoring on Saturday by going to the net, and was rewarded with his first career playoff goal.

“It’s been awhile since we have seen him play with us. He came back strong, and it’s the type of game, we have to see him from him on a regular basis,” evaluated Julien on Saturday.

“KK (Kotkaniemi) was big for us too, big for his goal, he go to the net. Still learning a lot, and growing fast too,” added Philip Danault on Sunday.

Suzuki Impressive Playoff Debut

Nick Suzuki also had an impressive NHL playoff debut on Saturday. Suzuki gave his team a two-goal lead by scoring his first career playoff goal with a top corner shot that beat Murray on the glove side.

The rookie had a pivotal role on the penalty kill preventing the Penguins to score during a two-man advantage that lasted 1:32 during the third period. Suzuki was the only forward on the three-man unit, as Danault was serving one of his three minor penalties of the night.

“We put him out there knowing that not only did he give us the best chance of winning the draw, but also if he didn’t, he was able to be smart enough to know how to kill the penalty,” said Julien. “He’s a pretty smart player. He figures things out. Even if he’s a younger player, he’s cerebral, and it shows when he’s put into those kind of positions. He sorts things out pretty quickly.”

Suzuki’s play didn’t go unnoticed by his teammates. “I thought Nick played like a veteran. He was solid on the ice both defensively and offensively,”Danault said on Sunday.

As anticipated, Max Domi played with a lot of emotion in his first career playoff game. He was acting as an agitator throughout the game, and was trying to get under the skin of Pittsburgh’s top players. Domi won two of the three faceoffs that he took against Sidney Crosby in the defensive zone.

Headed into the qualifying series, there was a lot of discussion on the importance of Danault’s role to defend against Crosby. Isn’t it ironic that on Saturday, he was Montreal’s fourth best center?

Game 2 Preparation

I don’t anticipate Claude Julien to make any lineup changes for Monday night’s game. I don’t think Montreal can win the series if they don’t make any adjustments compared to game 1.

The Penguins will eventually capitalize on their opportunities if the Canadiens are undisciplined. “We got to stay out of the box, and give our penalty kill guys an opportunity to play a little bit more five-on-five,” warned the coach on Saturday. Julien also mentioned that his team will need to improve their forechecking and their play in the neutral zone.

Winning the first contest gives Montreal an advantage for the rest of the series. Teams that win Game 1 in a best-of-five series own an all-time series record of 68-15 (.819 winning percentage).

“We’re focused. We understand it’s far from over. We also understand that there’s a team on the other side that has the ability to come back and win some hockey games,” added Julien on Sunday.

Romanov Joins Hub

Alexander Romanov was able to join his new teammates for the first time on Friday. Up to that point, Romanov was in quarantine outside of the hub zone, where there was a security guard outside of his hotel room to make sure he doesn’t exit. “Last week was so boring, sitting only in one room in hotel” said the Canadiens prospect.

The Canadiens defenceman was happy to put the skates on for the first time in two weeks.  “I saw a young man that was excited to join us. He was happy and it showed on the ice,” said Julien.

In his first practice, Romanov delivered a solid body check that sent Jake Evans to the ice. The hit was posted on the Canadiens Twitter account but was later deleted, which leads me to believe that the organization didn’t want the footage to be widely available. With media not allowed to attend practices as per NHL policy, viewing the hit is now only available to fans who spotted the short video prior to it being removed.. or to readers of All Habs Hockey Magazine. Watch below.

In his first press conference from the bubble, Romanov mentioned that his plan is to return to Russia at the conclusion of the playoffs, and then return to Montreal before the start of next season.

Canadiens Connection podcast

These issues, including audio from the Romanov presser, and other current Habs topics were discussed in this week’s episode of the Canadiens Connection. Listen and subscribe!

By Chris G., Senior Writer
All Habs Hockey Magazine
Copyright © 2020 Rocket Sports

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