Only two games into the season, and the negative comments about Mike Matheson are already back. I am not trying to excuse Matheson's bad game, but have you already forgotten that he was the best defenseman in the win over the Leafs in the very first game of the season? Several players had a very bad night yesterday, but for a reason that escapes me, the defenseman from Pointe-Claire is always the one who ends up under the bus!
The Canadiens came out with the knife between their teeth early, taking the lead thanks to Mr. Saturday Night after a nice pass from the captain. The Penguins looked ready to be beaten until Mike Matheson took a bad penalty against Sidney Crosby. The Kid should have been sent off on the same sequence, though. No. 87 answered Matheson's move with an elbow to the face, a punch to the back of the head, and a cross-check, but the officials did not see fit to call it, which gave Dan Muse's team a power play. On the five-on-four, Evgeni Malkin tied the game with his second of the season, and the rest of the period was one-way traffic for the Pens.
If you thought the Habs would bounce back in the second, that was far from the case. The Penguins went ahead 2-1 after a gift from Jakub Dobes, with only 32 seconds gone in the period. The home team scored five unanswered goals, four of them in the second, to take a 5-1 lead, before Nick Suzuki cut the deficit with a minute and change left in the period.
I do not know about you, but the way our Glorieux were playing, my confidence level was not very high that they would fight their way back into the game. Cole Caufield scored his second of the night early in the third period, but again I had no more faith in a comeback. Shortly after Caufield's goal, Egor Chinakhov restored his team's three-goal lead. Martin St-Louis decided to challenge, though, ruling there was an offside on the play. The replay sided with the coach and left the door open for a possible comeback. As they did several times last season, the Habs struck back-to-back late in the third: Chris Kreider scored his first of the season after a superb pass from the captain, and 24 seconds later Ivan Demidov scored his first of the season with only 34 seconds left in the period to tie it. Once again, the captain made a superb pass. Lane Hutson also picked up an assist on the sequence, making a great play at the blue line before feeding the captain.
Unfortunately, the Canadiens ran out of luck in overtime when Ivan Demidov's stick was broken in two by a slash in front of official Liam Maaskant, who did not see fit to call it, even though that play is penalized 99.9 percent of the time. The turnover led to a two-on-one, and Tommy Novak ended the game with his second of the game after a nice pass from Malkin, between the skates of the fans' whipping boy.
When I talk about the same old cassette, I mean the fans who, by the second game, are already ready to send Matheson to the moon, another slow start for Slafkovsky, the second period being a problem once again, the Canadiens never being beaten, Cole Caufield not losing his Saturday touch, and, to close the loop, the officials having a pretty rough night at the office. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
The Tricolore play their next game Tuesday night in front of their fans for the home opener, when they host the Stanley Cup champions.
It will be interesting to see whether Oliver Kapanen is able to return and, if so, whether he gets his spot back between Slaf and Demidov. Will Alexandre Carrier be recovered from the injury he suffered last night, or will Adam Engstrom play his first game of the season? Who comes out for Florian Xhekaj? Will Samuel Montembeault get his first start, or will Dobes be in net for a third straight game? We have until Tuesday to debate it!
Here is my projection for Tuesday:
Caufield-Suzi-Kredeir
Slaf-Kappy-Demidov
Newhook-Danault-Bolduc
Xhekaj-Evans-Anderson
Matheson-Dobson
Struble-Hutson
Xhekaj-Engstrom
Montembeault
Dobes
With that, happy Sunday and enjoy the NFL, everyone!