Drouin, Price steal show in opener
Young sniper, seasoned goalie help Canadiens start season on right foot
Jonathan Drouin said he had a plan when he challenged Buffalo goaltender Robin Lehner in a shootout Thursday night.
Drouin provided the Canadiens with a 3-2 win, when he faked a low shot and then pulled wide on Buffalo goaltender Lehner.
“Last year, we had a lot of shootouts against Buffalo as a team in Tampa and I went low blocker on him a couple of times,” Drouin said. “That’s why I think he bit on that fake shot. It was nice to score that shootout goal, but the important thing was to get the two points. Now, we have two more road games and we have to get focused for them.”
The Canadiens thrived on thirdperiod comebacks last season and they did it again Thursday with Philip Danault tying the game on a short-handed goal at 8:01.
“When you go into the third trailing 2-1, you want to show character,” Drouin said. “I think we did that on Phil’s goal and we built on that. In overtime, it’s 50-50 and it’s nice to get the shootout win.”
Drouin set up Max Pacioretty for Montreal’s first goal, with Brendan Gallagher collecting the second assist.
“I thought we had a lot of GradeA chances,” Pacioretty said. The line combined for 14 of Montreal’s 40 shots.
“I think we were trying to get pucks to the net,” Drouin added. “It was obviously their home opener and they had a lot of energy, but we created chances. It’s great to score a 5-on-5 goal to start the year.”
The Canadiens are counting on Drouin to play centre for the first time since junior hockey and, after a slow start, he did a good job against Ryan O’Reilly. The Canadiens won 31 per cent of their faceoffs in the first period and Drouin went 2-for-8. By the end of the night, he had won 9 of 19 and the Canadiens were at 49 per cent.
“O’Reilly and (Boston’s Patrice) Bergeron are the top guys in the league on faceoffs and it was a challenge for me,” Drouin said. “I had a slow start, but as the game went on, I got an idea on what he was going to do. But he’s such a strong guy.”
While the offence found a way to score, coach Claude Julien praised goaltender Carey Price.
“He was obviously good tonight,” Julien said. “When you face 45 shots and then you have to stand up in the shootout, there’s no doubt he was our key player. I can say the same thing for the other goaltender, he made some big saves for them. I was happy with the offensive part of our game on a lot of occasions, but defensively we made some mistakes. Our board battles weren’t as good as I’d like to see and that gave them some good shot opportunities.”
The game marked the NHL debut of 19-year-old defenceman Victor Mete and he earned a passing grade for his play alongside Shea Weber. He was on the ice for 18:43, had a shot on goal and finished as a plus-1.
Julien said he wasn’t surprised the youngster handled the pressure of playing his first game.
“I would think that even in the pre-season there was pressure on him because he was trying to make the team,” Julien said. “It’s about time we stop trying to find reasons why he’s good, he’s just good. I don’t have to explain why he’s good. He’s been good and he’s showed it.”
“I felt really good out there and I was honoured to play,” said Mete, whose family and friends from the Toronto area made a significant contribution to the sellout crowd of 19,070. “I was a little nervous at the beginning, but after two or three shifts I settled down. I was happy with the way I played.”