Habs 0-3 in pre-season play
Devils prevail despite having just six NHL players in their lineup
Starting the pre-season schedule with an 0-3 record isn’t a reason for concern unless, of course, you’re putting a reasonable complement of NHL players on the ice and you’re getting beat by backup goaltenders playing behind rosters filled with AHL and junior talent.
That was the case again Thursday as the New Jersey Devils beat the Canadiens 4-1.
The Devils arrived in Montreal with a lineup that included only six NHL players plus No. 1 overall draft pick Nico Hischier and defenceman Will Butcher, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. college hockey with NCAA champion Denver.
Carey Price, who seldom plays back-to-back games in the regular season, was in goal for a second consecutive night and he played the full game, another rarity this early in the pre-season schedule. He allowed three goals on 31 shots.
“They outworked us in the first period,” said Brendan Gallagher. “We picked up the pace, but we have to do better. It doesn’t matter if it’s pre-season.”
One bit of good news is that Gallagher and linemates Phillip Danault and Alex Galchenyuk combined for nine of the Canadiens’ 29 shots. Danault set up Gallagher for what would have been a tying goal, but the puck was rolling and he was unable to get everything he wanted on the shot.
Coach Claude Julien was reluctant to name names, but he said the play of some of the players on the bubble was making the coaches’ decisions easy. That can be viewed both ways — but he said he is expecting more from former first-round draft choice Nikita Scherbak.
The game was only 47 seconds old when New Jersey defenceman Mirco Mueller, who spent most of last season with San Jose in the AHL, scored the only goal in the first period. Blake Coleman won a faceoff against Daniel Audette and passed the puck back to Mueller at the point. Mueller’s shot was deflected in front by a defenceman.
There was some end-to-end action early in the second period. Taylor Hall’s short-handed breakaway was cut short when he was tackled from behind by Éric Gélinas. Gallagher missed a chance in close, with the teams playing foura-side and Keith Kinkaid made a good stop of Torrey Mitchell’s breakaway.
Gélinas showed his offensive side when he tied the game at 7:09, beating Kinkaid with a slapshot from the blue-line.
“That’s a tool that I like to use,” said Gélinas, an NHL veteran who is in camp on a tryout. “(Joe) Morrow gave me a great pass. It was in my wheelhouse and I had a moving screen so I just let it go.”
The Devils regained the lead when Hischier took up residence in front of the net and converted a feed from Hall at 15:30.
The Canadiens were on the power play for the final 3:39 of the second period with a two-man edge for a full two minutes. They managed six shots on net but failed to score.
Jesper Bratt, an 18-year-old who was playing junior hockey in Sweden last winter, added an insurance goal at 9:10 of the third period, seconds after the Canadiens killed off a Jersey power play. He also added an empty-net goal.
After the game, the Canadiens assigned Stefan Lablanc, Thomas Ebbing, Antoine Waked, Tom Parisi, Yannick Veilleux, Simon Bourque and Niki Petti to the Laval Rocket. That leaves 46 players in camp.
The Canadiens hit the road for their next three games. They are in Ottawa Saturday, Toronto on Monday and they face the Leafs in a rematch Wednesday at Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City.
The Canadiens announced that rookie defenceman Noah Juulsen suffered a broken foot when he stopped a shot in Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Bruins in Quebec City. He’ll be out of action for six weeks. David Schlemko (hand) and Andrew Shaw (neck) are also in sick bay.