Despite losing, Habs played tough
Julien pleased to see that his squad ‘competed hard and stuck together’
Pre-season games are designed to be learning experiences and there were some lessons learned Wednesday as the Canadiens dropped a 5-2 decision to the Florida Panthers.
For starters, it should be noted that the Panthers arrived in town with a veteran-laden lineup, which is a bit unusual this early in the pre-season schedule. They played a physical game and coach Claude Julien said he was pleased that the Canadiens didn’t back down.
“I wanted to see a team that competed hard and stuck together,” Julien said, and that’s what he got in a game that was more physical than most pre-season games.
There were several scuffles and one real fight, with Paul Byron trading punches with Jonathan Huberdeau. It was a bit surprising to see Byron fighting after he underwent shoulder surgery in the off-season, but then again, it’s a surprise to see him back in the lineup nearly a month ahead of schedule.
“Somebody had to stick up for Nick (Suzuki),” Byron said. “It was an intense match and he might have thought I cross-checked him on the faceoff. We exchanged some words going down the ice and then he took my feet out and saw he was getting a penalty and he came at me. I was kind of caught off guard by him dropping his gloves, but I was ready just in case. I think he thought he was going to pummel me because he’s a lot bigger, but I don’t back down from anybody.”
Each team took nine penalties and Max Domi, who was making his first appearance as a Canadien, was ejected for sucker-punching Aaron Ekblad.
Domi wasn’t around after the game to explain what happened, but Julien offered his view.
“They were in a bit of a scuffle in the corner,” said the coach. “(Domi) got whacked behind the leg from what I was told. I haven’t watched it again. But they were both at each other when the linesmen came in. So at one point it was a matter of he thought maybe they were going to fight. Who knows what happened from there. I can’t answer for him. At the same time, you want your players to defend themselves. It looked like they were going to have a scuffle. So who knows?
Domi was underwhelming in his Canadiens’ debut. He had one shot on goal and lost six of his nine faceoffs.
“It was pretty intense for a preseason game,” Byron said. “I don’t know if they were ready for it, but we’ve been ready. Even in the Red and White game, there were bigger hits than normal. Guys are fighting for jobs and we have a lot of guys in our lineup tonight who were trying to showcase themselves.”
One of those players being showcased was the 19-year-old Suzuki, who was been described as the key to the trade that sent Max Pacioretty to Las Vegas.
“It feels good to kind of get it out of the way,” Suzuki said of his first game.
“I was just trying to get better from here. I thought I did pretty well. Just trying to learn from the video and see what I can do better.”
You could see an improvement as the game went on.
Suzuki lost all three of his faceoffs in the first period but finished winning six of 12.
Jonathan Drouin, who was pressed into service as a centre after Domi’s departure, was the Canadiens’ best faceoff man, winning four of five, while Joel Armia won six of nine. Matthew Peca won seven of 16 and led the offence with a goal and an assist.