Night one was a thriller at the Bell Centre as the Montreal Canadiens upset the Toronto Maple Leafs with a last-minute winner. Montreal surprised with their maturity and their talent, but how would they do in game two on the road?
The Habs were in Detroit and it was more like the expectations that the hockey world had for Montreal as they were dominated, losing 3-0.
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The story of the game was Jake Allen. He was bombarded. He stuck with every single shot and every single rebound for two exhausting periods. Late in the second period, the Wings were on a power play, and Allen was completely out of place and had no chance for a save it appeared. He threw out his paddle to the top half of the net, and desperately got his stick on the offering.
It was a Carey Price kind of save. That was appropriate because it was a Carey Price kind of performance. Allen held the Red Wings at bay during an onslaught for two and a half periods, before the inevitable finally happened early in the third. Allen stopped 25 in the first period alone. He let in only one. The other two were empty netters.
The only other positive player worth noting was Kaiden Guhle. He looks like a 10-year veteran in his first two games. He was injured in the first period and missed about a period of action, but still was the dominant force of the game for Montreal. Guhle skates so smoothly to separate himself from would-be checkers. He wins most of his one-on-one battles. He makes nothing but intelligent decisions.
This was one heck of a draft pick by Trevor Timmins. Guhle has top-two potential. He already seems like a top-four defender in his first two games. If he partners with someone who has offensive abilities, and takes care of the defensive end when that player roams a bit, then Guhle can be a perfect partner on the first unit.
It is becoming clear extremely early here that Guhle will be able to handle the minutes, and the most difficult match-ups against the best players. He handled Auston Matthews just fine on Wednesday and many before Guhle have had a whole lot of trouble with that assignment. He also led the club in ice time with 22 minutes against a high-powered club.
This kid has got it. The Canadiens have a player who will excel for the next decade. One of the pieces towards having a bona fide winner is in place.
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Certainly, a long report could be made about the inability of the Canadiens to clear their zone in a lopsided game that Detroit won on Corsi 65-35 in the first two periods. That’s a massively tilted ice.
It wasn’t just how difficult it was for Montreal defensively, though. The hope had been heading into the season that the club would at least have a lot of offensive chances and bring some entertainment into each contest.
However, in this one, there was essentially next to no excitement at all from Montreal offensively. The analytics website Natural Stat Trick had the Canadiens with zero high danger chances in the first two periods. The Wings had 13.
It was an extremely disappointing contest from a Montreal point of view, dominated in their own zone, and without a quality chance in Detroit’s zone for 40 minutes. After the giddy high of the Toronto win, this was a nasty reality check.
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There’s more bad news on the injury front as Mike Matheson’s MRI revealed an abdominal strain. Matheson is going to be sidelined for eight weeks with the injury.
General Manager Kent Hughes stressed he didn’t want to go into the season with three rookies on defence. He ended up going with four. That’s how difficult it has been with Joel Edmundson also injured with a bad back.
The development of the rookies will go a long way in deciding how well this season goes. They are all very talented, but this isn’t 2024 with two seasons under their belt. These are their first half-dozen NHL games and mistakes are going to be made, and lessons will have to be learned — fast.
However, if these kids can learn on the job, the forward ranks are quite talented if their ceilings can be reached. Kirby Dach looked like he has a high ceiling in his first game, and Sean Monahan’s ceiling is all about his health which looked to be not an issue at all against Toronto.
Nothing but surprising positives on night one. It could still be a long season, but then again, it might actually be surprisingly good if it all comes together as is possible. The COTW prediction was 75 points heading into the season. That would give the club a top-five draft pick historically.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.