Turn back the clock. The Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien took a very young and inexperienced team into a game loaded with Stanley Cup experience and – low and behold – his team won. On Saturday night, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in the first game of their best-of-five qualifying round series.
Related: Dale Weise Signs With Another Team While Playing For Canadiens [Rumor]
The Canadiens Shouldn’t Have Even Been Here, But …
Talk about making the most of your second chances. There’s no chance that the Canadiens would have made the postseason had the 2019-20 NHL regular season not been interrupted and suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic. But it was. And those same upstart Canadiens were not supposed to win – perhaps – even a game against the vastly more-talented Pittsburgh Penguins. But they did.
Now, what happens? There’s a chance to do something really quite outstanding here, and the question remains: Can they?
The Veterans Came Through, But the Kids Chipped In, Too
But for one night at least, a couple of Canadiens veterans came through for the team. Goalie Carey Price played the role of goalie Carey Price (he was voted the best goalie in the NHL for the second season in a row, and he played up to his reputation), and Jeff Petry scored in overtime to show that experience counts for something – if only for game one.
Petry goal came at 13:57 of the overtime period and Price stopped 39 shots. By the way, both Petry and Price (at 32-years of age) are two of the Canadiens’ elder statesmen.
But it wasn’t as if the Canadiens youngsters didn’t contribute as well. Both 19–year-old Jesperi Kotkaniemi and 20-year-old Nick Suzuki scored and the Canadiens took a quick second-period lead.
Suzuki noted that the victory “gives us a lot of confidence. A lot of people didn’t see us as contenders. We want to show them we can compete with anyone. This is a good first step.”
What Does Head Coach Claude Julien Think?
Canadiens head coach Claude Julien, who earlier in the week had “balanced” his line-up by moving Max Domi to what looked to hockey commentators as the fourth line with Jordan Weal and Dale Weise, seemed to have a plan. And, on Saturday that plan seemed to work.
Julien noted that ”Carey was huge throughout that whole first period and gave us a chance. He made some big saves throughout the whole game, but the first period is where he allowed us to stay in the game.”
Julien added that his Habs were “playing an experienced team. They’ve won Stanley Cups, they know how to win, and we have what we have. The only chance we have is that we play on our toes and not on our heels.”
Related: Canadiens Going with Four Balanced Lines: Where’s That Put Max Domi?
Oddities During the Game
The game wasn’t perfect, and there were some odd things that happened. Both teams had a chance to score on penalty shots, with the Penguins’ Conor Sheary failing to hit the net on a penalty shot about three minutes left in regulation.
The Canadiens Jonathan Drouin had a chance to win it in overtime on a penalty shot as well, but the puck rolled off his stick and he didn’t even get a shot. It was the first NHL postseason game since 1923 to have two penalty shots.
Finally, for as much success as the Penguins have had recently, they have never beaten the Canadiens during the postseason. The teams have met two times and both times the Canadiens won.
