There will be no playoffs this spring at the Bell Centre. But for one evening, we felt like we were reliving last spring fever.
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It must be said that it was the Maple Leafs who were in town. And as is always the case when a pandemic doesn’t ruin the plans, several hundred supporters dressed in blue took their places in the amphitheater.
Once once more, Leafs fans returned to Toronto disappointed. Despite a clear domination of their favorites, the Canadian won 4 to 2.
Paul Byron scored the winning goal with less than two and a half minutes remaining.
Moreover, it was the first time since February 8, 2020 that the two rivals faced each other in a full Bell Center.
Cole Caufield, following scoring his sixth goal in seven games, gave them a little extra by jumping into the bay window to taunt a row of fans displaying their allegiance to the visiting club. The young man has a sense of spectacle.
Thanks to Jake Allen
Except that for most of the evening, it was the visitors who led the game. Once once more, the Habs can thank Jake Allen.
Getting a fifth straight start, the goaltender still faced a barrage of at least 40 shots (51). That’s three times in a row. He gave in only to Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
“All year he’s been one of our most consistent players. He makes so many big saves to keep us in the game, Byron said. Our first period was not very good. We were under a lot of pressure and he managed to keep the score 1-0.
♦ Alexander Romanov reached a personal best with an ice time of 27:16.
What we noticed…
SAVARD ON ATTACK
Since his return to the game, David Savard has been attacking as we had not seen him do at the start of the season. He scored his second goal in three games, supporting a push orchestrated by Nick Suzuki and Laurent Dauphin. In the third period, he got another good scoring opportunity when he came in front of Erik Kallgren, while shorthanded. In fact, he played almost all of the 4 min 52 s the team played short of a man.
HIT ON LEAVING
William Lagesson was playing his first game in a Canadiens uniform. To allow him to quickly chase the butterflies, Martin St-Louis had inserted him into the starting lineup. A decision that Auston Matthews quickly made the Canadian regret by opening the scoring. It was therefore a difficult introduction for the Swede around whom it sometimes passed quickly. First paired with Joel Edmundson, he also obtained a good number of appearances with Savard. Lagesson finished the game with a time of use of 13:45.
WOUNDED PITLICK AND PEZZETTA
The Canadian’s injured list grew by two names during the game. Tyler Pitlick, following receiving a severe shoulder blow from Ilya Lyubushkin, and Michael Pezzetta, checked by Timothy Leljegren, both retreated to the locker room. Either way, it’s an upper body injury.
+
David Savard
We might still have given it to Jake Allen, but David Savard’s work deserved to be highlighted He hit, he blocked shots and he scored
–
Mike Hoffman
He fired the Canadian’s first shot, in the 9th minute of play, then he disappeared He was one of the least used attackers by St-Louis
First period
1-TOR: Auston Matthews (47) (Bunting, Marner)0:36
Penalties: none
Second period
2-MON: David Savard (3) (Dauphin, Suzuki)9:44
3-MON: Cole Caufield (14) (Wideman, Suzuki)AN-18:08
Punitions: Rielly (Tor) 10:04, Holl (Tor) 17:20
Third period
4-TOR: William Nylander (24) (Tavares, Marner)AN-7:33
5-MON: Paul Byron (4) (unaided)17:32
6-MON: Christian Dvorak (8) (Byron, Savard)FD-19:37
Penalties: Edmundson (Mon) 2:17, Dvorak (Mon) 6:41, Edmundson (Mon) 7:33
Shoot to the net
TORONTO 12 – 15 – 24 – 51 MONTREAL 3 – 12 – 3 – 18
Guardians:
TOR: Erik Kallgren (P, 2-2-1) MON: Jake Allen (G, 7-17-4)
Numerical advantages:
TOR: 1 in 3, MON: 1 in 2
Referees:
Kevin Pollock, Peter MacDougall
Linesmen:
Jonathan Deschamps, Andrew Smith
ASSISTANCE:
21 105
