Habs Rookies Struggle to Produce Against Leafs Prospects

The first line struggled with Owen Beck as Demidov’s replacement on Sunday. Aside from a shift late in the 2nd period, the line of Beck-Oliver Kapanen-Florian Xhekaj didn’t do much offensively in this game. Kapanen was the one with the most offense of the trio. That’s not to say it was all bad, as Beck played well defensively, while Xhekaj was physical, but compared to Saturday, the top line was very underwhelming.

On the positive side, Jacob Fowler had another good day, even though he allowed 2 goals during his half of the game as opposed to allowing none yesterday. There were a few times where he bailed out his defenseman who made mistakes, which included a horrible giveaway by Adam Engstrom on the power-play that led to the Leafs player getting a partial breakaway.

Despite his strong play in the first period, he allowed his first goal of the weekend with about 1:50 left in the first period. The 2nd goal he allowed was on a 5-on-3 Leafs power-play, where there wasn’t much he could do to stop a goal from happening. Nonetheless, Fowler proved to be one of the brightest spots on the weekend for the Habs as he stopped 28 of 30 shots he faced this weekend.

Then when Arseni Radkov came in, he only allowed a goal off a rebound he allowed, but he did look much better than Mikus Vecvanags did on Saturday night, playing a much confident game than him as well.

David Reinbacher had another good defensive game, as he remained solid throughout the whole game, despite the loss. One thing that is positive thing about his game this weekend is that his skating as a whole is looking better than last season. While he may not start the season in the NHL, he has definitely proven that he is at least close to NHL-ready as one of the most solid players for the Canadiens this weekend.

On the other hand, his defensive partner, Adam Engstrom, had a bit of a tougher day than on Saturday, as he made a few mistakes that caused some bad turnovers with the puck on Sunday. If Engstrom wants to prove he deserves a shot in the NHL, he needs to clean up those mistakes a little bit during the official team Training Camp.

During the game, Tyler Thorpe imposed his physical player again on Sunday and even had a 2nd period fight at centre ice, when he and a Leafs prospect got into it after a whistle. Both Mark Estapa and Andrew MacNiel also fought for the Habs during the first period. Both players also brought some sandpaper and threw some big hits.

The one player who stood out offensively was Filip Mesar, who many of us have written off as a bust. While that’s still likely true, nobody can deny he had a good game with a few good scoring chances. His best chance came after he intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and skated in on a partial breakaway, where he scored the Habs’ only goal, which went unassisted. Mesar definitely still has skills that can translate into an NHL player, but this year will be his last to prove that he can fit within the organization.

Following Sunday’s game, the Canadiens sent back Carlos Handel, Andrew MacNiel, Bryce Pickford, Maleek McGowan, Arseni Radkov, Mikus Vecvanags and Matthew Wang to the junior clubs. Simon Lavigne, who had a good game on Saturday against the Jets, was also sent back to the Concordia Stingers.

What were your thoughts on Sunday’s game?