Hutson and Demidov Connect For a Goal in Saturday’s Scrimmage

The goal was scored during the first half of the scrimmage when Hutson famously danced with the puck just over the blueline and released a shot-pass towards Demidov in front of the net, where the Russian was perfectly placed to tip the puck past Team B’s goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen. Hutson did all the work to give Demidov his first goal in Training Camp.

Just like yesterday, Patrik Laine was able to get on the board this morning; however, this time it was on a penalty shot as a result of a Team B penalty. In fact, Laine was prevented from going anywhere on the initial penalty shot, as Brendan Gallagher tried to cheat by jumping ahead of Laine as he was about to start moving for the shot. This was a fun, silly moment that got fans a little chuckle, but of course, it would allow Laine to go again. When Laine got to take his official penalty shot, he was able to beat Kahkonen to put Team A up 2-0. 

Unlike on Friday, Dach was able to join his original team, A and participate in today’s scrimmage alongside his linemates and Team A goal scorers Demidov and Laine. However, there was a brief scare when Dach fell awkwardly after a tangle with Arber Xhekaj’s skate, which made him fall into the boards. Dach struggled to get up and skated slowly to the bench. Xhekaj also went to make. Thankfully, it only ended as a brief scare with Dach returning the very next shift, and he was able to finish today’s scrimmage unscathed. If today was any indication, it will be a while still until Dach will be 100% in full-contact situations like scrimmages or games. 

After the first half of the game, Team A was up 2-0. In the 2nd half, Team A was held scoreless against Jakub Dobes. Late in the scrimmage, with Team B down 2-0 still, they pulled Dobes to get the extra attacker, which resulted in Laurent Dauphin cutting the lead down to 2-1 to get his team on the board. It ended up being too little too late as Team A took the scrimmage by a score of 2-1. 

Now that all 3 scrimmages are done, we have gotten a chance to officially name a few standouts thus far. As expected, the top line of Juraj Slafkovsky-Nick Suzuki-Cole Caufield stood out above the competition throughout both their games with Team C on Thursday and Friday. This line will get the best consistent performance throughout camp.

However, the most dominant performance came on Friday when both Joshua Roy and Vinzenz Rohrer combined for 3 goals (Roy had 2 and Rohrer had 1). The head-to-head lime matchups are balanced based on their spot in the organization, so these guys proved that they are, in fact, the duo of prospects that could be close to being NHL-ready ready and Roy could also find himself in that last one spot on the third line that seems to be up for grabs at camp. As it stands, Owen Beck was given that spot next to Alex Newhook and Zachary Bolduc, but that can change at any point.

As for the most exciting and flashy duo during the scrimmages, it is easily Laine and Demidov, who have managed to show off their off-season chemistry in brilliant fashion over the last two days. 

Tomorrow, the players will return to the ice, working on drills in preparation for the first preseason game, and we could also learn the lineup for Monday night’s game as well.

Who stood out to you during these three scrimmage games in Brossard over the past few days?