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Canadiens Struggle Against Sens To Wrap Up Rookie Tournament |
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There won't be much to say about last nights final rookie tournament game for the Montreal Canadiens, a 8-2 loss at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. Antoine Samuel struggled in net for the Canadiens. The netminder fought the puck all night and struggled with composure. This led to his night ending at the midway point of the game after allowing 5 goals on 28 shots. Unfortunately, McNiven didn't fare much better allowing 3 goals on 18 shots, but he played better than Samuel did.
The night wasn't reminiscent of the previous nights victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite icing the exact same roster and line set up. From what I gathered on social media (sorry, didn't get to see this game) there were some small flashes of skill from the likes of Audette, Waked, and Ebbing but it would appear nothing seemed to work like it did against the Leafs. Call it nerves, call it fatigue, I'll call it a learning experience for a bunch of guys who weren't really expected to do well anyways.
Montreal iced the least experienced team of the three for this tournament and this score seems to reflect that. I mentioned in the previous article that the team didn't have much game breaking skill up front and was better on the back end. I still stand behind that even after the Sens put up a TD and 2 point conversion. Samuel didn't help matter by allowing a goal on the first shot. A confidence building start that was not. Hopefully Samuel can work on managing those jitters in his professional future.
The Canadiens goal scorers were Victor Mete and Thomas Ebbing. Mete fired a slap shot from the point that was tipped past the Ottawa goaltender shortly after Ottawa went up 1-0. That's a great response by the team but unfortunately it didn't last long enough for Montreal to capitalize on the momentum as Ottawa scored less than a minute later and didn't look back. Ebbing added a late goal to make it 7-2 but it didn't matter.
Statistically speaking, over these two games it seems that Ebbing, Alain, Mete, and Juulsen made the most of these contests. Can't see how Ebbing didn't put himself on the Habs radar with his goals over the last two days. He came to compete. Mete and Juulsen put up some points and are clearly Montreal's best defensive prospects. McNiven is still going to be considered an incredible goaltending prospect as well. Good to have insurance in the pipeline at goal.
The rookie camp continues until Wednesday, September 13th, 2017.
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