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Understandably, we’ve seen a few games in which the Canadiens gave a lackluster effort of late, but last night wasn’t one of those. Montreal did turn up to play and gave the Islanders a run for their money, keeping the score close even though the shot count was lopsided. Samuel Montembeault faced a barrage of 35 shots, saving 31 of them and once again stood out as one of the better players for the Habs on the ice.
Speaking of the better players, captain Nick Suzuki scored a beauty of a goal, turning on the jets to beat defenseman Samuel Bolduc to the puck in front of Ilya Sorokin, using his right hand to protect the puck from the blueliner and flicking it in on a one-handed backhand, scored shorthanded to booth. This was Suzuki’s 25th goal of the season, which gave him 65 points on the year. Unless the captain scores tonight in the season finale, he’ll finish second in goals on the team, behind Cole Caufield who had 26 by mid-January when his season ended abruptly.
SPOOKY#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/EVovFZ3TlH
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 13, 2023
Rem Pitlick was the only other Habs’ scorer on a canon of a shot in the first period. Alex Teasdale made some good plays in his first career game, creating a turnover which a big hit and hitting the post on a wicked shot, but overall, it looked like things were moving much too fast for him as he was on the ice for 2 of the Islanders’ 4 goals.
Rem-timer#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/2oPVngk3H2
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 12, 2023
Meanwhile in Laval, the players that were demoted to help the Rocket qualify for the playoffs gave quite a show, in a 6-3-win Rafael Harvey-Pinard had 5 assists, Jesse Ylonen a goal and an assist and Cayden Primeau made 39 saves on 42 shots, a very good night at the office. Anthony Richard also starred in the game, scoring a hat-trick. Laval has yet to qualify for the playoffs, but they are doing all they can to make it. Jean-François Houle’s men will play their final game on Friday against Syracuse and then, they’ll have to sit and wait to see how things play out as the season ends Sunday in the AHL.
Tonight, the Canadiens will be closing out their season at the Bell Center when they take on the Boston Bruins who have been absolutely dominant this season, breaking record after record. While teams do tend to rest key players in the last few games of the year, the Bruins are expected to ice a near-usual line-up. Hopefully, the Habs manage to play with pride and put on a good show to say farewell to their fans tonight, Samuel Montembeault will once again be manning the net. The organization has announced that it will hold the players’ exit interviews tomorrow, meaning they will be cleaning out their locker in Brossard and heading home for yet another early offseason.