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Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs Top Six Minutes: Patrik Laine’s health the main concern

The Canadiens lost the game, but the loss of Laine could be a significant blow.

Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

First period

  • Not the start you want to see at all as David Reinbacher has to be helped to the room after a relatively harmless-looking hit. I wonder if it was more hitting his back on the boards than anything with his legs.
  • Kirby Dach drives to the net and gets tripped. That will put the Canadiens on the power play.
  • Patrik Laine dangles the puck into the offensive zone and Maple Leafs forward Cédric Paré sticks out his knee to stop him. Laine is down in pain, and that looks very bad.
  • No penalty is given on the play. They can initiate a review for a high stick if they see a spot of blood, but not for a significant injury.
  • Arber Xhekaj goes after Pare on the Leafs player’s next shift. He keeps his gloves on and pummels an unwilling combatant.
  • Xhekaj is gone for the game.
  • You’d expect this from a game with the Senators, not the Maple Leafs.
  • Sean Farrell has been called to serve Xhekaj’s seven minutes of penalty time.
  • Nick Robertson scores toward the end of the five-minute major Xhekaj received to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
  • Nick Suzuki pays particular attention to the position of the defenders’ knees as he gains the zone on a late-period power play.
  • With the pall over the crowd, not even Lane Hutson fakes can get much of a reaction.
  • Simon Benoit gets called for throwing an elbow at Juraj Slafkovský well after he moved the puck. I think the game should be called after the first period. The Leafs don’t seem to be interested to playing hockey.

Second period

  • It would be nice to see more time for Hutson on the top power-play unit, but Martin St-Louis seems to watch Mike Matheson to get going with that group. Maybe later in the season.
  • Owen Beck slides the pass over a few feet to open Logan Mailloux, but Mailloux just misses the top corner on a hard wrist shot.
  • Hutson even fakes the power-play drop-pass. It’s just his default.
  • Caufield someone jabs at a mid-air puck on his backhand after a Suzuki pass goes behind him
  • Slafkovský and Marshall Rifai square up for a fight. Slafkovský goes down after a punch, but gets a big cheer regardless.
  • He is also off to the room, flexing his neck.
  • Lane Hutson did very well to stick with two players looking at a two-on-zero breakaway, Alex Newhook did even better to race back ahead of all of them.
  • These Leafs prospects don’t really know how to stop the Habs’ top players, so they’re just throwing whatever body parts they have at the battle.
  • I miss the Leafs regulars who wouldn’t lay a finger on their opponents.
  • Hutson and Mailloux come out for a four-on-four shift. Mailloux gets tripped, so it will be a four-on-three.
  • Like the five-on-four, that power play was played too much on the outside. They need to compress the zone to shorten the passes, but you understand why they’re giving the Leafs a wide berth right now.
  • Slafkovský has passed concussion protocol and returned to the bench.
  • Now Josh Anderson and Philippe Myers fight. It’s an angry night in Montreal.

Third period

  • The Canadiens get a walk-on tryout as the linesman jumped into the bench to avoid a blue-line scrum.
  • They also have a new blue-liner as Lucas Condotta has taken a spot on the blue line with with Reinbacher and Xhekaj out.
  • Nick Robertson fires a puck through Cayden Primeau’s five-hole to make it a 2-0 lead for the Leafs.
  • Connor Hughes wins the survivor pool as the last goalie to not allow a goal.
  • Dennis Hildeby seems to have a knack for getting just enough of the puck to keep it out. Plenty of close calls, but no goals for Montreal.
  • The Habs believes they’ve scored, but the refs fail to see that as well. A quick review and the call of no goal stands.
  • Another Habs power play. Will there be a bit more urgency to spoil this shutout bid?
  • Still very much on the perimeter.
  • Hutson makes a couple of things happen on the second unit. You have to think it’s just a matter of time until he takes over the the top unit.
  • One of the things was taking a hooking penalty, however, so more PK practice for his team.
  • At six-on-five with the net empty, Hutson finds Dach at the side of the net for a tap in.
  • Just more evidence he needs to play with these guys on the power play.
  • Habs fall 2-1 to the Leafs for the second game in a row, and now sit at a 2-2 record.
  • The loss of Patrik Laine will be the main story for the remainder of the pre-season.

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