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Canadiens Highlights: Rookies Shine In Crucial Win
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- Canadiens Highlights: Rookies Shine In Crucial Win
Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
The Montreal Canadiens hosted the high-flying Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, aiming to secure two very important points in the race to qualify for the playoffs.
It was far from a perfect game, as evidenced by the fact that rookie netminder Jakub Dobes had to make over 40 saves, but in the end, Montreal managed to secure a crucial 5-2 win.
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Let's dive into the highlights!
Nap First, Hockey Later
The Canadiens got off to an awful start.
Or, to be more accurate, they failed to show up as the Hurricanes quickly established a 2-0 lead.
However, we've become accustomed to the Habs necessitating a certain amount of adversity before waking up, which was exactly the case on Tuesday night.
Rookie Oliver Kapanen scored his 21st goal of the season to get the Habs on the board midway through the first period.
You Know Who
Mr. Saturday night is a misnomer, to a certain extent. Yes, it's true that Cole Caufield loves scoring on Saturday night, but he also enjoys scoring on days that end with a 'y'.
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Caufield scored his 44th goal of the year early in the second period to tie the game, with the usual suspects, Juraj Slafkovsky and Nick Suzuki , registering their names on the scoresheet via an assist on the play.
It appeared that Caufield had scored his 45th goal of the season just a few moments later, but it was revealed that the puck deflected off Slafkovsky before going in.
Regardless, the goal, which was Slafkovsky's 28th of the season, gave the Canadiens a fragile 3-2 lead heading into the second intermission. For the record, the Canadiens were outshot 26-15 through 40 minutes of play.
Rookie Impact
With the Hurricanes pressing late in the third period, rookie Ivan Demidov decided to put the game out of reach, capitalizing on his breakaway opportunity with aplomb.
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As you can see in the video embedded below, Demidov was clearly thinking about scoring a goal prior to the actual breakaway, and once he made his way into the offensive zone, it was already too late for the Hurricanes.
The Montreal Canadiens will be back in action on Thursday, facing the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Bell Centre, with the puck drop scheduled for 7 pm ET.
All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick .
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