The bad news is the Canadiens lost their season opener 5-2 to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night with the last two Toronto goals scored into an empty net.
The good news is the Canadiens’ penalty-killing — a question mark coming into the season — was outstanding.
The Canadiens ranked ninth in the NHL last season on the PK with an 80.9 per cent success rate. But three key members of last season’s PK are now gone — defenceman David Savard retired, while Christian Dvorak signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers and Joel Armia signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Kings.
Against the Leafs on Wednesday night, the first PK unit had forwards Jake Evans and Josh Anderson with defencemen Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson, while the second unit had Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook with Kaiden Guhle and Alexandre Carrier.
The Leafs went 0-for-2 on the power play and had only one shot on goal.
After Patrik Laine took a hooking penalty at 5:08 of the first period with the Leafs winning 1-0, Anderson had a good scoring chance and then Kapanen scored his first NHL goal only 31 seconds into the PK. Newhook also had a good scoring chance on that PK, but fired a shot just wide of the net. The Canadiens outshot the Leafs 2-1 while killing off Laine’s penalty.
After Ivan Demidov took a hooking penalty at 5:06 of the third period with the scored tied 2-2, the Leafs failed to get a shot on goal on the ensuing power play.
It’s only one game, but there’s reason to believe the Canadiens’ PK will be a strength again this season.
While Savard led the Canadiens with 180 blocked shots last season, Dobson is much more mobile on the PK. Head coach Martin St. Louis noted during training camp Kapanen has an “NHL computer” when it comes to his hockey IQ and Newhook brings added speed to the PK, similar to what Paul Byron used to do.
The Canadiens showed against the Leafs they will be aggressive on the PK.
Evans led all NHL forwards in PK ice time last season, while Matheson ranked second among defencemen. The arrival of Dobson in a trade with the New York Islanders this summer will cut down on Matheson’s overall ice time and should make him more effective in all situations. Last season, Matheson led the Canadiens in ice time with an average of 25:05 per game, which ranked seventh in the NHL. Against the Leafs on Wednesday night, Matheson had 22:32 of ice time, while Dobson led the team with 22:56.
The Canadiens scored nine short-handed goals last season, led by Evans and Armia with three each, which ranked sixth in the NHL.
Newhook killed penalties while playing junior with the BCHL’s Victoria Grizzlies and at Boston College. He’s excited about getting an opportunity to do it again.
“You earn trust from the coach,” Newhook said during training camp. “I think it helps with being more involved with the game. I think when you’re playing more you’re involved a little bit more. Confidence comes from that and earning the trust of your coach goes a long way throughout the year, for sure.”
That’s what happened last season when St. Louis decided to put Anderson on the PK and he thrived in that new role. It also helped Anderson’s overall game after a disappointing 2023-24 season.
“I’m not as big as Andy, but I think I have some similar attributes there,” Newhook said. “Using those to my advantage. … I think speed’s a big part of the penalty kill. Being defensively reliable is a big part of it, but I think using my speed is something I can catch some teams off guard, some power plays off guard.”
Evans believes Newhook can be effective on the PK.
“He’s got great speed and great hockey IQ and you need a little grit to your game and he definitely has that,” Evans said during training camp. “So he’s going to be great out there. I always tell him you get a little bit more ice time usually when you are killing and there are chances out there if you can read the play well.”
Being able to read the play well is a key to being a successful penalty-killer.
“I think it’s reading the plays well and reacting well and having a good stick and being willing to be in those ugly lanes where it gets a little painful sometimes,” Evans said. “If you can do that sometimes opportunities come from that. Pauly (Byron) was just really good at reading plays and seeing opportunities and I think Newy’s got that potential as well.
“It’s being smart about it and sometimes you can be a step ahead of maybe what a team wants to do and you can have a deceptive stick where you might let the team think that there’s a lane open and take that away quick,” Evans added. “I think from all that you frustrate a lot of teams and create your own opportunities.”
That’s exactly what the Canadiens did on the PK against the Leafs.
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