[EHM 2018-10-11] Opening Night - Stars 0 @ Habs 3

Opening night at the Bell Centre sees the Habs host the Dallas Stars after the Stanley Cup banner is raised to the ceiling.

Reaves can't start tonight as he's serving out a one-game suspension. It's fairly certain that if either Deslauriers or Ritchie are waived for roster space that they will be claimed. Pezzetta on the other hand is exempt from waivers and despite him playing well, the exemption may seal his fate as an AHL player this year. He's sent to St. Johns. Jokinen's try-out ends (same with Bozak and Baun). Matthew Peca turned down a try-out offer. Attempts to snag the rights to Joel Teasdale from the Panthers have failed. They want too much.

The Habs have too many NHL left-wingers and not enough NHL right-wingers. They have too many AHL right-wingers so you'd think that would be a solution however the left-wingers outplayed the right-wingers even when on their off wing. This leaves the Habs with one winger playing on his off side and scratching three left-wingers just to save them from being snagged by another team for free.

This creates the problem of having players you like and want to keep but not having ice-time to go around. Opening night is also a big deal and likely to shine some good morale into the players who get to be announced as this years team.

Hischier(8)-Domi(8)-Dadanov(9)
Shipachyov(6)-Rychel(7)-Tatar(7)
Thornton(8)-Dawes(8)-Gallagher(8)
Little(6)-Lehkonen(6)-Byron(7)
Valiev(7)-Weber(7)
Alzner(7)-Green(7)
Sergachev(8)-Honka(7)
Price(9)
Zenko(-)

Scratches: Deslauriers (healthy), Ritchie (healthy), Reaves (suspension)

While simulations of this game saw both teams very even out of the gate with an overtime likely, the addition of Bryan Little may have made a bigger difference than expected even though he didn't make the score-sheet.

Weber had 22:21 of ice-time and Green 24:11. Weber and Valiev were +2. Sergachev and Honka +1.

Dadanov saw 18:16 of ice-time (his line being +2) while Shipachyov only received 11:32.

Domi led the team with 4 shots on goal and surprisingly Valiev himself got 3.

Shipachyov and Tatar each took foolish penalties in a game that had very few (2 minors each team). The PK unit did well but not the PP. Lines also rolled well with no one becoming over-tired or injured.

Thornton scored from Dawes and Sergechev; Hischier unassisted; Domi from Dadanov.

On most game stats the Stars had the edge except on giveaways/takeaways where Montreal took their advantage.

Farm

There are still some decisions on the two feeder teams, especially on defense. Strange roster rules keep Michael McCarron, Nikita Scherbak, Victor Mete and Anton Cedarholm from trying out with the Brampton Beast before the season starts. They will all most likely start the season there.

It's unsure which defensemen will join Kulak, Juulsen, Nygren and probably Reilly on the IceCaps. DeSimone, Muller, Ouellet, Perry, Hickets and Gagnon all have a shot. Bindulis will likely be kept for emergency injury replacement. There is a huge hole on the RD side of both the IceCaps and Beast forcing the defensemen to skate make it on their off side. Some like Muller, Ouellet and Perry are pretty good at doing that.

While the Habs have a glut on LW, the Beast aren't sure who'll fit there. Valcourt will most certainly keep his place with Castonguay and Addison but Verbeek and Gabrielle have underperformed and being let go is a likely future. Versatile Phillips might find his way there and Broll or Gagnon might come down temporarily for some ice-time. Brodeur has certainly locked the second LW position so the 3rd is wide open.

Remember that the ECHL where the Beast play have a strict 18 skater lineup with a max of 20 players on the roster. Once the players signed by the Habs or IceCaps come down, the salary rules kick in and the team will not be able to sign anyone. This league runs heavily on try-outs and unlike the AHL or NHL, try-out players may play in season and playoff games.