A game to forget for Canadiens, but a pregame ceremony to remember

Habs lose 3-0 to Leafs on a night when Team Canada heroes from 1972 Summit Series — including Paul Henderson — are honoured in Toronto.

Author of the article:

Stu Cowan  •  Montreal Gazette

TORONTO — What happened on the ice Monday night at Scotiabank Arena during a preseason game between the Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs will soon be forgotten.

The Canadiens lost 3-0 to the Leafs, but it was only the second of eight exhibition games for the Canadiens, who will be back in action Thursday when the Winnipeg Jets visit the Bell Centre (7 p.m. TSN2, TSN3, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

But what happened on the ice before Monday night’s game was special and very memorable.

On the 50th anniversary of Paul Henderson scoring the series-winning goal for Canada against the Soviet Union at the 1972 Summit Series, players from the Canadiens and Leafs came out wearing red and white replica Team Canada sweaters from that series and lined up on their respective blue lines. After that, 11 members of that 1972 Team Canada came out on the ice, including Henderson — who played for the Leafs — and five players who won Stanley Cups with the Canadiens: Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard, Ken Dryden, Peter Mahovlich and Frank Mahovlich (who also played for Toronto and won four Cups with the Leafs).

They were joined by Ron Ellis — a teammate of Henderson’s with the Leafs — Eddie Johnston, Rod Seiling, Red Berenson and Dennis Hull.

You would have expected the Team Canada heroes would have received a much longer and louder ovation — but then you remember the game was at Scotiabank Arena, which has a reputation for being a quiet corporate club.

Or maybe the fans in attendance were just too young to know much about the Summit Series.

Either way, it was a shame.

Getting back to the actual game on the ice, Nicholas Robertson, Denis Malgin and Nick Abruzzese scored for the Leafs as the Canadiens saw their preseason record drop to 0-2.

A young defence and goaltending are two big question marks for the Canadiens going into this season.

Chris Wideman was the only veteran defenceman the Canadiens dressed, along with Corey Schueneman, Arber Xhekaj, Jordan Harris, Otto Leskinen and Justin Barron, while Samuel Montembeault started in goal.

Robertson opened the scoring at 6:53 of the first period on a short shot from a bad angle that went through Montembeaults’s legs. The goalie has to make that stop and it was a reminder that Montembeault had a 3.77 goals-against average last season and a .891 save percentage.

The good news for Canadiens fans is that it was the only goal Montembeault allowed on the 15 shots he faced during the first 31:10 of the game before being replaced by Kevin Poulin.

Poulin had no chance on Malgin’s power-play goal at 19:15 of the second period — a one-timer from the slot — with Xhekaj in the penalty box for holding. Abruzzese added a second power-play goal for the Leafs at 16:34 of the third period when he was left alone at the side of the net with Emil Heineman in the box for hooking.

The boring game with so many prospects in the lineup for both teams was a reminder of why it should be a crime to charge regular-season prices for tickets to NHL preseason games.

But the pregame ceremony could have been worth the price.

Former Montreal Gazette sports columnist Michael Farber likes to say: “only two institutions in Western civilization truly grasp ceremony: the House of Windsor and the Montreal Canadiens.”

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Canadiens to have a redo tribute to the 1972 Team Canada heroes before the regular-season opener on Oct. 12 at the Bell Centre when the Maple Leafs will be in Montreal.

You can almost hear the roaring standing ovation already.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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