Stu Cowan: Nervous, exciting Canadiens debut for Mike Matheson

"It really hit me when I came out for warmups," Pointe-Claire native says after playing his first preseason game with Habs at Bell Centre.

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Stu Cowan  •  Montreal Gazette

It was only the first preseason game for the Canadiens and Mike Matheson admits he was feeling some nerves.

“But exciting nerves,” the 28-year-old defenceman said after the Canadiens lost 2-1 to the New Jersey Devils Monday night at the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens acquired Matheson — who grew up in Pointe-Claire on Montreal’s West Island — this summer in the deal that sent Jeff Petry to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It was pretty cool,” Matheson said about playing his first game in a Canadiens uniform. “It really hit me when I came out for warmups. Stepped on the ice and it was like: Whoa! Ok, this is different. So it was fun.”

Matheson’s wife, Emily, and their one-year-old son, Hudson, were at the game, along with Matheson’s parents and his brother.

“(Hudson) has an early bed time, so I don’t know how long they stayed,” Matheson said. “Pretty cool to have them all in the crowd for the first one, even though it was just preseason.”

Matheson met Emily at Boston College when they played for the school’s respective hockey teams. Emily played defence on the American team that beat the Canadian women for the gold medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

Matheson’s favourite number is 5, which he wore for the last two seasons with the Penguins. But that number has been retired by the Canadiens in honour of Guy Lapointe and Bernard Geoffrion, so Matheson took No. 8.

“I just like single numbers and there’s not too many to pick from here, for good reason,” Matheson said, alluding to the fact No. 1 (Jacques Plante), No. 2 (Doug Harvey), No. 3 (Émile Bouchard), No. 4 (Jean Béliveau), No. 5, No. 7 (Howie Morenz) and No. 9 (Maurice Richard) are all retired.

“My wife wore No. 8, too,” Matheson added.

How cool is that?

Matheson will play a key role on the Canadiens’ blue line this season — especially with veteran Joel Edmundson sidelined for an indefinite period with a back injury. Matheson wore an “A” on his sweater as an assistant captain for the game against the Devils and logged a team-high 25:35 of ice time while partnered with Justin Barron.

Matheson and the rest of the Canadiens were given the day off Tuesday by head coach Martin St. Louis.

“He’s a great player,” Matheson said about the 20-year-old Barron. “I honestly didn’t know a whole lot about him. Kind of watched a few highlights when training camp started. He’s just really poised with the puck and poised as a person, too. I think he’ll handle being on the big stage really well.”

Matheson picked up an assist on the Canadiens’ only goal, a one-timer on the power play by Cole Caufield with the primary assist going to Mike Hoffman.

“We seemed to work it around and it was a great shot by Cole,” Matheson said. “So I’ll take the assist even though I didn’t have much to do with it.”

Matheson said his legs felt better than he thought they would after logging so many minutes, but added he trained really hard during the offseason realizing the large role he would have with his new team. That role became even bigger after Edmundson, an assistant captain, was injured in a collision with captain Nick Suzuki during a scrimmage a few days before the start of training camp. Suzuki resumed skating on Monday and is expected to be sidelined for another week.

St. Louis said Matheson is an “elite” skater who is very engaged on the ice and is a leader.

“I look at the game sheet and I’m like: Gosh, maybe for a preseason game I played him too much,” St. Louis said. “But (Damon) Severson on the other side played 25 minutes, too. So I’m like: ‘All right, I’m not crazy.’ ”

Matheson has impressed goalie Jake Allen, who stopped all 18 shots he faced during the 29:17 he played before being replaced by Cayden Primeau.

“He’s a great person to begin with,” Allen said about Matheson. “That’s the first thing that stands out. I know a few guys that are mutual friends and were teammates with him and they say he’s such a great guy. We had a little team bonding last week and played some golf together.

“To see his display of skating is impeccable,” the goalie added. “Just smooth. His transition from forward to backward is incredible. I don’t think I really realized it until you’re on the same team as him. He’s going to be an important leader for our group right now, especially with some of the young guys we’ll have on the back end. He’s going to log a lot of minutes — some hard minutes. But I think he’s the guy to handle it. He’s in great shape. He’s a great addition … for our group. I was real excited when that trade happened.”

Monday was an exciting night for Matheson — even if it was just a preseason game.

scowan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/StuCowan1

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