Canadiens Game Day: Another memorable overtime goal for Eric Staal

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Jonathan Drouin was 11 years old when Eric Staal scored an overtime goal at the Bell Centre to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 2-1 win over the Canadiens in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series in 2006.

The Canadiens had won the first two games, but the Hurricanes would go on to take the best-of-seven series in six games en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

On Monday night, Drouin and Staal were teammates for the first time and Staal scored in OT again at the Bell Centre to give the Canadiens a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

“I’ve watched him for a lot of years,” Drouin said after Monday’s morning skate about Staal, who was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on March 26 and had to go through seven days of COVID-19 quarantine before making his Canadiens debut. “They had good teams in Carolina when I was younger and he was pretty good against the Habs. I remember he scored a lot of goals against Montreal. I’ve seen a lot of those games and I’ve seen a lot of highlights from him.”

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Staal added another highlight to his 17-year NHL career Monday night.

“Tonight was a lot of fun to be a part of,” said the 36-year-old Staal, who was on a line with Drouin and Tyler Toffoli. “I could feel the energy through the TV screens. I wish (the Bell Centre) was full because I know what this place is like when it’s full, especially in that type of moment. But it was awesome nonetheless. I was thankful that it was my opportunity tonight, but as a group we’ve got a lot of guys that can be difference-makers here.

“There was a lot of good feelings all in one moment,” Staal added about his OT goal. “I’ll take it and move forward. But it was a great play by Toff. I got some speed going wide and I had a little bit of a gap and a chance to get off a pretty good shot and luckily it went by Smitty (Oilers goalie Mike Smith).”

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Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin acquired Staal from the Sabres in exchange for a third-round and a fifth-round pick at this year’s NHL Draft, looking to add some much-needed experience at the centre position.

“It’s just awesome to have that veteran presence,” Drouin said Monday morning about the addition of Staal. “To add a guy like Eric that played on that Cup team in Carolina and so many good teams in Carolina in those years. He had a great season in (Minnesota) a couple of years ago. So he’s a great veteran to add and he’s good for our young centremen like Suzy (Nick Suzuki) and KK (Jesperi Kotkaniemi). He’s going to have so much knowledge for those two guys on how to win faceoffs, be in the battle, be in front of the net. KK’s a big body … he kind of has the same size. So I think he’s a huge add-on for our team.”

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Staal finished the game with 16:56 of ice time and two shots on goal while going a very impressive 14-4 in the faceoff circle (78 per cent).

The Canadiens were trailing 2-0 heading into the third period before getting goals from Josh Anderson and Tomas Tatar to set the stage for Staal’s heroics, while Carey Price made 21 saves for the win.

There was also bad news for the Canadiens with Brendan Gallagher suffering a fractured thumb after being hit by a slapshot from teammate Alexander Romanov in the first period.

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Off to a good start

Staal’s night got off to a good start when he won the opening faceoff against the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl.

“My first thought was win the draw,” Staal said. “I wanted to win it. When you’re a new guy here you want to do the little things for these guys to help be a contributor. I know that’s an important part of the game and the more we can play with the puck the better. I don’t think I’ll have that type of success every single night, but I’ll do my best to be strong and to be competitive in that area. The wingers were really good tonight. Toff and Dru both won a bunch of 50/50 pucks and that’s huge. It’s an important part and I’ll just try and continue to be good in that area.”

Staal admitted he felt a little nervous during the pregame warmup.

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“I think my focus was just prepping like I normally do every game,” he said. “My same routine in warmup. I think my focus was just preparing the mind. I think that’s the biggest thing. It felt different with the empty building because I know coming in here even as a road player this building is awesome in warmups even. They got great energy, great tunes, there’s so many positives. So it’s a little different with the quiet building and the red (tarps) everywhere, but nonetheless special, excited. I had some butterflies, a little nerves. It was nice to actually start and just get that out of the way right away, just get right into the game. I was thankful that (head coach Dom Ducharme) put us out early just to wipe that away and just play.”

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It was Staal’s first game since March 25 with Buffalo. In 32 games with a terrible Sabres team, Staal had 3-7-10 totals and was minus-20.

The 6-foot-4, 195-pounder said his first few shifts Monday night were challenging and that he tried to keep them short while making smart decisions with the puck.

“I felt better as the game went on, which I kind of knew would happen,” Staal said. “Felt more comfortable with the puck as the game went on. Personally, I’ll keep hopefully getting better here as we move forward.”

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Souvenir puck

Paul Byron got the puck out of the net after Staal scored and later gave it to him as a souvenir.

“No question it will always be a special one,” Staal said about his goal. “Any time you can have a moment like that, especially coming to a new team with the weeks I’ve had leading up to this, it’s pretty special. With that puck I’m sure one of my kids will take it and do something with it. But it was special to grab that for me. A great memory.

“I’ve been lucky to play a long time in this league and I’m grateful every day,” Staal added. “Every day to be able to be out there and compete and play it’s awesome and there’s nothing better. This was a moment for sure that we’ll keep in the memory bank, but I’m hoping there’s even bigger and better ones here in the next while.”

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Staal’s wife and their three sons have remained at the family home in Minnesota since he reported to training camp in Buffalo at the end of December.

“I’m sure they’re pumped,” he said. “They’ve been through a lot over these last couple of months with Dad being gone and my wife dealing with three boys. It’s a lot, and then dealing with me on the phone. It’s been challenging for us as a family. So they feel moments like that, too, and it was special. I’m sure they’ll be pumped. They’ll probably be in bed (the boys) and I’ll talk to them tomorrow. But it will be fun to talk to my wife later and see what the reaction was. It’s been challenging at times. I know there will be better days, ahead but it was fun tonight.”

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First OT win of the season

For the Canadiens it was their first OT win of the season as they improved their record to 17-9-9, remaining in fourth place in the all-Canadian North Division. The Canadiens moved within five points of the third-place Oilers (23-14-2) while holding four games in hand.

The Canadiens now have a 4-1-0 record in five games against Edmonton this season and once again shut down the Oilers’ dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Draisaitl, who rank 1-2 in the NHL scoring race.

McDavid was held pointless, was minus-2 and had only one shot on goal, while Draisaitl had one assist, three shots and was minus-1. McDavid leads the NHL in scoring with 22-42-64 totals, while Draisaitl has 19-38-57 totals. In five games against the Canadiens, McDavid and Draisaitl both have no goals and two assists.

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The Canadiens outshot the Oilers 14-5 in the first period but were trailing 1-0 after Devin Shore scored at the 19:39 mark. The Oilers went up 2-0 when Darnell Nurse scored a power-play goal at 19:49 of the second period.

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“It’s a character win,” the Canadiens’ Corey Perry said. “I thought we were playing well. You give up two late goals in both periods, you know that can deflate you. But I thought we responded the right way. It’s a character win and we build off that and move forward.

“I think we played a team game tonight,” Perry added. “It might not have been a full 60 minutes, but we found a way to win and it took a couple of extra there in overtime. It’s a good group in that room. I think everybody meshes well with each other and we get along off the ice and that’s just going to translate onto the ice.”

Perry and Staal know each other well and were teammates at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, winning a gold medal with Team Canada.

“It’s exciting,” Perry said about Staal’s OT goal. “I played junior against him and played all the way up through our careers against each other, so I know quite a bit about him. He’s a character guy. He works hard and I think you saw that tonight. Every faceoff he was digging in deep. He won a lot of faceoffs just on second opportunities and then that’s a big goal in overtime for us.”

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Gallagher is another character guy and now the Canadiens will be without him for weeks, not days, with his fractured thumb.

“He’s a big presence in our room,” Perry said. “He’s going to be missed.

“That’s why we’re deep,” Perry added. “That’s why we have the leadership in that room to push ourselves forward. He’s a big hole to fill, but there’s guys that can come in and do his job until he’s ready to come back.”

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Some stats

The Canadiens outshot the Oilers 32-23 and won 65 per cent of the faceoffs. The hits were 28-28.

Jeff Petry, who was coming off a minus-5 in Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators, logged a team-high 27:14 of ice time, picked up an assist and was plus-1. Shea Weber was second with 23:44 of ice time, followed by Joel Edmundson with 20:38. Phillip Danault led the forwards with 20:00 of ice time and played a key role in shutting down McDavid. Toffoli had 19:04 of ice time and Anderson had 18:20.

Anderson had a team-leading five shots, while Artturi Lehkonen had three. The only two Canadiens who didn’t have a shot on goal were Weber and Victor Mete.

Kotkaniemi, Byron, Petry and Edmundson had three hits each.

Staal was 14-4 on faceoffs (78 per cent), Kotkaniemi was 3-1 (75 per cent), Nick Suzuki was 7-5 (58 per cent) and Danault was 7-8 (47 per cent).

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The lines

Here’s how the Canadiens’ forward lines and defence pairings looked against the Oilers:

Tatar – Danault – Gallagher
Drouin – Staal – Toffoli
Perry – Suzuki – Anderson
Byron – Kotkaniemi – Lehkonen

Edmundson – Weber
Kulak – Petry
Romanov – Mete

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Picking the lines

Ducharme said after the morning skate that he had two options on where he would play Staal: either with Byron and Lehkonen or with Drouin and Toffoli.

“With the depth we have we really feel that we have four really good lines,” Ducharme said. “It’s also going with what worked in the past also at some point. If you look at KK with Byron and Lehkonen against the Oilers (a 4-0 win on March 30) and the first game against Ottawa (a 4-1 win on April 1) they were really good playing together. The speed beside KK, provoking a lot of turnovers. They had good games, so that was one option. So we said let’s go with that.

“We liked the way Suzuki, Anderson and Perry played together last game was positive, even though the team itself didn’t have a strong game, and then Danault’s line. So, basically, we had two options for Eric. Either he was with Drouin and Toffoli coming in or he was with Byron and Lehkonen. Looking at the last game and the last few games, we thought KK, Lehknonen and Byron were good together, so we put Eric there.”

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When asked about dropping Kotkaniemi down to the fourth line, Ducharme said: “That’s something we talked about with all our players. All the guys in the room, they’re aware of what we’re doing. So I’ll tell you tonight after the game who was the first line, second line, third line, fourth line. You guys can put numbers now if you want. That’s the message to the guys, too.

“Tomorrow morning, when we give the lineup to the trainers (at practice) for the jerseys, the best line tonight will be our first line on the sheet,” the coach added. “And we’ll see what happens in Toronto (Wednesday night) after that. Like I said, we’re confident with all four lines. It’s not about emotions, it’s not about anything, it’s about finding the right fit for everyone.”

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Leskinen joins taxi squad

The Canadiens announced Monday morning that defenceman Otto Leskinen has been recalled from the AHL’s Laval Rocket to join the team’s taxi squad.

In 23 games with the Rocket this season, Leskinen has 1-13-14 totals and is plus-13. The undrafted 24-year-old from Finland signed with the Canadiens as a free agent on May 7, 2019. Last season, he played five games with the Canadiens and had no points. In 52 games with the Rocket last season, the 5-foot-11, 187-pounder who shoots left had 2-20-22 totals and was minus-7.

The Rocket beat the Stockton Heat 4-2 Sunday night at the Bell Centre, improving their first-place record in the Canadian Division to 17-4-2. The Rocket will play the Heat again Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

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Joseph Blandisi leads the Rocket in scoring with 9-9-18 totals, followed by Ryan Poehling (8-10-18) and Jordan Weal (5-13-18).

Cole Caufield could make his Rocket debut Friday night when they play the Marlies in Toronto.

Caufield signed a three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Canadiens on March 27 after finishing his season with the University of Wisconsin Badgers. In 31 games with the Badgers, the 5-foot-7, 170-pound right-winger had 30-22-52 totals. Caufield, selected by the Canadiens in the first round (15th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft, is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. college hockey.

Caufield would be eligible to play with the Rocket Tuesday night after completing seven days of COVID-19 quarantine, but coach Joël Bouchard said Sunday that he wants the 20-year-old to get a few practices under his belt before playing his first game.

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What’s next?

Monday night’s game is the first of four this week for the Canadiens and this is the first of five straight weeks in which they will play four games.

The Canadiens have a practice scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Bell Sports Complex before heading to Toronto, where they will play the Maple Leafs Wednesday night (7:30 p.m., SN, NBCSN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM). The Canadiens will then return home for back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Centre on Thursday night (7 p.m., TSN2, TSN3, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) and Saturday night (7 p.m., SNE, SNW, CITY, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

scowan@postmedia.com

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