In the great history of the Canadian, Casey DeSmith has an unusual mark. He is probably the only player in the organization who has participated in a CH golf tournament without ever wearing a match uniform. He didn’t have time to experience even a day in the team’s camp.
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“I enjoyed my thirty days in Montreal,” DeSmith said with a smile on his face in the opposing team’s small locker room at the Bell Centre. I grew up a Canadiens fan. I was happy to meet Carey Price at the golf tournament, he was one of my role models growing up. I remember visiting the locker room and the training center. I didn’t play there, but I’ll always remember it.”
“I didn’t keep anything as a souvenir from the Canadians, but they gave me a team jersey before the game,” he continued. My father will be very happy. I have my number 29 on my back. But I know I would never wear this number with CH because it belonged to Ken Dryden. But then again, I find it special because I picked 29 in my youth because of Dryden.
Acquired along with Jeff Petry in a three-team mega-deal with the Penguins and Sharks that included Erik Karlsson as a core member, DeSmith headed to Vancouver on Sept. 19, just before the start of camp.
Kent Hughes, who didn’t want to find himself in the carousel of four NHL goaltenders in Jake Allen, Samuel Montembeault, Cayden Primeau and DeSmith, traded him to the Canucks for Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick.
32 stops
For this Canucks’ only visit this season in Montreal, Rick Tocchet played the emotional card by offering DeSmith the start! There was no tribute video to accompany his thirty-day stint with the organization, but the masked man from New Hampshire emerged with a 5-2 victory.
DeSmith, a 32-year-old veteran, has played his role as a reliever with the Canucks very well since the start of the season with a 4-0-1 record.
He blocked 32 shots against CH, and his best defense was in the third period.
Mike Matheson and Arber Xhekaj scored both goals in the third.
A question of consistency
Martin St-Louis reiterates that consistency remains the key to his young team. From one game to the next, he would like to see the same level of performance, commitment and emotion.
After an emotional 3-2 overtime victory against the Bruins in a charged atmosphere, the Habs did not repeat the same recipe against the Canucks.
CH did not have as much energy and combativeness as the day before. The excuse of being tired is unacceptable as the Canucks played their second game in two nights after visiting the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Saturday.
Slow
In this game, Jake Allen allowed three or more goals in his third straight start (two were empty nets). But we won’t blame him for this failure against the best hitter on the circuit to start the year.
As for the attack, Juraj Slafkovsky knocked on the door several times with 10 attempts, six of which were on goal. This is an encouraging sign. However, the Slovak will have to learn to shoot faster. There’s always that tiny split second where he hesitates.
On the left wing of Christian Dvorak and Slafkovski, for the third game in a row, Cole Caufield got two hits. In three games in this new position, number 22 took just three five-on-five shots.
In the second period, Tocchet and the Canucks won the backcourt after a goal by Christian Dvorak. Caufield was well ahead of Slafkovski who entered the territory. It was the third time this season that Caufield found himself at the center of a missed offside challenge after a goal.
