Montreal Canadiens 2 vs Ottawa Senators 1
September 18, 2009 at Bell Center (Montreal)
Preseason game
After Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and Jaroslav Spacek, it was the turn of
Brian Gionta to live his baptism of fire in the uniform of the Montreal
Canadiens. Gionta took advantage of this pre-season game against the Ottawa
Senators to register the winning goal, the Montreal Canadiens won 2 - 1.
The chemistry seemed to be working well between the new Canadiens striker
and his trio companion Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty. Throughout the
evening, the triad that served as the leading trio for Jacques Martin buzzed
around the Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire.
Among the young unknown players, the veteran center Ben Maxwell was able to
assert his offensive skills by entering the first goal of his team.
Eric Nielson was also shown but for very different reasons. Nielson showed
great robustness, involving no less than three fights, and scooping 37
penalty minutes.
His enthusiasm did not hurt the Habs. Instead, these moments of intensity
awakened the Canadiens, who seemed in a very bad position after the first
third. The Habs dominated the rest of the match.
Michalek scored the only goal for the Senators in his first game in an
Ottawa uniform.
Note that Alex Kovalev, newly acquired by the Senators, has not faced his
former team at the Bell Center, but should be in uniform for the rematch
between the two teams tomorrow night in Ottawa.
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