Jake Allen didn’t miss his chance to make a good first impression in his Montreal Canadiens outfit.
In his debut with the Habs, Allen stopped 25 shots in a 3–1 win over Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Fredericton of New Brunswick was denied 22e Career shutdown when frustrated by Devin Shore with 2:09 remaining in the encounter.
Alexander Romanov, with his National Hockey League debut, Chia Weber in the power game, and Arturi Leconen, in strong play, scored the Canadians goals (2-0-1), who eliminated a two-game streak against the Oilers.
Mikko Koskinen has saved 31 balls in the net for the Oilers (1-3-0).
The stripped-down Canadians unit repelled the massive Oilers’ attack for the second time in a row. Oilers was 0 to 10 on powerplay for both series.
The Canadian will travel to Vancouver on Tuesday and play three matches against Canucks on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Less Shine, Just As Effective
The Oilers had some good shots early in the match, but they faced Allen.
Romanov then opened the scoring at 9:54, when his long shot slid under Koskinin’s right arm.
Al-Kindy subsequently found himself in trouble, receiving three consecutive punishments. However, Oilers scored only two shots on target with a force of 5.28.
Without necessarily generating many scoring opportunities, Habs had a better second spell, as the Oilers could not hold onto the attack.
At the end of a somewhat lackluster period, Webber widened the gap by 11 seconds to keep playing. He scored by recoiling the disc on the back of Koskinen’s mask. The goal was canceled at first as the referees believed Geoff Petrie had caused Shore to contact Koskinen. But coach Claude Julian successfully challenged the referees’ decision.
Alex Chiaison came within inches of responding to the Oilers before the end of the period, but he hit the post.
Allen helped the Habs family pass two additional penalties in the third period. The former St. Louis Blues even saw the Canadians score a shortened goal in a second straight match, courtesy of Laconne, with 7.45 points on the clock.
Shore offered little consolation to the Oilers, as he scored in a staged breakup before the end.