Oliver Kapanen: two goals in intra-squad match

Last updated: 2024/09/19 at 5:11 PM

This morning, in Brossard, there was an intra-team match. Obviously, these matches, especially at the start of the camp, don’t really mean anything. We agree on that.

But we can still look at what happened to start forming trends.

So here are a few things to keep in mind on the heels of what we saw in Brossard on this first day on the ice of the Montreal Canadiens’ 2024 training camp.

1. Oliver Kapanen is a good hockey player who is here to win a job. He doesn’t want to just get a jersey and walk away with it, as Rob Ramage said.

And he scored two goals, the famous Kapanen.

Oliver Kapanen fits right in to this environment.

– Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) September 19, 2024

Obviously, goals don’t tell the whole story. But those present, including colleague Marc-Olivier Cook, agree that the young man was like a fish in water on the ice.

He had his chances to score, he skated well and he looked right at home. By the way, he’s wearing #91, just like… Ivan Demidov.

Oliver Kapanen is here to carve out a position for himself. His second of the game is a thing of beauty pic.twitter.com/tFcJ0VIit4

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 19, 2024

2. Patrik Laine isn’t the one who puts in the most effort on an ice rink. It shows today, on the first day of camp. I guess you’ll have to get used to it: sometimes, he doesn’t put in as much effort.

Martin St-Louis will have to keep him motivated.

3. The first line played up to the standard of a first line. In particular, Juraj Slafkovsky looked like a hungry player who’s ready to explode for the Habs’ next season.

He scored on an assist from Cole Caufield.

The CC – Suzuki – Slafkovsky line is dominant.

The guys are in shape, and Slaf looks like a guy who’s ready to explode. @DLCoulisses

– Marc-Olivier Cook (@Cook_Marco) September 19, 2024

4. I’ve made it to #4 and haven’t mentioned Lane Hutson yet… but we’ll fix that: he’s good. He’s creative with the puck and manages to stand out wherever he goes.

He’s mostly played with Justin Barron, but we’ve also seen him with Logan Mailloux. The latter didn’t get out as much today, but that’s not the end of the world, since he didn’t do too badly.

5. Filip Mesar wasn’t naughty. He played with energy. So much the better!

6. Kirby Dach gave fans a fright because of this: he took a stick to the face. But he stayed in the game, because these things happen in hockey.

Please stay healthy, Kirby Dach! 🫣🫣 pic.twitter.com/9WGUUD5zky

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) September 19, 2024

Overtime

– Excellent news.

The Québécois is having quite a September and seems to have found his niche in Miami. https://t. co/WIEpIh2MG0

– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) September 19, 2024

– Third line today.

Ivan Demidov will play on a 3rd line alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov & Grigory Kuzmin.

HC Sochi vs SKA today at 12:30pm ET. pic.twitter.com/1OJQcbp6a0

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) September 19, 2024

– Interesting.

He had a 7-4 record, a 2.90 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage last season in 13 games with the Laval Rocket. #NHL #Bruins pic.twitter.com/j2XtH7FThZ

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) September 19, 2024

– The Golden Knights are not commenting on the Robin Lehner file. All we know is that he won’t be playing this year.

Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon on Robin Lehner:

“Will not be reporting to the club this year. He continues to be unfit to play. There are unique circumstances surrounding this situation that the NHL, the NHLPA and (Vegas) are working through. Collectively, we are assessing our next…

– Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 19, 2024

– Hello, Max.