High risk, high reward.
That's what you get with defenceman P.K. Subban(notes), who had the Bell Centre crowd chanting his name last night during the Canadiens' 4-2 exhibition win over the Ottawa Senators.
Subban dazzled the sellout crowd with offensive skills, but there were other times when he looked like a rookie who still has to learn a thing or two about playing defence.
Subban pulled the Canadiens into a 1-1 tie when he connected on a one-timer from the blueline at 12:57 of the opening period. Scott Gomez(notes) patiently held the puck at the top of the faceoff circle and waited until Subban moved into position.
It was one of three scoring chances had in the opening period. He made an end-to-end rush at the end of a power play but failed to jam the puck past Pascal Leclaire(notes) and the Ottawa goalie challenged Subban and made a big save on a 25-foot shot from Subban in the final two minutes of the period.
But Subban was caught out of a position on the opening goal by Ottawa's Mike Fisher(notes), Subban and Alex Henry(notes) both overplayed Peter Regin(notes) behind the net and he was able to find Fisher alone in the high slot.
And the crowd was still chanting "P-K, P-K" when Alex Auld(notes) was forced to make a save at the end of the first period after an errant pass by Subban.
Montreal took a 2-1 lead at 10:50 of the second period when Andrei Kostitsyn(notes) beat Leclaire from close range after Chris Phillips(notes) lost control of the puck while attempting to carry it from behind the net. The goal was unassisted but David Desharnais(notes) deserved a large measure of credit for pressuring Phillips.
In the Habs' room, Page D5
Desharnais did get an assist on Mathieu Darche's(notes) power-play goal which gave the Habs a 3-1 lead at 15:50 of the second period.
Dustin Boyd(notes), who was acquired from Nashville for Sergei Kostitsyn(notes), added an insurance goal at 11:55 of the third period when he was the last player to touch Henry's knuckleball from the point. Ryan White(notes) also had a swipe at it.
The Canadiens received solid goaltending as they evened their preseason record at 1-1. Auld stopped 11 of 12 shots in the first half of the game while Robert Mayer(notes), who spent most of last season in the ECHL allowed one goal on 19 shots.
It was a testy affair for an exhibition game and there were two fights in the opening period. Ian Schultz(notes), who is expected to add some muscle in the future, took exception to a Cody Bass(notes) cross-check and they exchanged some punches. And White stuck up for linemate Max Pacioretty(notes) after he took what appeared to be a high stick wielded by Erik Gyrba.
The Sens dressed eight players with NHL credentials, the minimum for exhibition games. The Habs had nine. The Senators lineup should be beefed up for tonight's rematch in Ottawa. The Canadiens are home tomorrow against Minnesota and Monday against Florida. The exhibition schedule wraps up with a home game Thursday against Buffalo and next Saturday against the Islanders in Quebec City.
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