QUEBEC — On a night when a group of youngsters showed their determination with s 3-2 win over a veteran-laden Colorado Avalanche squad, the big winner for the Canadiens was goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
Tokarski, who is battling incumbent Peter Budaj for the backup job behind Carey Price, played the entire game and made 27 saves Friday as the Canadiens ran their preseason record to 3-0 with a 3-2 win at Le Colisée Pepsi.
“He’s a gamer,” said coach Michel Therrien. “You look at the way he played in the playoffs and this was a tough game for him tonight. He was playing against a very good team with not much experience in front of him. But he battled hard and he deserved the win.
Tokarski said he didn’t look at the lineups Friday morning, which means that he didn’t see what appeared to be a major disparity in talent. Colorado coach Patrick Roy, anxious to impress the crowd in his homecoming, put an NHL-calibre team on the ice.
“My job doesn’t change with the people on the ice,” said Tokarski. “My job is to stop the next shot. I can’t remember whether there were any shots that changed the way the game went. I just concentrated on stopping the puck.”
Therrien, who is trying to give his veterans some rest through a busy preseason schedule, countered with a youthful lineup. There were 10 players who have never played an NHL regular-season game and there were others like Jarred Tinordi, Gabriel Dumont and Nathan Beaulieu who have limited experience on the big stage.
“We play a lot of games and there’s a balance between getting ready for the regular season and evaluating players,” said Therrien. “This was an opportunity to show the kids what it’s like to play. We talked about it earlier today and we told them it was a great challenge for that group and they showed a lot of character.”
The challenge was compounded by the fact that, while Therrien said there was a great atmosphere in the building, it was a largely hostile crowd. But Therrien said the youngsters handed the pressure while showing little respect for their elders.
“We made some mistakes and that’s normal, but I’m happy that those kids did a good job,” said Therrien.
One youngster who has pretty well sewed up a spot on the Canadiens roster is Czech Jiri Sekac, who scored a goal and was the best Montreal forward. He has spent most of his time in camp on a line with fellow Czech Tomas Plekanec, but on Friday he played with Sven Andrighetto and Jacob de la Rose.
“It wasn’t difficult to find some chemistry because we’re all Europeans and we play a similar style,” said Sekac.
The Czech, who spent the past three seasons playing in the KHL, said he’s feeling more comfortable with each game he plays and Therrien said he noticed one welcome change in Sekac’s game.
“He’s playing more of a north-south game,” said Therrien.
Andrighetto said the Canadiens used the disparity in experience between the two rosters as a motivating factor.
“It made us want to play harder,” said the Swiss player who spent last season in Hamilton. “I don’t normally play centre, but I feel comfortable in the middle and it’s easy playing with someone like Sekac.”
Andrighetto also scored a goal on what he called a “lucky bounce.” He picked a loose puck at the blue line after Semyon Varlamov made a save on Sekac and his shot from the point surprised Varlamov when it deflected off a Colorado defenceman.
