Montreal Canadiens: Top 3 takeaways from Game 1 win against Penguins

2. Future Is Bright

The Canadiens have to be encouraged by how their young players played. Kotkaniemi struggled in his sophomore season, but he scored his first postseason goal in his first postseason game. Granted, it was about as lucky of a goal as he’ll ever score, as Jack Johnson inadvertently helped him score. But still, it’s a goal and it’s encouraging Kotkaniemi was willing to go to the net. When you aren’t afraid to go to the net, you’re going to score goals.

Meanwhile, Nick Suzuki was probably their best forward. His gorgeous second period goal gave the Canadiens a 2-0 lead. Suzuki led all Habs forwards with over 23 minutes on the ice. Julien trusted him a lot in Game 1 and it’s easy to see why.

Suzuki spent over five minutes killing penalties. Watching him develop has been really fun and the Canadiens will need him to keep contributing if they want to upset the Penguins.

Artturi Lehkonen didn’t score, but he was quite impressive as well. He led all Canadiens forwards in shorthanded ice time, killing penalties for over six minutes. The Habs outshot the Penguins when Lehkonen was on the ice at 5v5, which is promising. He wasn’t as engaged offensively as he usually is, but he stood out to me, especially on defense.