In the Habs Room: First NHL goal ‘feels great’ for Johnathan Kovacevic

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SEATTLE — There were times when Johnathan Kovacevic must have wondered if this moment would ever come.

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On Tuesday night — at age 25 and five years after the Winnipeg Jets selected him in the third round of the draft — Kovacevic finally scored his first NHL goal in the Canadiens’ 4-2 win over the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.

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GM Kent Hughes claimed Kovacevic off waivers from the Jets four days before the season started when the Canadiens were desperate for a defenceman after Mike Matheson suffered an abdominal muscle strain that was expected to sideline him for eight weeks.

Coach Martin St. Louis knew nothing about Kovacevic when he arrived in Montreal, but the 6-foot-4, 208-pounder has provided a steady presence on the blue line and in his 23rd game with the Canadiens he finally scored on a shot from the point that gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 12:56 of the first period. Cole Caufield retrieved the puck for his teammate.

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Caufield, Josh Anderson and Rem Pitlick also scored for the Canadiens. They were outshot 33-16 by the Kraken, but Jake Allen was stellar in goal.

The smile on Kovacevic’s face in the locker room after the game was bright enough to light up Seattle’s famous Space Needle.

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“It just feels great,” he said. “It’s obviously something I’ve been hoping for. I feel like I’ve had quite a few chances, too, and at times I’m gripping it a little tight just because everyone wants their first (goal). It’s a dream to play your first game, it’s a dream to get your first goal. The fact that I got it, the fact that we won the game, it’s a dream come true.

“It’s been something that I’ve worked for,” added Kovacevic, who played three seasons at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., before turning pro. “Everyone has a different path and I feel like I’ve kind of taken the longer road to get here. I feel like I have more gratitude, I have a lot of appreciation for where I’m at. I know I’m not going to be perfect. I just want to keep building off of the start. Take everything as a learning lesson — the good plays, the bad plays, and kind of use that to just grow into being the best player I can be.”

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Allen was the best Canadiens player for the second time on this four-game road trip that started with a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames, followed by a 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers and a 7-6 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. In the two wins, Allen stopped 76 of the 79 shots he faced for a .962 save percentage.

“He’s the best … he’s an amazing goalie, he’s a great guy,” Kovacevic said about Allen. “How hard he works, everything about him is just the picture of a solid, true pro and he stands on his head for us. We’re so lucky to have him. There’s going to be mistakes back there and he’s had our back all season.”

For the second straight game, the Canadiens headed into the third period with a 4-2 lead. But this time they were able to protect it following Monday night’s loss in Vancouver.

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“(Coach Martin St. Louis) said it after the second (period), it’s funny how the Hockey Gods — or whatever you want to call them — gave us the same opportunity,” Kovacevic said. “Now we’re down 4-2 going into the third again and find a way to win tonight. So hopefully we can just take lessons from it. I feel like when we’re good we’re really good and we’re still a relatively young team. It’s about learning and growing during those times together.”

St. Louis is trying to develop what he calls “the brand” of hockey he wants the Canadiens to play.

“Teaching the brand and teaching to win is two different things and you can’t really address it at once,” he said. “You need circumstances, scenarios, examples. And then you gradually get better at winning. Still taking care of the brand, but situational stuff — third period, up a goal, whatever. The risk management. What you might do in a tie game or down two, you might not be doing the same thing up two. So I’m proud of the guys.”

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What impressed St. Louis most about his team on this road trip?

“Just finding a way,” he said. “And even yesterday, just finding a way. You get challenged emotionally, a game like yesterday, but we found a way to stay in it, get a point and then get back at it tonight. Was it a perfect game tonight for us? Absolutely not. But we found a way and that’s what this league is all about.”

St. Louis’s face lit up when Kovacevic’s first NHL goal was mentioned.

“I think the room respects him a lot for his path, but also his personality and the person he is,” the coach said. “He’s a team guy and everybody pulls for those guys.”

scowan@postmedia.com

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