The first-ever meeting between Les Canadiennes and the Kunlun Red Star was decided by the special teams battle. While Montreal failed to score on any of their six power plays, including a five-on-three, Kunlun scored on one of their three and won the game 3-1.
It was not the way the Canadiennes wanted to celebrate their annual game at the Bell Centre, where 5,187 fans watched the game.
“It's a question of attitude,” said Canadiennes head coach Dany Brunet. “Did we want to play [Saturday]? Absolutely. It’s an event. It’s the one time a year we get to play in an arena like this.