The start to Mike Matheson’s first campaign with his hometown Montreal Canadiens was rather ominous. The West Island native suffered an abdominal strain in the morning skate ahead of a preseason game in Gander, Newfoundland. He would end up missing over a month of action and his new club’s first 17 games of the season.
He eventually donned the bleu-blanc-rouge for his first regular season game on November 19th and what a debut it was. Matheson played a team leading 23:57 and scored a goal in a thrilling come from behind 5-4 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Bell Centre on a Saturday night.