Canadiens fans are hyped after Ivan Demidov's first KHL goal
Montreal Canadiens’ top prospect, Ivan Demidov, is off and running with his first career KHL goal, and fans are buzzing.
The 2024 fifth-overall pick got off to a bit of a rough start with the KHL’s St. Petersburg SKA, going goalless in each of his first three games of the season and being demoted down into the team’s bottom six.
It was not the start many Canadiens fans envisioned after a summer full of hype surrounding Dem. Still, the 18-year-old broke that goose egg earlier today, notching his first professional goal in a game against HC Lada Togliatti.
Former NHL star Evgeny Kuznetsov had a brilliant assist in setting up the Canadiens prospect.
Ivan Demidov scores first KHL career goal! Evgeny Kuznetsov with primary assist! pic.twitter.com/AIZWR8eGHF
— KHL (@khl_eng) September 15, 2024
Fans of the bleu, blanc, et rouge can now breathe a sigh of relief as it appears that Demidov is finally starting to gain some traction in the top Russian league. The social media reaction from the Canadiens faithful shows that there is still plenty of excitement surrounding the young Russian despite him not playing in North America this season.
Canāt wait for him to join the Habs
ā Habs&Als (@Habs4Life1909) September 15, 2024
Iām gonna watch this on repeat for a week!
ā J-P (@Jepetoboy) September 15, 2024
ā Ivan Demidov Fan #1 š„ (@seb_disturbed) September 15, 2024
Demidovvvvvvvv
ā Jacob Tremblay (@jacob_trem39847) September 15, 2024
Attahhh boyy !!! #gohabsgo
ā ĪNDRĪTZKY99Ā® #gohabsgoš šš (@ANDREXMEDIA) September 15, 2024
ā PatRizz Laine (@PierreLucMathi1) September 15, 2024
ā Shaun (@shaun_has_em) September 15, 2024
Demidovš https://t.co/v4mm8056OS
— Sp Goulet (@Spgoulet04) September 15, 2024
The DemiGod! First KHL goal of many!#GoHabsGo https://t.co/goIUPC9zle
— Joey Langille (@OmniSupreme9094) September 15, 2024
BANGGGGGG https://t.co/WKVnbuW168
— AJ #LaineForRocket (@GenoManager) September 15, 2024
LFG!!! https://t.co/C5A5qEo9rT
— Ted (@tedtheodorou) September 15, 2024
That wasn’t the only highlight from Demidov today. Later on, he appeared to have scored his second goal of the game, but it was disallowed for goalie interference. Despite not getting the second goal, Demidov looked fairly dominant in this one, and Habs fans are hoping this is the start of something special for the young prospect.
This would have been Demidov's 2nd of the game ā¹ļø pic.twitter.com/Jqf8dQqWKa
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) September 15, 2024
Meanwhile, Canadiens fans can also follow their North American prospects, including defenceman Lane Hutson, who is currently playing in a prospect tournament at the Bell Centre.