Montreal Canadiens: Skaters Really Hanging Cayden Primeau Out to Dry

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau made his season debut on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers.

Primeau was a 7th round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, but after two terrific NCAA seasons with Northeastern and some great stretches of hockey with the Laval Rocket over the past two seasons, he has become a really strong goaltending prospect.

With Carey Price and Jake Allen out of the lineup, Primeau got a chance to show his stuff at the NHL level. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a lot of help from his teammates.

Primeau’s first game of the season with the Canadiens was a 3-2 loss to the Rangers. He stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced which is a decent night for a goaltender, especially one that is making his season debut and expected to play out the season with the Laval Rocket in the AHL.

However, it should have been even better for Primeau. Each goal was the result of a terrible defensive breakdown that just shouldn’t happen at the NHL level.

On the Rangers first goal, Brendan Gallagher wins a puck battle and just chips it down low in his own zone. Defencemen Chris Wideman is up high along the boards and Alexander Romanov is drifting towards the front of the net which allows the Rangers to gather the puck first.

Then, there is a perfect pass made to Artemi Panarin who gets a chance in front but it is blocked by Wideman. Then, Panarin gathers the puck again and just stands still while no one touches him. Meanwhile, Kaapo Kakko and Adam Fox just stand in the slot untouched waiting for a pass. Kakko gets the pass and fires it into the net.

The Rangers second goal was another defensive blunder. You can see three Habs players get caught up ice behind the Rangers net while the blue shirts head up ice on a four on two. They are so far ahead of the backcheckers that Mika Zibanejad actually falls down in the neutral zone, gets back up and no one even comes close to catching him. Zibanejad makes a great pass across the ice but Jeff Petry doesn’t even really try to intercept or redirect the pass. It lands on the tape of Chris Kreider who beats Primeau.

The Rangers third goal was another awful defensive gaffe in front of Primeau. This time it was Nick Suzuki who is usually more careful in the defensive zone. Not this time as he fumbled the puck a couple of times and appears to be standing in cement as he slowly turns with the puck before Julien Gauthier takes it from him and scores on the backhand.

The defence was no better on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens first goal was early in the first and it was the result of a comedy of errors. Just count them. First, Jake Evans tries to dump the puck into the offensive zone but hits his teammate and turns it over. Then, Jeff Petry falls down for no apparent reason. Then, Ben Chiarot takes out Cayden Primeau with a collision that would make Chris Kreider smile.

All of it leads to Sidney Crosby, the greatest player of his generation standing alone in front of an empty net.

The Pens extended their lead to 2-0 when Danton Heinen was the recipient of a weird bounce off the end boards. They made it 3-0 in the final minute of the first period when the Habs once again gave up a 4 on 2 break from their own zone.

Another laughable defensive effort happened in the second period. Three Penguins skated through the neutral zone and as they entered the offensive zone, Cole Caufield, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot all figured they should try and take Brock McGinn. McGinn just slides the puck to his teammates who are given a clearcut 2 on 0 break.

Zach Aston-Reese hands the puck to Teddy Blueger who fires it past Primeau.

Primeau has proven over the past four seasons that he is a top notch goaltending prospect. It’s just a shame that when he gets an opportunity at the highest level, well before it was planned for him to be there, the team in front of him offers him no chance of success.