The last place Montreal Canadiens took on a Stanley Cup contender last night when they traveled to Colorado to play the Avalanche.
They were underdogs to say the least, but the Canadiens nearly pulled out a victory over the Avs who are 17-2-1 on home ice this season.
They didn’t really deserve to be in the game, and should have lost long before Gabriel Landeskog’s overtime winner went into the back of the net, but Cayden Primeau stood tall in goal and turned aside shot after shot from the powerhouse Avalanche lineup.
It was a far cry from Primeau’s last appearance. He was facing the Arizona Coyotes who are at the bottom of the standings with the Canadiens. Primeau was pulled from that game after 40 minutes having allowed four goals on 16 shots. His whole team was not good in that game, but stopping 12 of 16 shots against the worst team in the Western Conference is not a good night.
But Primeau bounced back in a big way last night. He held the Canadiens in the game facing a barrage of great chances from the skilled Avalanche team. Colorado fired 20 shots on goal in the first period alone and headed to the second intermission with 34 shots on goal. That’s a busy night for any goalie in a 60 minute effort, but it was just two-thirds of Primeau’s evening.
Somehow, the Canadiens were down just 2-1 and then Nick Suzuki tucked in a one-timer midway through the third period that tied the game.
Landeskog would win it for the Avalanche in overtime, but without Primeau’s heroics the game would have been over after 40 minutes, maybe even 20.
With Carey Price still weeks away from even skating and Jake Allen out another seven or so weeks with his injury, the crease is wide open in Montreal. Sam Montembeault has been playing quite a bit recently, but we should see more from Cayden Primeau in the near future as well.
He certainly earned it with his 43 save performance against one of the best offensive teams in the entire league.