Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Cayden Primeau's Coming Out Party vs Sabres
The Montreal Canadiens remain near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings but have played well for stretches lately. They entered last night's game with a record of 11-12-3 and 25 points in 26 games.
Their opponent, the Buffalo Sabres, are a division rival who began the night one point back of the Canadiens in the standings, though the Sabres had much higher ambitions at the beginning of the year.
Here are 24 thoughts on the Habs 27th game of the season which brings them to the one-third mark of the season.
First Period Thoughts
Cayden Primeau gets the start against a bad team. I have questioned why Primeau has faced more Stanley Cup contenders this season than Sam Montembeault, even though he plays a third of the games. He needs to look sharp tonight or he could fall further behind the other two goalies in the three goalie system.
Justin Barron's skating is such a treat to watch. He just kind of glides along on his edges but accelerates at the same time. It is like he is water skiing out there and being pulled by a boat but you can't see the boat. (Insert joke about Brendan Gallagher's boat anchor contract here.)
The Sean Monahan, Jake Evans, Josh Anderson line seems like an odd fit to me. I don't know what the ideal lines are, but this one just isn't great for Monahan. Anderson hasn't beaten a goalie all season and Evans hasn't done it since opening night of the season. Yet, it is a really good defensive line and they created a great scoring chance on their first shift with exceptional passing but Monahan couldn't convert.
Cole Caufield had a couple of great chances early in the game, but can't find the back of the net. With just three goals in his past 19 games, you have to wonder at this point if something is bothering the young sniper. Perhaps his surgically repaired shoulder is still giving him some jitters.
Primeau made a couple of excellent saves early in this game. I really think him and Sam Montembeault are the pairing to go with for the rest of the season. I don't know what trade value Jake Allen has but it just makes no sense to have a young goalie like Primeau sitting out as often as he does. The more he plays the more consistent he could become.
It would really help Primeau if the Canadiens stopped giving the puck to the other team so regularly, but turnovers have been an issue often this season and that was definitely the case in the first half of the first period last night.
Couple of odd penalties in a row went against the Canadiens. Primeau got called for tripping as a Sabres player tried to wrap around the net. Kind of looked like Primeau just stretched out to cover the net and the Sabres player ran into him a bit, but that's tripping I guess. Then Kaiden Guhle falls and slides into a Sabres winger along the boards. The Sabres player stumbled a bit but maintained full possession of the puck, but it was enough to put the Canadiens down 5-on-3.
Joel Armia made a ridiculous deke while shorthanded to get around a Sabres defenseman and had a great chance to open the scoring but the shot went just over the net. He used his long reach to go from backhand to forehand and in the process just pushed aside the opponent and went in alone on the net. Seconds later, Armia made a defensive play in his own zone that broke up a Sabres scoring chance. Good to see him getting the job done at both ends while shorthanded.
Second Period Thoughts
Tanner Pearson was not on the team's bench when they returned for the second period and the team announced he would not return. He blocked a shot in the first period and appeared to get hit just on the inside of the knee, or maybe on his hand which was in the area as well. Just what the Canadiens need is another injury.
The Canadiens second power play unit looked pretty good creating chances and moving the puck around. Jesse Ylonen and Barron especailly looked really good as Barron distributed the puck around the offensive zone and Ylonen made a great read to get the puck down low to Anderson and create a chance and also had his own scoring chance but fired a laser just over the net.
Jayden Struble made an incredible defensive play to stop Tage Thompson from getting a shot on goal. What looked like a clearcut breakaway for a 47 goal scorer from last season turned into nothing as Struble used his speed to quickly close the gap and catch up and then used his strength to lean on the 6'6" forward and not allow him to cut to the net. The result of the play was a turnover as Thompson threw the puck away but could have been a clear breakaway chance if not for Struble's defense.
Barron got run from behind by newly acquired Eric Robinson in the corner and was given a five minutes major for boarding. You hate to blame the Canadiens player, but Barron just stood like five feet away from the boards with his back exposed to the open ice. You hope he doesn't get hurt but he really needs to protect himself better in that situation. I get the argument that it is Robinson's fault for hitting him in the numbers, but you still have to look both ways before strepping into a crosswalk. It would be the trucks fault if it ran you over in a crosswalk but I'll still look before crossing the street as I would prefer to just not get hit by a truck.
Struble, shortly after his great defensive play, just into the rush during a 4-on-4 situation and redirects home a Johnathan Kovacevic feed as he cut through the slot. He looked like a young Andrei Markov confidently cruising towards the opponent's net and tipping the puck into the net for his first career goal.
Nick Suzuki scores a goal just 14 seconds later and the Canadiens suddenly have a commanding 2-0 lead late in the second period. Suzuki carried the puck from end to end on the power play and ignored the controversial drop pass in the slot. Instead he just skated into the Sabres zone and fired a wrist shot into the back of the net. Why don't they just do that on every breakout?
Primeau was sensational through forty minutes of hockey. Stopped all 30 shots he faced and many of them were in tight or cross-crease one-timers. He doesn't always finish these performances off with a final strong 20 but he does this often where he looks awesome for a couple of periods. Hopefully he can get this one to the finish line.
The Canadiens have 21 shots on goal after two periods and Caufield has seven of them. Hard to believe he isn't filling the net with pucks. You get the feeling when once finally goes in he won't miss for weeks. Hope it happens soon.
Third Period Thoughts
Another period and another injury as we are at that point in the season for the Canadiens apparently. Usually by Christmas there aren't enough players to fill out a lineup. This time it is Kaiden Guhle who seemed shaken up with seconds left in the second period after blocking a shot and taking another shot from Rasmus Dahlin afterwards.
Primeau got beat for the first time all night early in the third period as Jeff Skinner fooled him by accepting a cross-ice pass with his skate. Primeau appeared to think the puck kept going past Skinner which gave the Sabres sniper a lot of net to shoot at and he found it.
Guhle returned to the game so there is actual good news on the injury front as it appears he avoided one.
A brutal turnover right in front of his own net by Barron leads to the Sabres second goal. He just hesitated and did nothing for a second too long and had the puck taken from him in the middle of the slot right in front of the Canadiens net. Primeau made the first save but Kyle Okposi buried the rebound to tie the game. Barron kind of froze up like just before he got run into the boards by Robinson. Maybe his controller keeps disconnecting.
Brendan Gallagher is not getting a lot of ice time with his linemate Pearson out of the lineup for most of the game. After a slow start, there was a bit of a resurgence in Gallagher this season but we have not been seeing that recently. Zero goals and just two points in his past 12 games, 13 now, and he is starting to look a step behind again.
Juraj Slafkovsky got a great chance on top power play and I am here for just waiting for this top line of Slafkovksy, Caufield and Suzuki to click. It is coming and it will not take long for it all to come together for this trio. Slafkovsky got a great chance on the power play but just missed and Caufield was all alone in the slot with the puck but it was fired just over the net. Put these three together for as many minutes as possible and just let them develop chemistry.
Did not see this one coming but Slafkovsky fighting with Connor Clifton was not something I would have expected. Now, it wasn't an incredible fight, but if Slafkovsky did this a year ago he would have been spinning his skates on the ice like Scooby Doo trying to run fast as he tried to keep his balance. Instead, he got knocked down, jumped back up, wrestled Clifton to the ice and landed on top of him showing tremendous strength in the process.
Ridiculously good game from Primeau who stopped 47 of 49 in 65 minutes of action. Keep him. Play him. Let him develop. Get rid of Allen. Primeau should play 25 of the team's final 55 games this season and Montembeault can play the rest. See what you got in these young guys.