Canadiens: 24 Thoughts On Cayden Primeau's Coming Out Party vs Sabres

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.