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