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In Hainsight: Primeau Shines in Win |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
You had to be on time at the Bell Centre last night to see any good offensive play from the Canadiens. Before the six-minute mark, the Canadiens had taken a three-goal lead which would hold until the end of the game. It wasn’t Elvis Merzlikins’ night as he allowed the three goals on just four shots before being pulled. Strangely enough though, at the end of the first frame, the Canadiens had taken just eight shots on net while the Jacket had a whooping 22 shots which were all turned aside by Cayden Primeau.
For the rest of the game, Primeau was the only Hab worth talking about. It was his first start since last week’s trade put an end to the Canadiens’ threesome in net and there’s no denying that the post-Jake Allen era suits him just fine. At the end of the game, the 24-year-old goaltender had stopped every one of the 41 shots he faced, just one short of the Canadiens’ record for the most saves in a home game which is held by Jacques Plante, José Théodore, and Carey Price.
While some would argue it was only the Blue Jackets, the fact remains that they took a lot of shots and that they were skating around the Canadiens undisturbed for much of the night. Primeau also had to make a few spectacular saves and he was understandably named the first star of the game.
David Savard got the second star mention with a seven-shot blocks performance. The stay-at-home defenseman even managed to stop a shot after having lost his skate blade. Although some would have liked to see him traded at the deadline, he remains a very valuable asset for the Canadiens, a great mentor for the young defensemen, and a very popular player in the room. Elsewhere on the blue line, it was a tough night for the Kovacevic-Struble pairing. Kovacevic had replaced Jordan Harris in the line-up, and the result was far from impressive. They only saw 15 minutes of action but had a few very long shifts which lasted for three minutes as the Canadiens were unable to get possession of the puck and keep it.
Up front, Brendan Gallagher was named the third star after scoring the first goal of the game 21 seconds into the game. It was the winger’s 11th goal of the season and his 20th point of the season. Juraj Slafkovsky scored the only power-play goal of the night, with assists from Mike Matheson and Cole Caufield. Joshua Roy scored the third goal by expertly deflecting Arber Xhekaj’s cannon of a shot on the crossbar, but the puck hit Merzlikins’ back and went in. How fitting considering Columbus’ love for cannons eh?
While Cole Caufield got an assist on the night, he’s still looking for his 20th goal of the season and is looking somewhat snake-bitten at the moment, he got a few grade-A opportunities but just couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net. Still, the winger has got 52 points on the season and each new point improves his career-best point total.
The Canadiens will now host the Bruins at home on Thursday and if they play like they did last night, they will not get the same result. Jim Montgomery’s team is third in the standings with 91 points and very much in the President’s trophy race as Florida is first with 94 points.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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