The Canadians didn’t spoil the party

It took a long time for the puck to drop this afternoon, as of 3 p.m. the Boston Bruins were officially celebrating their 100th anniversary, but when the puck dropped they were ready to get to work.

The Montreal Canadiens held on for 11 minutes, but then the Bruins took it up a notch. There was a communication problem in the Habs zone, which led Charlie McAvoy to come in, go around the net and open the scoring. Although the defensive zone assignment was missed, the fact that Cayden Primeau was completely shifted to his right and had no idea where his net was made the defender’s task easier.

As has often been the case this season, the opening goal shook the Canadians and just over a minute later, David Pastrnak beat it high to make it 2-0. That wasn’t going to calm anyone down, and 15 seconds later, Charlie Coyle found the back of the net. At 3-0, Martin St-Louis called a timeout to stop the bleeding, which he failed to do when his team collapsed and allowed five goals in one period against the Vegas Golden Knights , and it worked.

Primeau was still in net at the start of the second period and there was no doubt the Canadiens were hoping for a fresh start. Nikita Zadorov gave them a golden opportunity, earning a two-minute penalty for delay of game, but things didn’t go as planned.

Mike Matheson was back in the first wave of the power play, taking over from Lane Hutson, and the veteran coughed up the puck to McAvoy who took off and quickly eliminated Primeau to give the Bruins a 4-0 lead. 38 seconds into the second frame, things had taken an even worse turn.

Things didn’t go their way in the first period and five minutes later Arber Xhekaj joined the attack, skating for the team and throwing the puck up front before going behind the net. The puck bounced off right winger Cole Caufield and slipped past Jeremy Swayman. A 15th goal of the season for the sniper, and a fourth consecutive game with a goal. The score remained 4-1 after 40 minutes.

The final sequence started exactly like the previous one, when Coyle scored his second of the game just 21 seconds later. The Habs fought back, however, with Emil Heineman burying a one-timer to make it 5-2 with his sixth goal of the season. . I wrote about him recently, and I stand by what I wrote, when Laine returns, I don’t see why the young Swede would draw the short straw.

Four minutes later, Caufield added another lamplighter to his account to make it 5-3 with his 16th of the season. The diminutive winger is now on pace to score 54 goals this season and whatever happens collectively this season, his quest for a goalscoring milestone will be the story that keeps telling. Unfortunately for Montreal, that’s where their comeback ended.

Boston added an empty-net goal, final score 6-3. Primeau made 24 saves on 29 shots for a save percentage of .828. The loss does not depend solely on him, but time will eventually run out on the Primeau experiment. A weak glove hand, issues knowing where he is in the net and tracking the puck, and shaky confidence at best, at some point someone has to call it.

Related: Canadiens: Second Round in Boston

Veteran defenseman Matheson didn’t have a good game either. Yes, he hit the post twice, but he finished his night with a score of minus-4. On the Bruins’ second goal, he was so enthralled with the puck that he left ace scorer Pastrnak all alone, making it easy for him to score his ninth of the season.

Collectively, this team has a huge trust issue. A single goal can sometimes cause a frenzy of panic that causes players to shoot themselves in the foot repeatedly. St. Louis can say its players have good intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions as they say.

The Canadiens will now return home for a busy homestand with four games in seven days. The New York Islanders will be in town on Tuesday, followed by the Nashville Predators on Thursday, the “Ovechkinless” Washington Capitals on Saturday and, finally, the Anaheim Ducks on Monday week.

Laine is expected to be back in the lineup this week, but no specific date has been set yet. Furthermore, Rafael Harvey-Pinard was not claimed on waivers and was assigned to the Laval Rocket in the AHL.

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