The Montreal Canadiens’ one-game highway journey went 9 rounds of a shootout earlier than the New York Islanders despatched the house crowd pleased with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night time.
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In the meantime, the Canadiens prolonged their streak of not profitable on Hockey Night time in Canada on Saturday one other week, final incomes a victory on Jan. 6 towards their subsequent opponent, the New York Rangers.
After a shaky begin, Cayden Primeau bailed out the Canadiens and gave them loads of possibilities to win within the shootout. Moreover, Cole Caufield buried two objectives, whereas Logan Mailloux scored his first NHL purpose.
Let’s talk about how issues unfolded on Lengthy Island on Saturday night time.
Primeau Ought to Have Been a Prime 3 Star
In case you did not know, house groups decide the three stars of the video games. Moreover two objectives from Caufield, there was no probability another Canadiens would make the highest three, though Primeau deserved the honors tonight.
He completed the night time with 33 saves and a .917%, a much better efficiency than his first outing of the yr final week. At first, it appeared like a catastrophe within the making, particularly with the house group leaping out 2-0, however Primeau dug in and bailed the Canadiens out for the ultimate 40-plus minutes.
Undoubtedly, the Canadiens would have misplaced this recreation by multiple purpose if he hadn’t made important saves within the third interval and extra time whereas making six saves within the nine-round shootout. Primeau in all probability needs he might have a couple of objectives again, however the Saturday night time loss was not on him.
Caufield is a Objective Scoring Magician
Caufield is main the Canadiens in objectives with 5 in six video games. Each of his lamplighters on Saturday had been top-shelf with pinpoint accuracy. It isn’t the primary purpose he is sniped over a goalie’s shoulder, and it will not be the final.
The 24-year-old, who modified his quantity to honor the late Johnny Gaudreau, is on fireplace to start out the season and on tempo to turn into the primary Canadiens’ 50-goal scorer since Stephane Richer in 1989-90.
As one of many core members of the offensive recreation plan, the Canadiens want a monster season from him to advance up the standings and clinch a spot within the playoffs.
Canadiens Outshot for the Fifth Time
Concern was raised within the Canadiens’ first recreation once they had been outshot 48-27. Within the 5 video games since, Montreal has solely outshot the Ottawa Senators (Oct. 12) by a slim margin, 26-25.
Within the 5 different contests, together with Saturday night time towards New York, the Canadiens are taking part in with fireplace by constantly getting outshot, operating their shot differential to minus-44.
Here is a breakdown:
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Oct. 9 v. TOR 27-48 (minus-21)
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Oct. 10 v. BOS 24-29 (minus-5)
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Oct. 12 v. OTT 26-25 (plus-1)
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Oct. 14 v. PIT 30-28 (minus-2)
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Oct. 17 v. LAK 32-27 (minus-5)
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Oct. 19 v. NYI 36-24 (minus-12)
After six video games, the Canadiens goalies have had a busy marketing campaign, with Primeau incomes a .862 SV% in two contests and Sam Montembeault saving the tandem with a .932 SV% in 4 video games. If Montreal hopes to contend for a wild card spot, they should clamp down on pictures towards, or this might be one other lengthy season.
These Two Groups Love Additional time Video games
In 2023-24, the Canadiens and Islanders performed in extra time or a shootout 26 instances, probably the most by any group within the NHL. These two aren’t on tempo to duplicate that accomplishment but, however their development of one-goal video games towards each other continues.
Final yr, Montreal and New York met thrice, with the earlier two conferences determined by a purpose, similar to Saturday night time. Furthermore, relationship again to the 2021-22, 5 of their previous ten conferences have been determined by a single purpose.
The Canadiens will host the Islanders on Dec. 3, so it will likely be attention-grabbing to see the place every group might be in two months and if somebody can win a contest by multiple purpose.
Canadiens & Islanders Trivia Solutions
How did you rating in our Game Day Trivia quiz? Listed here are the solutions.
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Jacques Lemaire
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Tom Plekanec
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Ken Dryden
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Jose Theodore
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Pierre Turgeon
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Mark Streit & Trevor Linden
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Six (Danis, Fichaud, Hackett, Halák, Melanson, and Montoya)
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1984
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Jeff Petry
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14
Related: Canadiens: Immaturity Wasn’t The Big Issue Tonight
