Canadiens Lineup

Tyler Toffoli – Nick Suzuki – Joel Armia

Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Cole Caufield

Artturi Lehkonen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Josh Anderson

Eric Staal – Jake Evans – Corey Perry

Brett Kulak – Ben Chiarot

Joel Edmundson – Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov – Jon Merrill

Cayden Primeau – Jake Allen

Erik Gustafsson

Michael Frolik, Joseph Blandisi, Charlie Lindgren, Michael Pezzetta, Joel Teasdale

Brendan Gallagher (hand), Carey Price (concussion), Paul Byron (lower-body), Jonathan Drouin (undisclosed), Shea Weber (upper-body)

Game Report

The Canadiens were in a position to clinch a berth in the playoffs tonight right up to the opening puckdrop at Scotiabank Arena. Like every game in the Canadiens past six contests, they surrendered the first goal, tonight just sixteen seconds after the anthem. And to make the sting that much more painful, it was Alex Galchenyuk scoring for the home team in blue.

By the halfway point in the first period, Cayden Primeau had given up three goals and was looking rather leaky. Phillip Danault, supposedly the Canadiens best defensive forward, was a minus-3 and the interim head coach had already made his decision about who would start the second period in goal, and it wasn’t the 21-year-old.

By the time the first intermission had mercifully arrived, Primeau had allowed four, Danault had exited the game with an upper-body injury and the Canadiens newly-minted sniper, Cole Caufield, had a minus-3 rating.

Despite a brief spark in the third period, Montreal would not clinch a playoff berth on this night.

But there was more at stake. With two games against their likely playoff opponent, the Habs had an opportunity to set the tone and create some doubt in the minds of the Leafs players. Not to be.

Post-game the players repeated familiar lines. They weren’t ready and they weren’t prepared to play. And once again the interim head coach disagreed. Dominique Ducharme said that it wasn’t a bad start at all, but instead a matter of bad luck with a puck bouncing like a Super Ball.

You can’t fix it if you don’t acknowledge the problem.

It was yet another rough start for Primeau, the third this season, who shouldn’t have been manning the crease in the first place. Primeau’s positioning was poor, his recovery was lethargic, he had trouble tracking the puck and his rebound control was weak. In short, Primeau looked overwhelmed by top tier NHL talent. If Primeau is to properly develop, to be put on a path towards his potential, he should be left in the AHL for two or three more seasons.

As Jake Allen said, “you have to fail to succeed” when discussing the play of Primeau. But those lessons can be properly taught and absorbed at the AHL level rather than an NHL team preparing for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Montreal had the luxury of an experienced Charlie Lindgren in the system who would have been far better placed to spell Jake Allen when he needed a night off.

Primeau was put in a tough spot before he was ready. That’s not a burden he needed to bear. The poor decision-making should be owned by Ducharme and Marc Bergevin.

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