Canadiens fans might have gone to bed Wednesday night with visions of a Stanley Cup parade following their shutout victory on home ice against Toronto.
But 24 hours later, reality set in on the road against the Boston Bruins during a 6-4 loss, with many old habits reappearing. This would have been the Canadiens’ first 2-0-0 start since 2015-16.
Slow starts, allowing goals in quick succession, defensive zone miscues, an ineffective power play and Cayden Primeau’s weak glove hand. We’ve seen this movie before and, while the Bruins were sitting at home Wednesday night resting, the Canadiens’ rebuild still has some work and growing pains ahead. On the other hand, at least the Canadiens never quit despite facing a 5-2 deficit after 40 minutes
But the glass is always half-full at the Hidden Game. The Canadiens won’t go 82-0 while shutting out every team this season, but an 81-1 record still remains possible. For now.
And we thought the CFL schedule made no sense: When Montreal took the ice against Boston, it marked the first of 15 sets of back-to-back games the team will play this season. Last season, the Canadiens went 7-15-2 under similar circumstances, including a terrible 1-11-0 in the second game.
The Canadiens open the season with three games in four nights and four contests over a span of six nights.
Next time, just stay home: The Canadiens haven’t won a game at TD Garden — a.k.a. the Bermuda Triangle — since 2019.
Who needs practice?: Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman was making his regular-season debut — four days after signing an eight-year, US$66-million contract. The 25-year-old spent most of training camp working out at Boston University and had only one full practice with his NHL team. On the other hand, the Canadiens had only 11 shots through two periods, a total that’s never going to win many games.
A night of firsts: Canadiens forward Oliver Kapanen made his NHL debut, replacing Emil Heineman in the lineup. He also registered Montreal’s first shot — although it wasn’t produced until the sixth minute. Kapanen was credited with an assist on Josh Anderson’s third-period goal for his first big-league point.
Quickest penalty taken by a goalie: Only 24 seconds after the opening faceoff, Primeau was guilty of a trip. But give him a mulligan, since it came against Bruins pest Brad Marchand. How can anyone fault Primeau for that?
One thing that went right: The Bruins appeared to open the scoring with a goal from Hampus Lindholm on the ensuing power play. Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis challenged the call, since Justin Brazeau made contact with Primeau’s stick, making it difficult for him to play the shot. Following a fairly quick video review, the goal was disallowed.
The old guy still has it:Brendan Gallagher, the second-oldest Canadiens player at 32, opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:24 of the first period. He also scored Montreal’s fourth goal at 15:43 of the third, bringing the visitors to within one goal and providing some short-lived spark. Quick starts are nothing new for the pesky 5-foot-9, 185-pounder who always goes to the net. He opened last season with two goals in five games. Gallagher now has 12 goals and 28 points in 41 career games against Boston.
Sometimes it just isn’t your night: On the Bruins’ first goal, scored by Charlie McAvoy, Christian Dvorak collided with David Savard.
Momentum, schmomentum (Part I): Seventy-four seconds after McAvoy scored, Cole Caufield gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead with his second goal this season.
Momentum, schmomentum (Part II): Sixty-six seconds later, Mark Kastelic tied the score.
Does this sound familiar?: In the second period, the Canadiens didn’t register their first shot until 8:30 had elapsed.
When it rains, it pours: The Bruins scored twice within 55 seconds in the second period, the goals coming from David Pastrnak and Cole Koepke. The latter had the grand total of one goal in 27 previous career games.
A not so subtle message: St. Louis started his second power-play unit coming out of a television timeout late in the second period following a tripping minor against McAvoy. And in the third, he replaced Juraj Slafkovsky with Anderson on the Canadiens’ top line. The coach also changed his defensive pairings.
The good news: The Canadiens now have two power-play goals in as many games.
The bad news: Montreal went 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
Momentum, schmomentum (Part III): Seventeen seconds after Gallagher’s second goal, which made the score 5-4 for Boston with 4:17 left in the third, Kastelic provided Boston with an insurance goal, closing out the scoring. He scored from a terrible angle, behind the end-line, on a shot that deflected off Primeau’s stick.
The clubhouse leader: That goes to Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj at minus-3.
Quick stats: Gallagher led all Montreal players with four shots. Primeau’s save percentage against Boston was an ugly .793.
They said it: “As a goalie you want them all back, but definitely that last one,” Primeau told reporters in Boston. “It’s frustrating because we had just scored and put ourselves in a good position. This was just frustrating. You want to give the guys a chance to win. It feels as though I didn’t do that tonight.”
“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot there in the second,” captain Nick Suzuki said. “There were a few goals we definitely want back. We dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
“We’ve taken steps as a team, but clearly we’re not there yet,” Gallagher told the media in Boston. “We have some growing to do. Understanding how to play a disciplined second period on the road is something we can learn from. The game kind of slipped away from us. We put ourselves in a tough position.”
“Offensively I didn’t mind our first period,” St. Louis said. “The second period I just thought we looked dead.”