After finally stopping their losing skid at five in San Jose Tuesday night, it was a tougher test on Wednesday in Los Angeles. The Kings are a strong hockey team buoyed by the recent return of Drew Doughty.
The Montreal Canadiens needed to keep the momentum going, but they were never in it. The final scoreline of 6-3 Kings was flattering to the Canadiens.
Wilde Horses
Alex Newhook keeps teasing us that he could be on the verge of a higher level. Newhook is finding the quiet zones for shots. He skates beautifully. His level of compete is higher than it has ever been. Newhook was the best Montreal forward on the night.
Newhook used his speed to create the Canadiens third goal. Newhook won the zone, then passed it to Logan Mailloux who ripped a shot. That’s what Mailloux can do. He makes mistakes defensively, but on offence, he has all the tools.
Alexandre Carrier counted the second goal, but he did more than that. He makes many smart decisions. Carrier works as a good partner for Lane Hutson. Some may say that the partnership is small, but Carrier doesn’t play small at all.
Carrier’s positioning is strong. That works when Hutson is roaming. It’s probably not going to last, but it was intriguing to see them work together.
Hutson made a sublime pass in the third period as he banked a 100-foot pass off the boards. There was only one way for Hutson to make the pass connect on the breakout, and he found it. The kid has some special vision.
Josh Anderson had some strong moments. He is charging to the net using his size and speed well. Brendan Gallagher had his usual terrific work rate. Some glimpses of good in an otherwise tough one.
Wilde Goats
The Kings had nine shots in the first 90 seconds. It was a mess. Many nights the Canadiens have looked like they are ready to rise up and move up a level in the NHL hierarchy, then other nights, a reminder that there’s distance to cover still in the rebuild.
Better players like Ivan Demidov have to arrive, and players like Juraj Slafkovsky have to get better. In the first two minutes, it’s not fair to point a finger at anyone, because everyone was dominated.
Jakub Dobes was forced to make difficult saves right from the opening seconds. Los Angeles had five shots in the first 45 seconds. It was a shooting gallery, and it was difficult to watch. The Kings came hungry right from the first moments, while the Canadiens were hoping to ease gently into the game.
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The ice was so fresh in the Los Angeles end after the first 10 minutes of the contest, if you looked only there, you wouldn’t think the game had started yet.
Remarkably, even though Montreal was outplayed after two periods, they were in the game down only one. That optimism ended only 15 seconds into the third period. Kirby Dach lost a puck battle cleanly along the boards. That led to another tally and hopes were dashed.
It is becoming apparent that Dach is simply not strong enough on defence to be a centre. Owen Beck has only five NHL games and he has more acumen than Dach already at the centre position.
At first blush, that may seem like a poor comparison considering Beck is playing the wing, but as a winger, Beck is instinctively helping the centre on his line all the time. He’s in the right position reading the play correctly beautifully.
Not sure what Beck can bring offensively at the NHL level after success in juniors and in the minors, but it should be, at least, to the level of Jake Evans.
All in all, the Canadiens had an extremely rough night defensively. The Kings were making lateral passes in the high slot with ease. That is such a difficult save for a goalie to make. Anyone looking at the summary may think that Jakub Dobes had a rough night allowing five. It would have been ten, if Dobes wasn’t sharp.
Final shots were 38-21 for the Kings. Long live the rebuild.
Wilde Cards
When Cayden Primeau was struggling with the Canadiens in December, many thought that was the end of the line for him. Primeau had lost all confidence. It appeared he didn’t have the fortitude or talent to stop pucks.
It may be that he is a goaltender who needs a lot of action to excel, and as a back-up getting a start only once a week, he couldn’t get a feel for the puck. After being demoted to Laval in the AHL where he played most of the contests, Primeau is suddenly the best goaltender in the minors.
Primeau was just acknowledged as the Goalie Of The Month in the American Hockey League for January with some absolutely stellar numbers. He won his first eight starts in the AHL this season. Primeau finished January with a record of eight wins and no losses.
Primeau put together a remarkable goals-against-average of 1.73. His save percentage was .932 for January. It’s fascinating to look at the heir apparent in Montreal Jakub Dobes’ numbers in Laval. Dobes had a save percentage of only .910 for the Rocket, yet in Montreal he has a .927. Primeau’s save percentage in Montreal is .836 this season.
Who has the intelligence to figure all of this out? What a mystery why these two goalies are performing so differently from each other in each league. The first guess would be the element of pressure for Dobes that produces better focus. The second guess would be the need for game action to get comfortable for Primeau.
The bottom line is the Canadiens have a good goalie in Primeau. It’s just a matter of trying to figure out how to get the best of him at the NHL level. The trick is a goalie can’t just be handed the crease at the NHL level. The back-up is the back-up until he wins more work. Primeau has to figure out how to be Laval-like in Montreal.
Primeau’s excellence has propelled the Rocket in the standings. The Rocket are in first place in the North Division with only one loss in their last ten games. They are one point ahead of the Rochester Americans with Laval having a game in hand.
It’s a team effort in Laval with depth being the key. The top scorer on the Rocket is Alex Barré-Boulet. He is the only scorer in the top-60 in the league. They roll four lines, and are well coached by Pascal Vincent.
Soon David Reinbacher will join the squad finding health after his knee injury. Dobes and Primeau will be available to tend the net in April. The roster won’t have any parts in Montreal like Michael Pezzetta, Owen Beck, or Rafael Harvey-Pinard. They may just have a long playoff run.
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