The Montreal Canadiens’ one-game road trip went nine rounds of a shootout before the New York Islanders sent the home crowd happy with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night.
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Meanwhile, the Canadiens extended their streak of not winning on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday another week, last earning a victory on Jan. 6 against their next opponent, the New York Rangers.
After a shaky start, Cayden Primeau bailed out the Canadiens and gave them plenty of chances to win in the shootout. Additionally, Cole Caufield buried two goals, while Logan Mailloux scored his first NHL goal.
Let’s discuss how things unfolded on Long Island on Saturday night.
Primeau Should Have Been a Top 3 Star
In case you didn’t know, home teams pick the three stars of the games. Besides two goals from Caufield, there was no chance any other Canadiens would make the top three, although Primeau deserved the honors tonight.
He finished the night with 33 saves and a .917%, a far better performance than his first outing of the year last week. In the beginning, it looked like a disaster in the making, especially with the home team jumping out 2-0, but Primeau dug in and bailed the Canadiens out for the final 40-plus minutes.
Without a doubt, the Canadiens would have lost this game by more than one goal if he hadn’t made critical saves in the third period and overtime while making six saves in the nine-round shootout. Primeau probably wishes he could have a few goals back, but the Saturday night loss was not on him.
Caufield is a Goal Scoring Magician
Caufield is leading the Canadiens in goals with five in six games. Both of his lamplighters on Saturday were top-shelf with pinpoint accuracy. It’s not the first goal he’s sniped over a goalie’s shoulder, and it won’t be the last.
The 24-year-old, who changed his number to honor the late Johnny Gaudreau, is on fire to start the season and on pace to become the first Canadiens’ 50-goal scorer since Stephane Richer in 1989-90.
As one of the core members of the offensive game plan, the Canadiens need a monster season from him to advance up the standings and clinch a spot in the playoffs.
Canadiens Outshot for the Fifth Time
Concern was raised in the Canadiens’ first game when they were outshot 48-27. In the five games since, Montreal has only outshot the Ottawa Senators (Oct. 12) by a slim margin, 26-25.
In the five other contests, including Saturday night against New York, the Canadiens are playing with fire by continuously getting outshot, running their shot differential to minus-44.
Here’s 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 games, the Canadiens goalies have had a busy campaign, with Primeau earning a .862 SV% in two contests and Sam Montembeault saving the tandem with a .932 SV% in four games. If Montreal hopes to contend for a wild card spot, they need to clamp down on shots against, or this could be another long season.
These Two Teams Love Overtime Games
In 2023-24, the Canadiens and Islanders played in overtime or a shootout 26 times, the most by any team in the NHL. These two are not on pace to duplicate that accomplishment yet, but their trend of one-goal games against one another continues.
Last year, Montreal and New York met three times, with the previous two meetings decided by a goal, just like Saturday night. Moreover, dating back to the 2021-22, five of their past ten meetings have been decided by a single goal.
The Canadiens will host the Islanders on Dec. 3, so it will be interesting to see where each team will be in two months and if someone can win a contest by more than one goal.
Canadiens & Islanders Trivia Answers
How did you score in our Game Day Trivia quiz? Here are the answers.
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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
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