The Montreal Canadiens were unable to offer Cayden Primeau a victory for their first start of the season as they had to drop the flag 3-2 against the Rangers on Tuesday in New York.
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The 22-year-old goaltender did a good job in front of his cage, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the poor defensive cover his teammates gave him. He managed to counter several turnovers by shining a few times, including once against a Ryan Strome alone in the enclave, in the second period, but the Habs offense lacked opportunism.
The decisive goal came from the palette of Quebecer Julien Gauthier who scored his first of the season. He capitalized by taking advantage of the mistakes of Brett Kulak and Nick Suzuki. His quick backhand shot surprised the masked Habs man for a third time on 34 shots in total.
On the CH side, Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson shone the light, coming out of a shortage of 11 and six games respectively without scoring.
Unlike those players, Chris Kreider continued on his mind-blowing start to the season for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad spotted him as he rushed to the net, helping him to count his 12th success of the campaign. Kaapo Kaako meanwhile opened the brand to the first engagement.
Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 of 33 pucks aimed at him to end the night with the win.
Frustration at the end of the game
Brendan Gallagher punched Barclay Goodrow in the face with less than a minute left in the game. Then, as the players tried to make a final push to tie the game, Anderson and Jacob Trouba had words and a few punches to exchange.
Michael Pezzetta had a lot of courage, he who threw the gloves against the badass Rangers, Ryan Reaves, in the second period.
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