Cayden Primeau will have the chance to recover after a difficult first start when he will automatically be in net for the Montreal Canadiens who are in New York on Saturday, to face the Islanders at UBS Arena.
Against the Boston Bruins, the reserve goaltender allowed 6 goals on 29 shots in a 6-4 loss in the second game of the season. Mike Matheson and Juraj Slafkovsky are still doubtful cases for the match, while Kaiden Guhle will not be in the lineup, he who did not make the trip to New York. Logan Mailloux could play a first match this season. The defender was recalled from the Laval Rocket on Friday.
The Islanders are off to a slow start to the season with only one win in four games. Their inconsistency was singled out, as they were shut out twice, while they scored four and six goals in their other two matches. However, the only victory for Patrick Roy’s squad was acquired in their only home match, their first of the season.
For its part, CH was very unconvincing during its last two outings, after an excellent start during the first three matches. After scoring four times in the first three duels, Cole Caufield has not been able to add any more in recent losses. In addition, the Canadiens’ offense is still waiting for Nick Suzuki’s first goal of the season.
The second unit will also have to raise its game a notch while only Joel Armia has two points, Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook having been limited to just one in three games. The three players also have a cumulative score of minus 17. Dach is also the worst in the CH in this regard this season with minus 7.
Newhook also revealed to the media on Saturday morning that he was well aware of the situation. “We know we’re 2-3 and we didn’t get the results we wanted. We know we are not at our best. We will try to raise the bar to where it needs to be.
“Losing games early in the season is costly in the end. These games are worth a lot and with our mentality where we want to play games that have value late in the season and even make the playoffs, we cannot escape these games due to details. »
His comments echo those of Martin St-Louis who said he was “disappointed, very disappointed. We didn’t play to our standards.”
Once again, CH’s opponents had laudatory remarks about rookie Lane Hutson. “We are going to give him the same attention as Cale Makar a few days ago in Colorado,” Anthony Duclair told our journalist Luc Gélinas on Saturday morning.
