While Cayden Primeau struggled and Montreal was outmuscled, Lane Hutson dazzled and Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia and Josh Anderson played well.
Seventeen seconds.
That’s how much time Cayden Primeau gave his team Thursday night. Seventeen seconds between Brendan Gallagher’s goal that pulled the Canadiens to within 5-4 and the deflection off Primeau’s stick and into his own net that put the game effectively out of reach with four minutes to play.
It wasn’t nearly enough. Not on the road in Boston. From the early tripping penalty through to the bitter end, Primeau was not the goalie who earned the backup job with a .910 save percentage and a 2.99 goals-against average in 23 games last season.
This was not all on Primeau. Not remotely. But if a goalie’s job is to give his team a chance to win, Primeau failed. He gave up two goals to Mark Kastelic, who scored all of five times in 63 games with Ottawa last season.
After winning an episode of Survival in the form of a 48-shot barrage from the mighty Leafs in their opener, it wasn’t surprising that for long stretches Thursday, the Canadiens looked as though they had left their legs at the checked baggage counter in Dorval.
Beyond that, however, the Bruins looked bigger, stronger and tougher. If the Canadiens appear to have done a solid job with their rebuild, the Bruins have been masters of the retool. As players age and retire or can’t be wedged under the salary cap, Boston finds a way to stay at or near the top.
They haven’t been able to convert their strong regular-season play into another Stanley Cup, but as long as they take out Toronto every spring, the Bruins have done their job.
If you thought Hutson was going to be timid or hesitant in his first prolonged stint with the Canadiens, you were wrong. He has the guts of a burglar. He wants the puck and he knows what to do with it. He makes minor mistakes (and he was victimized with a cheap holding call against the Bruins), but Hutson’s vision and movement will break down defences, especially on the power play.
If one of his mistakes ends up back in his own zone, Hutson has the speed and skill to get back and cover up. Martin St. Louis will ease him into the playing time but so far, he has met every test.
The narrative Thursday night, however, belonged to three much-maligned veterans on the roster: Joel Armia, Josh Anderson and (especially) Brendan Gallagher, who appears to have shed five years off the calendar.
If Gallagher can be this effective, it changes the calculus radically. He is, or can be, what Brad Marchand is for the Bruins, that annoying pest you can’t shake off, a fire hydrant who can plant himself in front of the net as well as any of the league’s power forwards.
Armia, meanwhile, has filled a significantly larger role admirably and shown some brilliant passing ability, with Gallagher the beneficiary. But the most encouraging sight, perhaps, was Anderson nearly scoring a short-handed goal early, then deflecting a shot from Guhle for his first goal of the season.
If those three can play as they have through the first two games, it will make it much easier for the Canadiens to stay within reach until Patrik Laine is back in the lineup to add some offensive punch.
Everyone loves the youngsters on any roster, because they’re the new toy and you don’t know how high their ceiling might be — but in the brutal ultra-marathon that is an 82-game NHL season, you need the experience, toughness and savvy of the veterans.
Right now, speaking of veterans, you have to like this team better with Michael Pezzetta than with any of the young forwards available. Pezzetta brings the fire and the physical play that was much needed against Boston.
Same goes for Jayden Struble, when he’s healthy. Struble isn’t a veteran, but he plays like one. This is a better team with Pezzetta and Struble in the lineup — and it’s going to need to be better, beginning Saturday night with Ottawa in town for the Canadiens’ third straight divisional tilt to begin the season.
Despite the odd hiring of Travis Green as head coach, the Senators should improve automatically with former Bruins Linus Ullmark in goal. After Primeau’s outing in Boston, the Canadiens are going to have to go with Montembeault for at least two-thirds of their games, which would mean 54 or 55 starts.
Ullmark stopped 30 of 31 shots Thursday night as the Senators upset the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Montembeault stoned the Leafs with 48 saves Wednesday.
Game on.