No player on Habs is willing to take a beating more than Gallagher does in front of the net and he is a total pest for opposing goalies.
I honestly don’t have any single team I cheer for now in the NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB or any other sports league.
As a kid growing up on the South Shore of Montreal, I was a big Canadiens, Expos and Alouettes fan. But the only team I really cheer for now is Canada in international competition. I will admit the Canadiens are more fun to cover when they’re winning and it’s always nice to see Montreal teams doing well. But after so many years in the media, the “no cheering in the press box” rule takes a hold.
However, I do have athletes I like to see do well — and the Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher is one of them.
So I had a little smile on my face when Gallagher scored his second goal in two games to start the season as the Canadiens lost 6-4 to the Bruins on Thursday night in Boston. If you go back to last season, Gallagher now has seven goals in his last seven games.
I have always admired Gallagher for his incredible work ethic — whether it be in practice or a game. He only knows one way to play — and that’s with 100-per-cent effort every time he steps on the ice.
At age 32, Gallagher’s best days are behind him and I don’t see him becoming a 30-goal scorer again. And, yes, his US$6.5 million salary-cap hit is a big one. But after scoring 16 goals in 77 games last season, I do believe Gallagher can score 20-25 goals this season — especially with the way head coach Martin St. Louis has been using him to start the season.
Of Gallagher’s 220 career NHL goals, only 45 have come on the power play. Over the previous two seasons, he had only one power-play goal in large part because he didn’t get a lot of ice time with the man-advantage. Last season, Gallagher ranked eight on the Canadiens in power-play ice time and scored only one goal with the man-advantage.
Gallagher’s first goal against the Bruins on Thursday night came on the power play to put the Canadiens up 1-0 at 8:26 of the first period. It was a typical “Gally Goal” with him standing in front of the net (as usual) and deflecting in a shot from Joel Armia.
I’ve often wondered why the Canadiens don’t use Gallagher more on the power play for his net-front presence. No player on the team is willing to take a beating more than Gallagher does in front of the net and he is a total pest for opposing defencemen and goalies. He also still knows how to score from short range.
It made sense to me to put him on the second power-play unit to start the season. It might also be worth trying him on the first PP unit if it’s struggling.
I also think it was a good decision by St. Louis to put Gallagher, Armia and Jake Evans back together as a line for the third period in Boston. They looked very good together during training camp and seem to have real chemistry together. That was on display with Gallagher’s second goal against the Bruins when he took a beautiful pass from Evans and scored from — where else? — the front of the net at 15:43 of the third period.
A momentum killer
Only 17 seconds after Gallagher’s second goal cut Boston’s lead to 5-4 after the Bruins took a 5-2 lead into the third period, the Canadiens’ Cayden Primeau allowed a goal that an NHL goalie should never give up. Primeau deflected a centring pass by Mark Kastelic into the net with his own goalie stick, which he had placed at a very odd angle.
Primeau basically scored on himself.
One of the most impressive things about the Canadiens since St. Louis took over as head coach is they never give up. But when your goalie gives up a goal like that after you’ve battled hard to get back in the game, it’s hard not to.
One of the biggest question marks heading into this season for the Canadiens was goaltending. Before the season started, I believed Samuel Montembeault had already proved he could be a solid No. 1 goalie in the NHL. He won’t be Carey Price, but Montembeault can give his team a chance to win basically every time he’s in the net — which is what you want from your No. 1 goalie — and he won the season-opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs almost singlehandedly, making 48 saves in a 1-0 win.
I wasn’t sold on Primeau as a legitimate NHL backup coming into the season and Thursday’s performance certainly didn’t change my mind.
In 45 career games with the Canadiens, the 25-year-old Primeau has an 11-22-6 record with a 3.53 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage.
The Canadiens simply need Primeau to play better.
A little help, please
Montembeault didn’t get much help on defence in the season-opener when the Canadiens were outshot 48-27 by the Maple Leafs.
Another big question mark heading into the season was the Canadiens’ defence, which allowed the third-most shots in the NHL last season — an average of 33.4 per game. Only the San Jose Sharks (35.1) and Columbus Blue Jackets (34.4) allowed more shots per game.
The defence was better in Boston with the Bruins only outshooting the Canadiens 29-24.
In this week’s episode of The Gazette’s Hockey Inside/Out Show, former Canadiens’ Chris Nilan and Rick Green — who were teammates on Montreal’s 1986 Stanley Cup team — both weighed in on the team’s problems in the defensive zone.
“It was incredible … the beginning of the third period they could not get out of their zone for four or five minutes,” Nilan said about the season-opener, which he watched from a second-row seat at the Bell Centre. “It’s funny, I was listening to a show (Wednesday) night and they were saying how good they’ve played in their end of the rink. I’m like, really? Like, hello?
“Listen, it’s the first game of the season, but I think I harped on this last time we talked about the Habs defensively. In their own end of the rink they’re really vulnerable. They are. Great for Montembeault. A great start for him. He got tested all night. But if we see that same game in February and Montembeault in net he ain’t getting a shutout. He’s going to be dead tired. So they got to clean some things up that way. Great that they won … I’m happy for them, that’s great. But don’t kid yourselves.”
After retiring as a player, Green spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach in the NHL in charge of the defence, including four seasons in that role with the Canadiens.
“The defensive-zone play has to get straightened up to the point where they can’t give up prime-time scoring chances like they’ve been doing and expect to win,” Green said about the Canadiens’ defence on the HI/O Show.
PK improvement
Through two games, the Canadiens have only allowed one power-play goal on nine chances by the opposition for an 88.9 per cent success rate. Last season, the Canadiens’ penalty-killers had 76.5 per cent success rate, which ranked 24th in the NHL.
A big reason for the Canadiens’ success on the PK through the first two games has been the play of Evans, who has been relentless.
When asked during training camp what he likes about killing penalties, Evans said with a smile: “Everything.”
He added: “Honestly, I do love when I can dump it and just race to the bench and the boys get all excited. It’s a fun job … and someone’s got to do it.”
I also asked Evans what his biggest concern would be if he had to kill a penalty against new teammate Lane Hutson.
“A lot of concerns,” Evans said with a chuckle. “We were talking about him in practice … you almost have to give him some space because he’s so quick and so shifty that he’ll make you think you’re going one way and he’s going the other. Really special player.”
There are a lot of Canadiens fans upset on social media that Hutson isn’t on the first power-play unit instead of fellow defenceman Mike Matheson. Personally, I’d like to see Hutson and Matheson both on the first PP unit. Hutson has a ton of offensive skill, but he doesn’t have a big shot from the point and Matheson does. Keep Matheson at the point and have Hutson as a playmaker set up on one of the wings with the ability to move around and use his unique skill set.
I think the two of them on the ice together on the PP would really create problems for the penalty-killers.
Faceoffs a problem
One of the reasons the Maple Leafs outshot the Canadiens so badly is they had the puck so much after winning 67 per cent of the faceoffs in the game.
After two games, the Canadiens have won only 44.1 per cent of their faceoffs. Kirby Dach has won only one of the seven faceoffs he has taken (14.3 per cent), while Alex Newhook has won four of his 12 faceoffs (33.3 per cent).
Dach — who shoots right — and Newhook — who shoots left — are linemates, so they can split the faceoff duties and only take draws on their strong side. So far, it has still been a struggle. Dach has won only 35.2 per cent of his career faceoffs, while Newhook has won 41.3 per cent of his career faceoffs.
During training camp, the 23-year-old Dach spoke about how difficult it can be for young players entering the NHL when it comes to winning faceoffs.
“You’re going from boys to men,” he said about making the jump directly from junior after being the No. 3 overall pick by the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2019 NHL Draft. “There’s man strength. Guys have been in this league a long time winning faceoffs. Some guys’ jobs are only to win faceoffs, so it’s a tough job to do.
“I got to learn from (former Chicago teammate) Jonathan Toews and guys like that and definitely helped me out in just learning techniques,” Dach added. “As a younger guy coming in you don’t get as much leniency from the linesmen and you kind of have to follow the rules a little bit more. The older you get, the longer the leash kind of goes from the linesmen. It’s definitely hard, but you just got to bear down and treat each battle as its own and go in there and try and win it.”
Words of wisdom
After Armia was sent down to Laval to start last season, St. Louis had some advice for the veteran winger.
“You have to understand your window to being a professional athlete is so small and your life after hockey’s going to be much longer,” St. Louis said. “You don’t get do-overs, so stay in the moment and get after it.”
That’s what Armia did in Laval last season, posting 6-3-9 totals in eight games before earning back a spot with the Canadiens.
St. Louis had Armia on the second line with Dach and Newhook to start the season and also put Armia on the second power-play unit.
When I reminded Armia before the season opener about St. Louis’s comment after he was sent down to Laval last year, he smiled and said: “Probably everything he says is true.”
Who needs an appendix?
Having his appendix taken out on Sept. 18 — the first day of training camp — doesn’t seem to have hurt Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle.
Guhle has averaged 22:34 of ice time through the first two games — second on the Canadiens to Matheson’s 26:22 — with two assists and a plus-3 rating.
After the surgery, Guhle wasn’t sure he’d be ready to start the season.
“I talked to the doctors and staff and they said they’ve had guys come back on my timeline and they’ve had guys come back after four or five weeks,” Guhle said ahead of the season opener. “It was just kind of however I was feeling and how things ended up going in the surgery. It was great and after three or four days it didn’t feel normal, but I felt good. So I felt like this was the right timeline for me and I feel good now.”
Guhle said he was happy to be able to play in the Canadiens’ final pre-season game — a 4-2 loss to the Senators in Ottawa last Saturday — to get ready for the regular season.
“One night was really bad,” Guhle said when asked about the pain he experienced with his appendix. “I was curled up in a ball basically all night. Didn’t get an ounce of sleep. The next couple of days were better. It was still a little bit painful, but it wasn’t awful. I didn’t really think anything of it. But we just decided to go get it checked out. I went and got a scan, I think it was a Tuesday, and I was in surgery Wednesday morning at like 2 a.m. It was kind of a quick surgery. I didn’t expect to be going under the knife when I went to the hospital that day, but glad we got it done.”
Pacioretty now a Leaf
I was very happy to see former Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty get a chance to continue his career at age 35 with the Maple Leafs after tearing his right Achilles tendon twice in less than a year. He attended Toronto’s training camp on a tryout basis and was then signed to a one-year, US$873,770 contract.
Pacioretty scored his first goal as a Leaf in Toronto’s 4-2 win over the Devils on Thursday night in New Jersey.
It’s definitely strange seeing Pacioretty in a Leafs uniform and it brought back memories of when former Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges refused to play for the Leafs. Gorges had Toronto on his no-trade list when former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin tried to trade him to the Maple Leafs at the 2014 NHL Draft. Gorges refused to take the Leafs off his no-trade list and was instead traded to the Buffalo Sabres.
During his eight seasons with the Canadiens, Gorges had developed a hatred for the rival Maple Leafs and couldn’t imagine playing for them.
“I just said: ‘I’m a heart-and-soul player,’” Gorges told The Canadian Press after he ended up in Buffalo. “It’s the only reason I can be good at this level is I have to play and commit with my heart. And after playing against (the Leafs) for that many years of being our No. 1 rival, I just didn’t think it would’ve been fair to them. I wouldn’t have been the same player that they would’ve expected me to be. Over time, I would’ve got there. But I just didn’t think I could commit my heart to playing the right way.”
Suzuki’s brother still fighting for a spot
While Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki is now in his sixth NHL season and the third season of an eight-year, US$63-million contract, his younger brother, Ryan, is still trying to earn a spot with the Carolina Hurricanes, who selected him in the first round (28th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. Nick was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round (13th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft.
The Hurricanes placed Ryan on waivers before the start of this season and the 23-year-old wasn’t claimed by another NHL team, so he was assigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound centre had 14-16-30 totals in 51 games last season with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds.
Two Big Birds
Former Canadiens defenceman Larry Robinson has two grandsons playing hockey this season at San Jose State University.
Brian Brehm is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound defenceman and Blake Brehm is a 6-foot-2, 170-pound left-winger. They are both from Redondo Beach, Calif. San Jose State plays in the ACHA’s second division in the Pac-8 conference.
Robinson was an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks from 2012 to 2017.