Canadian 4 – Bruins 6 | Already the return of bad folds

(Boston) Whether it’s a match, a particular sequence or even a season, when the statistics make his team or his players look bad, Martin St-Louis likes to repeat that the numbers don’t tell not the whole story.

This is also the observation that we can draw following this 6-4 defeat of the Canadian at the hands of the Boston Bruins. When you look at the score or the share of shots on goal and the chances to score, you might believe that the duel was fiercely contested. The reality, however, is that the Bostonians, in their first home game of the season, cut the Habs to pieces in their zone.

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We quickly felt that something was wrong. From the first period, St-Louis modified its defensive duos, separating on the one hand Kaiden Guhle from Michael Matheson in order to distribute its forces against the trios of David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, but also, obviously, to give a little of help to Arber Xhekaj, to whom he added David Savard.

In the second half of the engagement, and again during the following period, the rout was sometimes total in CH territory, while the Bruins players wandered as they pleased in front of Cayden Primeau, who was not at the top of the game. his art, moreover.

And as counter-attack attempts mostly failed, St-Louis also changed the composition of its three main trios in the last twenty.

In the locker room, at the end of the evening, several circumstantial elements were invoked. Two matches in two evenings, mainly, even more so with a trip and arrival in Boston during the night. Kaiden Guhle spoke on this theme of “physical and mental fatigue”. The Bruins, moreover, had been beaten two days before in Florida, and were determined to impose their tempo at home.

“I will not use excuses,” nevertheless warned the head coach. We have a lot of players who are better than what we saw tonight. We didn’t have enough guys tonight. »

First trio broken down

We will not draw up an exhaustive list of all those who left Boston with the mention “can do better”, but we will easily identify the members of the first trio.

Cole Caufield certainly scored his second goal in as many matches. Moreover, the unit he formed with Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky “didn’t create anything offensively,” said the captain. So much so that St. Louis replaced Slafkovsky with Josh Anderson who he felt “had legs.”

“In the second period, we looked dead,” St-Louis said again. We didn’t produce enough attack and, as a coach, you follow your instinct. »

This trio, which had a lot of success last season, will have to “rediscover its magic,” noted the pilot. We couldn’t have said it better. In total for Wednesday and Thursday’s clashes, the Habs were dominated 21-4 in shots on goal and 11-1 in quality scoring chances, according to the Natural Stat Trick site, when the first unit was on the five-on-five ice rink.

The Habs’ setbacks, however, were not limited to those of its best attackers. At even strength, the defensive structure, which Martin St-Louis prided himself on after the exhibition matches, was clearly not up to par. In all areas, “we try too hard to be cute », imagined Kaiden Guhle.

“We tried to hit too many home runs in the first two periods, and that got us into trouble,” added the defender. There are several things to correct; since it’s still early in the season, we have time to do it. »

Far from the goal

“We have progressed as a team, but we are not there yet [à notre objectif]analyzed Brendan Gallagher. You have to understand how to play disciplinedly in the second half on the road. This is where the match got away from us. We pushed in third, but it was too hard to come back. It was a test, and we must learn from it. »

It’s true that the visitors reduced the gap to a single goal with just over four minutes remaining – courtesy of Gallagher, as it happens – but the Bruins responded just 17 seconds later. Mark Kastelic’s lofted pass toward the front of the goal deflected off Cayden Primeau toward the back of the net.

“It’s frustrating because we had just scored,” the goalkeeper said afterwards. The guys fought until the end. We had placed ourselves in a good position…”

Rare positive experience to take away from this duel: the association of Lane Hutson with Kaiden Guhle in defense. While every other back at the club had a miserable night, these two honestly did well together. We won’t know until Saturday if this duo is here for good.

Until then, the Canadian will enjoy a day off during which he can reflect on his fate and the 80 remaining games. The first two are of course a limited sample that must be analyzed with caution. And one of them, after all, ended in victory.

However, it is difficult not to recognize several bad mistakes from last year. Those who, we were told, should belong to the past. Obviously, the ironing is not finished.

Rising: Brendan Gallagher

Obviously for his two goals, but also for his general commitment. He is off to a good start to the campaign.

Down: Arber Xhekaj

We were spoiled for choice. The dunce cap, however, goes to number 72, who made numerous blunders and who was the least used defender in his camp. It was only the seventh time in his career that he played less than 11 minutes.

In detail

52 games later

Brendan Gallagher’s goal in the first period was certainly not historic, but it was not without meaning. It effectively ended a drought of 52 games without a second wave of the Canadian’s power play scoring. In the meantime, all of the club’s goals with the one or two man advantage have been the work of the main unit. The last one to have achieved this relative feat? Christian Dvorak, December 18, 2023. Already against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, the quintet of Gallagher, Lane Hutson, Joel Armia, Alex Newhook and Alex Barré-Boulet stood out. Their efforts paid off in their second match together. It is impossible to dissociate this success from the presence of Hutson at quarterback. On this Gallagher goal, the defender attracted three Bruins players towards him before giving the disc to Armia. The latter’s pass to number 11 was perfect. At the end of the second period, it was this unit which initiated a numerical superiority, a rarity under the orders of Martin St-Louis.

Hutson in a select group

Speaking of Hutson, that assist and the one he later got on Cole Caufield’s goal put him in a select group. Adding the two he had last season in the two games he played in April, he moved into first place in club history for most assists by a player. rookie in his first four NHL outings. He shares this title with André Boudrias (1964), Guy Lafleur (1971), John Chabot (1983), Kjell Dahlin (1985) and, of course, Joel Hanley (2016). Of the group, only Hanley, a shooting star in Montreal, is a defenseman.

First point for Kapanen

This game won’t be remembered for that reason, but it was Oliver Kapanen’s first regular season appearance in the NHL. The Finn was quite good, without really being remarkable. Playing on the fourth line, he was one of the players least used by his coach. He nevertheless found a way to score his first professional point in North America. In the third period, when the score was 5-2, Jake Evans won a faceoff in the opponent’s zone, and Kapanen, pressed by an opponent, grabbed the disc and returned it while falling towards Kaiden Guhle at the blue line. The defender fired a shot that found its way past Jeremy Swayman. In the lineup, Kapanen replaced Emil Heineman, who had been used the day before against the Toronto Maple Leafs. This alternation was planned, indicated Martin St-Louis in the morning.