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The Ducks are one of the NHL's interesting tales of this season (Ducktales anyone?), they weren’t expected to perform as well as they are doing but they’ve got a couple of ducklings that are far from being ugly. Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry are having themselves quite a season and putting on a show which everyone (including the opposing players) cannot help but watch. Even though the Canadiens were ahead on shots for the duration of the game, it’s not about quantity but quality and the Habs desperately lack the later, while the Ducks don’t. For the second time of the season, Zegras scored an amazing “Michigan” goal and I dare say that had there been fans at the Bell Centre, they would have cheered that one, just pure poetry in motion.
Still there are some positives for the Canadiens, Arturri Lehkonen is working as hard as ever and even getting some results, scoring a power play goal tonight, which won’t hurt his stock in the run-up to the trade deadline. Make no mistake, Lehkonen is a very useful player, a Swiss army knife kind of guy and I bet Hughes is already getting calls about the restricted free agent to be. A rare development success story for the Canadiens, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was moved before the deadline, especially if Paul Byron comes back and steps right into his role. Kudos to Jake Evans who got a couple of goals tonight, I do hope we keep him. Much like Lehkonen, he's dedicated and never gives up.
At this stage of the season, I don’t think anyone is worried about the result of the games but personally, I’m starting to worry a little bit about Cayden Primeau, not because he gave 3 goals on 9 shots and was pulled for the 4th time in 7 games, but rather because as goalie coach Eric Raymond said yesterday, it’s important to protect the young goaltender’s confidence. I don’t think anyone can argue that this kind of game is doing him any good, at this stage of his development, he should be playing a truckload of games in the AHL and dominating. Instead, he's become some cannon fodder because goalies are currently becoming extinct in the Habs’ organization.
This morning in his press availability, Dominique Ducharme was asked if the Canadiens were considering getting some help between the pipes in order to send Primeau to the AHL and let him develop properly. After saying “wait I’ll go get Jeff or Kent” he said, “No I don’t think we’re going anywhere” (as in we’re not going to go and get help elsewhere, I couldn’t help but think indeed, you’re going nowhere, you’re staying right there at the bottom of the standings). It’s a shame really because Primeau’s timing has been just awful, turning pro in the midst of a pandemic which means less games to play and, in an organization who’s top 2 goalies are nowhere to be seen because of injuries is unfortunately a recipe for disaster.
Speaking about the top 2 goalies, yesterday, Raymond also mentioned that Carey Price still wasn’t skating and that he’s frustrated by the way his rehab from knee surgery is going but that he still wants to come back and play this season. To be honest, every day this becomes less and less likely, at this stage, I think it would make sense to just shut him down for the season and let that knee rest up.
The Canadiens now have 2 games to play before their bye week, a back-to-back this weekend against the Oilers on Saturday and the Jackets on Sunday.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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