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In Hainsight: Habs Fall Again to the Sens |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
With Suzuki, Heineman and Armia staying in Montreal with upper-body injuries, we got to see some remixed lines tonight in Newfoundland. Sean Monahan got to center a top line flanked by Caufield and Pitlick, Kirby Dach found himself between Gallagher and Hoffman, Dvorak was saddled with Slafkovsky and Anderson while Evans centered Pezzetta and Dadonov.
It was a fairly entertaining game with some bright spots. For one, Brendan Gallagher played well and continued building on a strong training camp, there seemed to be some chemistry between him and Kirby Dach which is good news for the Habs’ coach who said on Tuesday that he was still looking for someone to click with the team’s new center. Gallagher was particularly noticeable in the bumper spot on the power play, which shouldn't be a surprise really, he's always been good in heavy traffic and rolling with the punches. As for Dach, he was really engaged tonight, skated, and dangled well and scored a goal on the power play.
As for Juraj Slafkovsky, he played better than he did on Tuesday against these same Sens, clearly, he’s adjusting to the North American style of hockey, not just the size of the ice. He also earned an assist on Josh Anderson’s goal. I don’t think a decision will be made on the next step for him before the very last exhibition game.
In net, Cayden Primeau played the whole game and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, he’s just not ready. Confidence and mental strength is a huge part of goaltending, when he’s in net, he looks nervous and when the first shot of the game goes in on him, his body language speaks volume. St-Louis might have said that he hadn’t decided early on who would be with the Habs goaltending wise come October 12, but Primeau did nothing to make him think twice. He’ll be in Laval and that’s clear.
On the blue line, Kaiden Guhle had another strong showing and rarely have I seen a rookie punch his ticket to the big league with such authority. Meanwhile, Otto Leskinen confirmed that he is not NHL material and Arber Xhekaj score some more points by standing up to Watson who had hit an unexpecting Kirby Dach. Whether you like fighting in hockey or not, it’s nice to see a player who can stand up for his teammates in this lineup.
The Canadiens will play their last game of the preseason this Saturday in New Brunswick and the game is set to start at 18:30, it will be the very last chance to impress head coach Martin St-Louis before he settles on his opening night lineup, that should be one to watch.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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