BOSTON – David Pastrnak positioned himself right in the middle of the slot, nestled in hockey's sniper's nest just as his Boston Bruins teammate, Pavel Zacha, opened him up with a clean shot.
You would think that a shooter of Pastrnak's caliber wouldn't go unmarked against the Montreal Canadiens in this area of the ice. This guy isn't just good; is the third-highest scoring player in the NHL since entering the league 10 years ago, a player who entered Thursday's game with 349 goals, the seventh-most in the 100 years of Bruins hockey, and the Canadiens don't they would have needed to have circled his name on the board beforehand and known that allowing him an open look from this spot would be a recipe for disaster.
Nothing needed to be said, everyone knew it.
But the Canadians failed to execute and Pastrnak scored.
His goal was Boston's fourth in a 6-4 victory at the TD Backyard, a prime example of how the Canadiens broke down in this game after bending so much they nearly broke in half 24 hours earlier.
var adServerUrl = “”; var $el = $( “#video_container-584877” ); var permalink = $el.closest('.snet-single-article').knowledge('permalink');
/* if ( “1” == true && 'undefined' !== windowtype.getIndexAds ) { var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}} } }; adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ' then permalink); } else { adServerUrl = ” } */ adServerUrl = ” var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.contains(“cust_params”); var querystring=''; if(adServerUrl_result){ var gettheDUFI = false; if (localStorage.getItem(“consent”) !== null && localStorage.getItem(“consent-targeting”) !== null) gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”);
if(gettheDUFI){ queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; }
var DUFI_IP = false; if (localStorage.getItem(“consent”) !== null && localStorage.getItem(“consent-targeting”) !== null) DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”);
if(DUFI_IP){ querystring += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + '&'; }
adServerUrl = adServerUrl.substitute(/cust_params=/, ppid + 'cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString)); }
$el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (doc.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3Epercent3C/script %3E”) );
$( document ).one( “done', function() { $( “#video_container-584877” ).SNPlayer( { bc_account_id: “1704050871”, bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”, //autoplay: true, //is_has_autoplay_switch: false, bc_videos: 6363082766112, is_has_continuous_play: “false”, adserverurl: adServerUrl, section: “”, thumbnail: “direct_url: ” } });
var adServerUrl = “”; var $el = $( “#video_container-435776” ); var permalink = $el.closest('.snet-single-article').knowledge('permalink'); /* if ( “1” == true && 'undefined' !== windowtype.getIndexAds ) { var so = {preroll:{1:{1:{siteID:191888},2:{siteID:191889}} } }; adServerUrl = window.getIndexAds( ' then permalink); } else { adServerUrl = ” } */ adServerUrl = ” var adServerUrl_result = adServerUrl.contains(“cust_params”); var querystring=''; if(adServerUrl_result){ var gettheDUFI = false; if (localStorage.getItem(“consent”) !== null && localStorage.getItem(“consent-targeting”) !== null) gettheDUFI = localStorage.getItem(“theRED_loc”); if(gettheDUFI){ queryString += “dufiid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; queryString += “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; var ppid = “ppid=” + gettheDUFI + '&'; } var DUFI_IP = false; if (localStorage.getItem(“consent”) !== null && localStorage.getItem(“consent-targeting”) !== null) DUFI_IP = sessionStorage.getItem(“DUFI_IP”); if(DUFI_IP){ querystring += “dufiip=” + DUFI_IP + '&'; } adServerUrl = adServerUrl.substitute(/cust_params=/, ppid + 'cust_params=” + encodeURIComponent(queryString) ); } $el.after( unescape(“%3Cscript src=”” + (doc.location.protocol == “https:” ? ” : ” + “.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js” %3Epercent3C/scriptpercent3E”) ) ; $( document ).one( “done', function() { $( ” #video_container-435776″ ).SNPlayer( { bc_account_id: “1704050871”, bc_player_id: “JCdte3tMv”, //autoplay: false, //is_has_autoplay_switch : false, bc_videos: 6363082766112, is_has_continuous_play: “false”, adserverurl: adServ erUrl, section: “”, thumbnail: ” direct_url: ” } });
One night after leaning on goaltender Samuel Montembeault for 48 saves in their first win of the season (a thrilling 1-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre), the Canadiens once again faltered defensively.
Reality set in long before the final bell rang on Thursday: there are many corrections to be made and little time to make them.
Take it from Brendan Gallagher, who first played with the Canadiens two years before Pastrnak first laced up his skates with the Bruins. He knows how this league works.
“It takes time,” Gallagher says, responding to a question about strengthening the flexibility of early-season hockey. “You feel like things are getting better every week, but you see the results (in the first 10 games): there are six goals in the entire league every night. That's just part of it, it's a really good league. The boys don't need too much time to score goals, and throughout the summer that's what they work on. They don't work their defensive zone, so it takes time to get it back and click.
“But the teams that learn it the fastest are usually the ones that start to be successful, and we want to be that group.”
Part of becoming that group is not using the back-to-back situation the Canadiens found themselves in against a rested Bruins team as an excuse.
Gallagher refused, as did the rest of his teammates we spoke to after the game.
Gallagher, Nick Suzuki and Kaiden Guhle all acknowledged that the opposition was fresh and hungry to bounce back from their ugly Florida debut earlier in the week (a 6-4 loss to the Panthers on Tuesday) and expressed disappointment at not being able to fend off the problems that were waiting. You have to dodge to win this fight.
That was positive.
It was also good that the Canadians knew why they were attacked so many times, so they knew what to attack to correct it.
Winning one-on-one battles for the puck is something the Canadiens need to polish up.
Arber
When Xhekaj lost another one-on-one battle against Zacha at 15:56 of the second period, it exposed a problem that might take a little longer to resolve.
Alex Barré-Boulet left Pastrnak a split second early in the defensive rotation when he saw Xhekaj lose that battle, and that left Gallagher a split second late to cover the ice that was exposed against the more lethal Bruin, who you need a fraction. second to launch shots off the crossbar and in.
Both Barré-Boulet and Gallagher had the right intentions on the play. Both had very little time to react, both wanted to deny the player in the most difficult to defend area of the ice, but neither was in the best position to do so.
Consider that neither of them had played a shift together since training camp began and that no amount of video work and talking about defensive zone coverage over the 18 days leading up to the season would give them the synergy they would need to close out. that infinitesimal gap. at the moment.
As Gallagher said: “It will come, but it just takes repetition.”
He does all that.
The young Canadians did a lot from last season and learned some valuable lessons that they believe will propel them forward this season.
They've now gotten some refreshers over the first two games, particularly on how to deal with aggressive forechecking, like the one the Leafs employed during the second half of Game 1 and the one the Bruins started in Game 2.
The Canadiens were also reminded Thursday what not to do in the second half of a back-to-back game.
“We were trying to make too many home run plays in the first two periods, and we got in trouble (with) turnovers at the blue line,” said Guhle, who played 23:45 against Toronto and had just one of 17 turnovers. that his team committed. in Boston.
“It's something we want to clean up,” Guhle added after recording two assists and finishing plus-3 in his 21:23 against the Bruins. “We want to be better, it's something we have to clean up.”
When the Canadiens watch film before their game against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, they'll see several instances during their first two games where they broke coverage, killed plays, recovered pucks and then failed to clear their zone. You will see others where they simply left themselves too exposed to danger.
Montembeault got them out of trouble on Wednesday, Cayden Primeau couldn't do the same on Thursday.
He fought hard for his teammates, but he also fought against himself and the Bruins for most of the night.
“As a goalkeeper, you want to give the team confidence, you want to get off to a good start from the beginning so they can adapt,” Primeau said.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn't achieve it during the first half of the game, and said the goal he wanted most was Kastelic's second and Boston's last: a shot from the heel of his goalie stick just 17 seconds later. by Gallagher. had scored the fourth of the game for Montreal.
Primeau will look to bounce back quickly, as will the Canadiens.
“We're going to correct the mistakes,” coach Martin St. Louis said.
If it was the flagrant that led to Pastrnak's 350thor the others who came before and after, must do so.
fountain