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Montreal Canadiens Trounced by Seattle Kraken at the Bell Centre.
By Rick Stephens, Rocket Sports, Montreal Canadiens Blogger
For daily updates on the Montreal Canadiens follow @RocketSports on X.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 2 vs Seattle Kraken 8 | FINAL
Canadiens record: 4-5-1 | 9 points (24th in NHL)
Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
13 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 77 Kirby Dach
20 Juraj Slafkovsky - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia
17 Josh Anderson - 71 Jake Evans - 11 Brendan Gallagher
51 Emil Heineman - 28 Christian Dvorak - 91 Oliver Kapanen
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 47 Jayden Struble
48 Lane Hutson - 58 David Savard
72 Arber Xhekaj - 24 Logan Mailloux
Goaltenders
Starter: 30 Cayden Primeau
Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault
With the Canadiens completing the first ten games into the new season, Habs fans are pressing the panic button. On Tuesday night, the Seattle Kraken stormed into the Bell Centre and crushed the home team in short order.
In just over 10 minutes of play, the Kraken mounted a commanding 4-0 lead. It was the second consecutive Tuesday that the Canadiens had been humiliated in front of their fans. Montreal was outscored 15-4 against the Kraken and the Rangers.
It's rather simplistic (and inaccurate) to point to the Canadiens youth as the primary source of concern. Certainly Lane Hutson, Logan Mailloux, Oliver Kapanen and Emil Heineman are making their transitions to NHL play. But a look at the Game Score ratings for Tuesday night's game don't support the notion that the young players are the problem.
The five skaters at the bottom of the list are Christian Dvorak, Kirby Dach, Arber Xhekaj, Joel Armia, and the 34-year-old David Savard, worst of all. Young players will make mistakes but is it fair to blame them for all that ails the team?
The two Montreal goalies who played in this game also find themselves in this in unenviable grouping.
Just 25 seconds into the contest, Seattle defenseman Jamie Olesiak directed an innocent-looking shot at the net that deflected off Mike Matheson into the Montreal goal. Just over three minutes later, defenseman Ryker Evans wristed a puck from the blueline past Sam Montembeault. It was a bad goal with the Kraken scoring twice on their first three shots on net.
Chandler Stephenson burst past Matheson to set up Jaden Schwartz for Seattle's third goal. And a Xhekaj giveaway behind the Montreal goal put the visitors up 4-0 at the 10:33 mark. Montembeault's night was over early in the second period as defenseman Brandon Montour lofted a shot from the blue line that found the back of the net.
After giving up five goals on just 10 shots, Montembeault was replaced by Cayden Primeau. In almost two full periods of work, Primeau allowed three goals on 13 shots.
Setting aside the first game of the season, the Canadiens aren't receiving consistent NHL caliber goaltending. It was yet another bad start for Montembeault who seems to be struggling with the pressure of being the number one goaltender.
Montembeault has been gifted the luxury of only starting home games in October. Will things get better or worse when the 28-year-old plays on the road in November?
"I don't have the words. Obviously, we don't want to play games like this, and even less in front of our fans. It's definitely embarrassing," said Montembeault.
Quick hits
⦁ Kirby Dach had a minus-3 rating on Tuesday night bringing his season differential to minus-12, worst in the NHL.
⦁ Cole Caufield has scored nine goals and has assisted on another for 10 points in ten games this season.
⦁ Five of the eight Seattle goals were scored by defensemen, including a hat trick by Brandon Montour, his first in the NHL.
⦁ Habs fans showed their displeasure with the team during a third period power play but the boos turned to cheers when Lane Hutson took the place of Mike Matheson.
Up Next
The Canadiens head to Washington, D.C. to face the Capitals on Thursday as they begin a two-game road trip.
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