Tuesday December 17 - Montreal Canadiens 3 - Vancouver Canucks 1
On its own, it wasn't a bad loss — a close game that was basically decided by one sequence early in the third period. But as the third-straight loss for the Vancouver Canucks, with a tough lineup of opponents ahead on their holiday homestand, the level of concern is high after the Montreal Canadiens earned a 3-1 victory on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
After one period, the Canucks were in pretty good shape. They didn't exactly come out with guns blazing, but they outshot the Habs 14-10 and got the first two power-plays of the game. Late in the period, PP2 connected when Adam Gaudette beat Carey Price with a seeing-eye wrister for his seventh goal of the year.
The Canucks got the decent start that has eluded them so often this season, but couldn't control the game for the full 60 minutes.
“We got better as the game went on,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said, per
Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. “The first period was OK, but I thought we got a little bit better in the second. We started creating a little bit more scoring chances, a little bit more net-front presence and pucks there. And then third period our power play took charge there and I thought we did a great job of, when I say protecting the lead, we played smart afterwards. So I liked our game. It’s a good road game, a good road win and a good way to start this road trip.”
Nick Cousins tied the game for the Habs midway through a second period that will probably be best remembered for its two successful coach's challenges. Gaudette had his second marker of the game wiped out after the play was deemed offside — and the Canucks failed to capitalize on the power play that they also got out of the deal. Later, Jacob Markstrom got his way after screaming for a goaltender interference call on Artturi Lehkonen.
In the end, it was really one bad change on a penalty kill that led to the loss. With Jake Virtanen in the box for slashing, the Canucks didn't get the puck in deep enough to change effectively as the penalty drew toward its conclusion. That left the defenders scrambling so badly that they were whistled for two penalties on the play that led to Tomas Tatar's goal.
One call was wiped out by the goal, but Tanner Pearson was also sent to the box to serve the second penalty — setting up Shea Weber's insurance marker.
Bottom line — the Canucks' once-heralded penalty-killers went 0-for-2 on the night, and Travis Green's extensive line juggling generated exactly zero even-strength goals.
I guess it's no surprise that the forwards are back to normal at Wednesday's practice.
Not surprised to see that Jacob Markstrom is getting the day off after a 30-save night against Montreal. Nice to see reports of both Alex Edler and Micheal Ferland on the ice!
The rest of the homestand won't get any easier, either. The Vegas Golden Knights make their first visit of the year to Rogers Arena on Thursday after laying the smack down with that 5-2 win in Sin City last Sunday, then the Pittsburgh Penguins roll in to try to follow up that crazy 8-6 comeback win over the Canucks last month. Next Monday, the Canucks will conclude their pre-holiday schedule against the Edmonton Oilers, who are 2-1-0 against Vancouver so far this season but have been slumping lately; they snapped a four-game winless streak with a 2-1 win over Dallas on Monday. After Christmas, the homestand will conclude with the second visit of the year from the Los Angeles Kings — who were blown out 8-2 by the Canucks at Rogers Arena back in October, but have gone 4-0-1 in their last five games. Heading into Wednesday's games, they've moved out of the Western Conference cellar, ahead of Anaheim and Chicago, and are just three points behind the Canucks.
I was surprised to hear Elliotte Friedman sounding so worried about what may be going on behind the scenes when he did his hit on Sportsnet 650 on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Friedman tries to tamp down all the concern in this week's
31 Thoughts.
There’s mass panic around the Lions Gate Bridge now that the Canucks are four points behind second-wild card Calgary. On my weekly Sportsnet 650 radio hit, I was asked if head coach Travis Green is in any trouble, which is insane. They’re not out of it and they’re not giving up. We’ll see what happens from now until February, and how negotiations go — but there will be interest in Josh Leivo and Chris Tanev. I’d include Jacob Markstrom, but goalies are tricky. Some teams hate doing that at the deadline, believing that it’s too difficult a position to integrate. And many of the contenders seem good in net.
Overall, though, the Canucks are going for the post-season and will probably stick with the current roster if in the race.
It does seem unlikely that any big changes will come this close to the holidays — but it sure would be nice if Santa could deliver some Ws to Rogers Arena over the next week!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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