Tuesday March 7 - Montreal Canadiens 2 - Vancouver Canucks 1 (OT)
On Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks showed us once again that they have no intention of giving up on this season.
Facing one of the hottest teams in the league and arguably the best goalie on the planet, the Canucks stuck with it until Michael Chaput forced overtime with 7:11 left to play in the third period, but ultimately dropped a 2-1 extra-time decision to the surging Montreal Canadiens.
Here are your highlights:
The stands were packed with boisterous Habs fans as the puck dropped for the first period, which made for a high-energy night at Rogers Arena. The Canucks took control of the play early, getting five shots on goal in the first 3:10 of the game, but Torrey Mitchell opened the scoring on Montreal's first foray into the offensive zone, directing a sneaky deflection past Ryan Miller against the flow of the play at 3:57.
After 20 minutes, the Canucks had successfully killed two penalties and outshot Montreal by a margin of 11-10.
In the second, the Habs took over the play, outshooting Vancouver 16-4 and putting plenty of pressure on Ryan Miller, who was delivering another strong performance.
Gotta remember that the other goalie is often strong too, Habs fans. It's not always a lack of finish. Miller is tracking beautifully.
Habs fans were also enjoying the look of their new blue line on Tuesday, commending Jordie Benn and Brandon Davidson for bringing smart stability to the back end.
The pace of the game was terrific through the first 40 minutes, with two players in particular standing out.
• Brendan Gaunce has stepped up to claim some of the minutes that are available with the departure of Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen. In his last two games, he has logged career highs—17:42 on Sunday in Anaheim and 17:46 on Tuesday against Montreal. His work ethic was relentless; he finished the night with three shot attempts, one hit and two takeaways—and is getting to the point where he's another player that coach Willie Desjardins should probably get credit for developing successfully.
Yes, Gaunce is still sitting at five assists in 56 games this season, but he's still just 22—and had been all-but-written-off before his late-season call-up last year. The kid works like a beast and is fiercely determined. I think he still has some upside.
Gaunce's work ethic is neverending, just can't buy a goal.. and not very many points for that matter.. But there's potential there.
• Montreal native Alex Biega also had a great game, channeling some of his patented "bulldog" energy that made him a fan favourite last season. Though he played just 13:05, Biega was buzzing offensively with five shot attempts, and also tied with Jayson Megna to lead the Canucks with three hits in the game.
Nikita Tryamkin is close to returning to the lineup after missing six games with the mumps, so I wondered if Biega's inspiration on Tuesday was his excitement over playing against the team he grew up watching for the first time in his career, or if he was trying to make the most of his playing time before he gets shuffled back to the press box when Tryamkin returns. Maybe a bit of both?
Alex Biega, Montreal native, has been Vancouver's best player in this game.
Somewhat fittingly, it was another Montreal-area native, Michael Chaput of Ile Bizard, who played hero as the Canucks found their legs again in the third period. Chaput parked himself in the slot to beat Carey Price with a perfect deflection of an Alex Edler shot—his fourth goal of the year.
Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun seized the moment to remind us that the Canucks might just have something in Chaput, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.
He is 6-2 and 200 pounds, a centre who amassed 13 points in 10 games for the Utica Comets last fall before being called up and sticking with the Canucks, who are giving him his first real NHL season. Chaput is 24 years old.
He may not have a high-ceiling offensively, but Chaput is not simply roster filler. He earned Desjardins’ trust with a solid defensive game and has a chance to be an NHL player.
Sure, his goal tonight was just his fourth in 52 games for the Canucks. And a 25-year-old Alex Burrows had three in 81 games in his first full season with the Canucks. Burrows did OK after that.
The thing I've always liked about Chaput is his winning history. He not only won the Memorial Cup with Shawinigan in 2012, he was named MVP of that tournament—an honour that has also gone to the likes of Mitch Marner, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Huberdeau, Taylor Hall and Milan Lucic over the last decade.
Chaput was also part of the determined Lake Erie Monsters team that won the AHL's Calder Cup last season. He got lost in the shuffle during his three years with a transitioning Columbus Blue Jackets organization, but he's a player the Canucks should be looking at keeping around next season.
MacIntyre also made another good point in his postgame story. We know Chris Tanev's not well, he's now regularly being held out of game-day skates. At this stage of the season, with nothing really to play for, Tanev could easily choose to shut himself down. Instead, he's out there, giving his all.
“These are big games for us,” Tanev insisted to MacIntyre, refusing to confirm that much more is bothering him than his ankle. “You always want to be out there with your teammates on the ice. I want to be competing with my teammates. There’s no excuses for not winning. Regardless of who it is, everyone is competing. I know we’re a few games back. But if we win four or five in a row, who knows what could happen?”
For me, that's a much more important takeaway from Tuesday's game than once again breaking down the ice time for 21-year-old Nikolay Goldobin.
His agent, Igor Larionov, is also unconcerned.
Larionov says Goldobin is a young player, "he's developing and I'm not worried about his ice time". #Canucks
For the record, Goldy played 10:19 on Tuesday. He was briefly shuffled off the Horvat line at the beginning of the third period, but played three shifts in the third before being benched for the rest of the game after the tying goal was scored. His stat line once again perfectly captures his game—he had two shots on goal, both on a close-in chance where he tried to stuff the puck through Carey Price—and, just before that, one horrific giveaway.
The Canucks' homestand continues with a visit from the New York Islanders on Thursday. Lines stayed basically the same at Wednesday's practice—with Tryamkin still skating as an extra defenseman.
#Canucks practice 22-33-60 47-53-82 50-20-46 26-45-24 23-51 5-8 27-55 (88-63)#CanucksOn1040
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