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The Canucks face the Canadiens again after a Monday night stomping |
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So — Who's looking forward to doing *that* all over again?
The Montreal Canadiens continue to be the Canucks' kryptonite, dancing their way to an easy 6-2 win on Monday night at the Bell Centre.
"Games like tonight probably frustrate me more than others," said coach Travis Green after the game. "As good a team as they are, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot again, and that can drive you crazy as a coach.
"The saying, the definition of insanity is repeating the same things over and over and expecting different results, that was kind of the story tonight. You turn over the puck against this team, you're going to lose. You're soft in puck battles, you’re going to lose. They're a quick team, they work hard, they're structured, they're deep."
And the Canucks already knew that, having had their lunch handed to them by the Canadiens back in Vancouver, barely a week ago.
About the only positive I can spin out of this is that, after Tuesday's rematch, the season series against the Habs will be more than half over. The Canucks play their Western Canadian rivals in Edmonton and Calgary 10 times each in this 56-game season, but "only" nine games against Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg.
The remaining four games against the Habs are also clustered, into a 13-day span in mid-March. Then it'll be over, with seven weeks left in the schedule as it currently stands.
It means that Vancouver won't get a chance to test themselves against Montreal later in the season, to see if they've been able to fix the problem. But it also means that they'll be playing teams where points will (hopefully) be easier to come by as they get into the stretch run.
I'm not sure what to expect in Tuesday's game. On the one hand, the Canucks were forced into so many turnovers that it seems like a fool's game to think it'd be any different.
On the other hand, NHL First Star of the Week Thatcher Demko will be back between the pipes. I don't really lay the blame for Monday's loss at Braden Holtby's feet, but I do wonder if the flow of the game would have been different if Holtby had managed to ahold of the puck on this play that opened the scoring just one minute into the game?
It was an odd-man rush in transition, like so many of the goals, but it felt terribly deflating to me. I wonder if it also burst the bubble of confidence that had blown up around the players over the last week?
Last week's series against the Senators notwithstanding, I do think it's tough for teams to sweep these mini-series. That, plus the return of Demko and Jake Allen presumably swapping in for Carey Price, gives me a modicum of hope that Tuesday's game will be better.
But it is a special night in Habs land, with Shea Weber suiting up for his 1,000th career game.
I wonder how he'll be honoured, in Covid times. I imagine they'll still do a video retrospective of his career, including his time with Team Canada. But not only won't there be the fans in the stands to give him the rapturous ovation, I'm not sure anyone should be presenting him with a silver stick on the ice, and I don't imagine his family members will be permitted to join him while he's being honoured, either.
I seem to remember that there was a time that I was advocating for the Canucks to try to exploit Weber's B.C. roots and bring him home — probably around the time he signed that 14-year offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers in the summer of 2012, before the last lockout — and before I made your acquaintance here!
At 35, Weber is still playing terrific hockey and providing solid leadership as Montreal's captain. But that contract still has five seasons remaining after this one, at a cap hit of more than $7.5 million a year. In real dollars, Weber earns $6 million this season and next before the numbers start to dip, first to $3 million for one season, then to just $1 million in salary for each of the final three years.
If Weber was ever to decide to retire, that cap recapture could absolutely crush the Predators, who signed him to the deal.
The Canucks will celebrate a lesser milestone of their own on Tuesday, as Alex Edler moves into the top five in career games played with the club.
Looking for other positives from Monday night — it was another pretty good game for Jay Beagle and Tyler Motte, who combined for Vancouver's second goal and were the Canucks' only plus players on the night.
With Antoine Roussel sidelined due to what Travis Green described as a "health" concern after the game, the pair skated with Jake Virtanen, who made a pretty engaged return to the lineup with five hits and six shot attempts in just over 14 minutes of ice time.
No word on what's wrong with Roussel, or if he'll draw back in on Tuesday. Green will address the media at 1:30 p.m. PT, but he has been keeping all his roster decisions under lock and key lately, so I wouldn't expect any updates until warmup.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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