MONTREAL, QC - NOVEMBER 29: Bo Horvat #53 of the Vancouver Canucks and Ben Chiarot #8 of the Montreal Canadiens battle for position during the first period at Centre Bell on November 29, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
It might be hard to believe, but the Vancouver Canucks are back in the win column.
The team made their way to Montreal on Monday night, facing off against the equally disappointing Canadiens to wrap up the second half of their most recent back-to-back. It had been a dismal road trip for the Canucks heading into the Bell Centre, having lost their first three games while also being outscored by a margin of 14-5.
But if there ever was a moment to turn the road trip around, Monday’s match-up was it, and the Canucks made sure to take it past the finish line.
The team peppered Montreal with 42 shots on net, including 22 in the middle frame, while also outhustling their opponents for good chunks of the game to help secure the much-needed, but also possibly far too late, two points against the Bergevin-less Habs.
With the win, Vancouver remained right where they were in the standings, showing how underwhelming and predictable the club has been in the month of November. The Canucks will go into the final contest of this five-game road trip with a 7-14-2 record, good for dead last in the Pacific Division and 28th in the entire league.
But, no matter how Wednesday’s game goes, at least the Canucks and, more importantly, the fanbase, can take comfort in the fact that the team won’t be going winless during this road trip.
Without further ado, here are three takeaways from Vancouver’s 2-1 win over Montreal:
Pettersson, Garland lead the offensive charge
Like their much-needed win, it was a much-anticipated sigh of relief to see Elias Pettersson put up a strong performance on Monday night.
The young Swede, who entered the Bell Centre on a nine game goalless drought, had been struggling mightily these past few weeks, looking like a shell of his former electric self. As a result, Pettersson once again found himself on the third line, centering a trio of Vasily Podkolzin and Justin Dowling that was destined to see limited even-strength ice time.
However, despite the demotion, Pettersson appeared alive and even somewhat rejuvenated to start the first period. The 23-year-old even drew a tripping penalty in the offensive zone, and he made sure to take advantage of the infraction right away.
After a clean faceoff win from captain Bo Horvat, the puck eventually found its way to Quinn Hughes at the point. Without hesitation, just like we were so accustomed to seeing before, Hughes immediately fed the puck to Pettersson, who sent a rocket past Jake Allen.
The tally marked Pettersson’s third powerplay goal of the season, and just his seventh powerplay point all season, two statistics that aren’t exactly eye-popping for the former 2017 first round selection, but it was still exciting to see Pettersson hit the scoresheet, especially since he only registered one assist in his last nine games.
Pettersson finished the evening with one goal, two SOG and one hit in 13:13 of ice time, which also included 1:39 on the man advantage.
It was also another strong road performance for Conor Garland.
The former Arizona Coyote found himself on the second line with Horvat and Tanner Pearson on Monday night, looking to pick up right where he left off in Boston. As expected, Garland put his quick movements and bulldog tenacity on full display at the Bell Centre, making lives difficult for any Montreal player with the puck.
Like Pettersson, Garland also had difficulty putting the puck in the back of the net these past few weeks, posting a 10-game goalless drought between October 26th and November 14th. However, it has appeared that the 25-year-old has rediscovered his scoring touch as of late, and that good fortune carried over into Monday night.
Garland broke the deadlock in the second frame with his seventh goal of the season, large in part to a nifty cross-ice pass from Horvat after intercepting the puck along the boards.
Garland’s tally marked his fourth in seven games, and would also go on to be his third game-winning goal of the year.
No other player on the roster has registered more than one this season.
Garland finished the evening with one goal and a team-leading five shots in just under 14 minutes of ice time. Over the past seven contests, he also sits atop the shot department with 34.
If the Canucks want any hope of turning this season around, they’ll need Garland to continue to perform the way he has so far.
Demko saves the day
MONTREAL, QC – NOVEMBER 29: Goaltender Thatcher Demko #35 of the Vancouver Canucks gets the stick up to make a save. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
We’ve said it before, and we’ll definitely say it again: Thatcher Demko has been Vancouver’s MVP this season.
The 25-year-old entered Monday’s contest on a three-game losing streak dating back to his team’s 1-0 loss to Chicago on November 21st, and was desperately looking to improve his overall record on the year.
Fortunately for Demko, his teammates decided to show up for large parts of the total 60 minutes, providing enough offensive support to land Demko his seventh win of the season.
However, like we’ve seen far too often, the team also needed Demko to bail them out every so often.
After registering 12 shots in the first half of the period, Vancouver decided to hit the snooze button, coughing up the puck at their own blueline and stringing together poor passes for the latter half of the opening frame.
As a result, Montreal was able to throw nine consecutive shots at Demko, including Ryan Poehling’s deflection that beat the netminder with just under 90 seconds left before the first intermission.
Vancouver was able to regain their form in the second period, limiting Montreal’s scoring chances while also registering 22 shots of their own, but they reverted back to their old ways in the third period, forcing Demko to once again be sharp between the pipes.
Montreal fired 12 more shots in the final frame, including four attempts on two separate powerplays, but Demko was up to the task. The San Diego native also provided us with yet another highlight-reel save in the final few minutes, absolutely robbing Ben Chiarot with a miraculous kick save.
There’s no doubt that the Canucks put up a better effort on Monday night, especially considering they had played just 24 hours prior, but they could’ve easily met the same fate that they did in Boston had it not been for Demko’s heroics.
Thatcher Demko: I don’t think anyone in that room has given up yet. It was a great win tonight. We’ll take it one game at a time and see what we can do. #Canucks@Sportsnet650
Canucks overcome skewed statistics, survive special teams to come away with two points
Were the Canucks good on Monday night? Not overwhelmingly.
But were they the better team on the ice? Sure why not.
And you better believe that the Canucks will take those kind of victories any day of the week at this point.
Leading up to their first visit to the Bell Centre this year, Vancouver and Montreal were essentially neck-and-neck in the Basement Bowl. Neither team had yet to hit the seven-win milestone yet, despite already being more than a quarter of the way through the season, and were at the bottom of the standings for essentially every important statistical category, including points percentage, goals against and goals for.
However, despite the matching mediocrity, Vancouver knew that they had a tough match-up on their hands based solely on recent history.
In the last 18 contests between the two clubs, Montreal had a stranglehold on Vancouver, posting a record of 14-0-4. In particular, the Canucks have also had poor puck luck at the Bell Centre this past decade, having only accumulated three of a possible 30 points in their past 15 meetings in Montreal.
Three of these losses took place last year, when Montreal and Vancouver found themselves battling it out on numerous occasions in the COVID-induced all-Canadian Scotia North Division. The Canucks couldn’t manage to secure a regulation win against their French Canadian foes during that season, going 0-6-3 against the Canadiens to further add onto their Montreal misery.
Fortunately for Vancouver, they were finally able to break that historic regulation slump, an achievement that hadn’t been reached since Roberto Luongo’s 30-save shutout performance back on January 16th, 2007. To put that into perspective, current analyst Kevin Bieksa and current Montreal assistant head coach Alex Burrows were still playing.
The Canucks also came out on top in the battle of bottom-ten special teams, keeping Montreal off of the scoresheet for both of their opportunities while going 1/2 on their own man advantage missions.
With the Pettersson bullet, Vancouver jumped from 23rd to 22nd in powerplay percentage, while also dropping Montreal’s penalty kill down to 31st in the league at just 68.1%.
Of course, that’s 3.7% better than Vancouver’s current shorthanded success rate, which has been dead last in the league for much of the year.
There’s no need to sugarcoat it for either fanbase at this point in the season. Both teams stink, and it’s unlikely that either will channel their inner 2019 St. Louis Blues any time soon.
But at least Vancouver was the less mediocre club on Monday. Small victories, you know?
Other notes:
Assist aside, Horvat also had a very good game on Monday. The 26-year-old logged the second-highest ice time amongst forwards, only behind J.T. Miller, with 19:25. Of that TOI, 1:39 came on the powerplay, and 1:17 while shorthanded. Horvat doesn’t usually kill penalties, but has been recently relied up for his intelligent defensive awareness and consistent performance in the faceoff dot. Horvat finished with the evening with a 59% faceoff success rate, which included a handful of wins in his team’s defensive zone at even strength as well. Horvat sits atop the NHL faceoff department with 559.
The third defensive pairing struggled once again on Monday, showing Vancouver’s vulnerability and inexperience on the backend. In particular, Tucker Poolman didn’t play well at all, finishing the evening with a minus one rating, three giveaways and a 44.74 CF% in just over 17 minutes. One of those giveaways led to Montreal’s late first period tally, after Poolman threw a hard pass right up the middle and into the skates of Horvat. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to Poolman once Travis Hamonic returns to the lineup, but he hasn’t been doing himself any favours recently.
For the first time in a year, the Canucks were also able to quiet Tyler Toffoli. The 29-year-old scorched his former team last season, notching eight goals and five assists in eight contests, but was unable to produce anything on Monday.
The Canucks will wrap up their road trip with a visit to the nation’s capital on Wednesday night to take on the bottom-dwelling Ottawa Senators. Puck drop is set for 4:30pm PST.
What are your thoughts from Monday’s 2-1 victory in Montreal? Make sure to drop a comment below!
