The Montreal Canadiens haven’t had much luck against the Vancouver Canucks of late. Wait, let me rephrase that. The Habs haven’t had much luck of late. They sit dead last in the Eastern Conference – keeping the spot warm for the Ottawa Senators, whom everyone picked to be the Northeast bottom feeder this year, I guess – and they’ve been bitten by just about every bug you can think of: injury, illness, concussion, personal slumps, off years, a woeful power play, coaching controversies… When they do get a bounce their way this season, the skater in the right place at the right time fans on the puck or hits the post. If they don’t manage to catch the equally awful New York Islanders, this will be the first year the Habs finish last in the conference since 1939-40.
The Canucks, on the other hand, are sitting near the top of the league standings despite playing mostly mediocre hockey since Christmas. The Sedins between them have just one point in the last eight games, a bizarre slump given these two have won the past two NHL scoring titles – Henrik hasn’t gone this long without a point in nearly a decade. And yet, there’s Vancouver in the running for another Presidents’ Trophy and in the conversation for a deep playoff run. The team is one-for-a-gazillion on the power play over the past dozen games (yes, that’s the official stat on the books) yet the team is still third in PP percentage for the season.
Most people who follow the team have seen the Canucks get up for big games against big opponents – wins over Boston, Chicago, Detroit and New Jersey were bright spots in the schedule since the new year. Impressive, lopsided wins over teams they should beat? We had a couple of those, too: the Leafs and Oilers both rolled over in recent contests. But the Canucks haven’t shown much hunger this season, with the exception of the January 7 win in Beantown. Surely a Saturday tilt against the Habs, a prime time Hockey Night in Canada contest no less, surely the home side would have some fire in this one. Right?
Wrong. Sure, the shots were 15-5 after the first period. But the Canucks got most of those shots from the outside, with little or no traffic in front of the net. Carey Price is Montreal’s best player on most nights – if you give him a look at the rondelle, more often than not he’s going to stop it. And on this night he did. Only Chris Higgins and Zack Kassian showed any fight to gain position on top of the crease, and they did so all too rarely. Not surprisingly, the second and fourth lines were the only ones to threaten to score. The Sedins were invisible this night, no thanks to the fact that Alex Burrows didn’t work hard to give the line a presence in front of the net.
(Sideline comment: Coach V really ought to consider resting the Sedins for a patch of games down the stretch. Whether Henrik is nursing a sore foot from that blocked shot a while back, or the brothers are conserving energy for the playoffs, the fact is they’re pretty ineffective right now. A week or two off might just light the fire in the belly they need to be effective if the refs aren’t going to give them considerable power play time.)
Still, midway through the second period, Ryan Kesler wristed his 21st goal of the season after some one-touch passes from his linemates. The shots heavily favoured the homeside and Vancouver held a massive advantage in puck possession. It hadn’t been pretty, but it seemed the Canucks would beat the Habs on home ice yet again.
Whoops, Vancouver’s storyline this year continues: instead of hungrily going after a goal to extend the lead, the Canucks become conservative. A defensive bungle late in the period, this time Alex Edler lazily gives the puck away in his own zone, creates a two-on-one down low and allows a tap-in goal for… Blake Geoffrion? This is a guy who hasn’t scored in 48 games! For a team high up in league standings, the Canucks sure know how to help the opposition bust a slump.
All right, so heading into the third period, the Canucks still have the edge in shots, and guaranteed they’ll come out fiery and pissed that they gave up the lead in front of the home faithful. They’ll pour it on, use team speed to take advantage of les Habitants and their high goals against ratio, and… Damn. Thirteen seconds in, Montreal scores an iffy goal on Luongo. Erik Cole’s initial shot is blocked on a rush down the wing, but he gets a second chance on the backhand. It happens so quickly, Lu doesn’t have time to set himself for the shot, and it sneaks through to break the tie.
Right there, the Canucks seem to wilt. The Habs carry the play from that point onward – two consecutive delay-of-game calls give Montreal a 5-on-3, and Andrei Markov, finally back from injury, gets his first point since November 2010. Cole pots his second of the game and 25th of the year on an odd-man rush not long after. 4-1 Canadiens.
Hey, it’s always fun to watch two Canadian clubs go at it. And with 15-20% of the crowd at Rogers Arena wearing the bleu, blanc et rouge, the atmosphere in the building was a lot of fun. I salute Chris for landing us skookum tickets for the game, and enjoyed the night. It’s just too bad the home team didn’t hang around for the third period, or the game might have been as entertaining as the chirping in the stands.