The two hottest NHL teams from north of the border are scheduled to meet Wednesday night. But even Canadian fans might have a hard time naming them.
The Montreal Canadiens, winners of seven of their past eight games, will travel to Vancouver to meet the Canucks, who have won seven of nine to pull closer to a wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference.
The Canucks scored three third-period goals to rally for a 6-4 victory Saturday at Toronto.
Alex Chiasson had the go-ahead goal, Tyler Motte added an empty-netter and Thatcher Demko made 34 saves for the Canucks. J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Travis Hamonic and Tanner Pearson each had a goal and an assist and Bo Horvat added two helpers.
“That’s one of the games you’re going to remember,” Miller said. “Every game feels like a do-or-die for us. You don’t want to be in that position, but you’ve got to embrace it.”
“Confidence is a big thing,” Horvat added. “We’re confident in our ability. We know what type of team we are and what type of team we have to be.”
The Canadiens, who remain in last place in the Eastern Conference after a dreadful start to the season, are 7-4 under interim coach Martin St. Louis.
That mark includes a 5-2 victory Saturday at Edmonton as Nick Suzuki scored the winner and added two assists.
“We feel pretty confident the way we’re playing, we’re just having fun, we’re playing a certain style that we all enjoy,” said Brendan Gallagher, who added a goal and an assist. “(St. Louis) seems to be bringing the best out of a lot of us and we’re just having fun playing the game right now, it’s good to see in our group.”
Rookie Cole Caufield also had a goal and an assist and goalie Sam Montembeault made 28 saves.
Caufield has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 11 games, including four multi-point performances, since St. Louis took over. Caufield had just eight points (one goal, seven assists) in 30 previous games.
“I like where my game’s at right now. You’ve got to be consistent with it. That’s something that I’m trying to focus on. It feels pretty good to have the puck go in the net, and it feels better to have a couple of wins under our belt,” Caufield said. “But, the guys are having fun and I think that’s kind of what’s most important.”
The Canadiens’ 31st-ranked power play struck twice Saturday and they also had a short-handed goal.
“I think the best power plays, there’s a lot of chess. They don’t play checkers, they play chess,” St. Louis said. “They make a couple of moves to set up a big move. I think those are the deadliest power plays. The power plays that can make two or three passes and then attack, those are the ones that are dangerous because there’s constant chaos from all these shots.
“If you have to pass the puck seven times before you shoot, you probably don’t have the right setup or the right people. We try to establish shots as fast as we can. You have to play a little chess.”
The Canucks defeated the Canadiens 2-1 in the first meeting between the teams this season, Nov. 29 in Montreal.
–Field Level Media