NHL: Vancouver Canucks at Montreal Canadiens
Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, a battle between two Canadian teams on very different trajectories.

The Canadiens decided to bite the bullet and tear things down to the studs for their rebuild, which has gone much better than expected. The Canucks are trying to stay relevant despite not having a roster built to compete, and though they did trade Quinn Hughes earlier in the season, they’re yet to commit to a proper rebuild, as the Habs did a few seasons ago.

The game featured several lead changes, but in the end, the Canadiens emerged with a 6-3 win thanks to a strong effort from many of their young starts.

Let’s dive into the highlights!

One Mistake

Even though the Canadiens were quick out of the gate, it was Vancouver that opened the scoring when Elias Pettersson outworked Oliver Kapanen to capitalize on a juicy rebound.

The defensive issue was difficult to ignore, as Kapanen failed to capitalize on at least two grade A scoring chances earlier in the period.

It’s not the end of the world, and we have to give credit to Kapanen for the 15 goals he’s already banked, but it was definitely a missed opportunity for the second line, which enjoyed a very solid game when evaluating their underlying numbers.

Game Changer

The Canadiens were at risk of heading into the intermission facing a one goal deficit despite being the best team in the first period.

That’s when a powerplay, as well as an interesting decision from head coach Martin St-Louis, flipped the script.

Noah Dobson, who has been a legitimate game-changing presence for the Canadiens, scored his ninth goal of the year after Nick Suzuki won a clean draw. It was intriguing because the Habs usually have Lane Hutson on the first powerplay unit, and not Dobson.

However, the special teams have gone a little cold in recent games, and St-Louis’ decision to switch things up clearly paid off.

Playing Offside

In general, a defenceman playing his offside will have a more difficult time when it comes to corralling loose pucks. It’s not the easiest concept to picture, but Vancouver’s second goal of the game was a perfect example.

Arber Xhekaj missed the puck when it skipped off the ice, and then compounded the issue by making a bad pass as he was pressured in the defensive zone.

We should note that Xhekaj is left-handed, and was forced to use his backhand in this situation, as he’s currently playing on the right.

That doesn’t excuse the mistake, but it does give us a good idea of one of the intricacies involved in building an NHL blue line. A right-handed defenceman may have missed the first puck, but he would have had a much easier job clearing the zone once things went awry.

Welcome To The Carrier Show

With the Canucks nursing a one-goal lead, something magical happened.

Without trying to be hyperbolic, we witnessed a little greatness on Monday night.

Alexandre Carrier stole the show in the second period, scoring back-to-back goals to put the wind back in Montreal’s sails.

His second goal was as a nice as the first, seeing as he outworked his coverage to carve out precious ice in the offensive zone.

Not only did he triple his goal output on the year, he also provided the Canadiens will a well-deserved 3-2 lead.

Floodgates Open

We have to give credit to the Canucks for hanging on as long as they did, but there’s no doubt that Montreal was the far better team on Monday night.

Mike Matheson’s fifth goal of the year was born from some excellent puck movement in the offensive zone.

Juraj Slafkovsky also enjoyed a fantastic game, as did the rest of his line.

Yes, they scored goals, and they were very impressive setups, as evidenced by Slafkovsky’s 5-3 marker, but the second line also controlled the play, which is very important when it comes to their ability to sustain their offensive impact.

Kapanen finally found the back of the net a few moments later, after Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov did most of the heavy lifting.

To be more accurate, Slafkovsky outworked half the Canucks players on the ice before generating a controlled entry, which gave Demidov a perfect opportunity to find Kapanen with a great pass.

The goal gave the Canadiens a 6-3 lead, which was more than enough to beat a struggling Canucks team.

The Montreal Canadiens are back in action on Tuesday, facing the Washington Capitals at the Bell Centre. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm ET.

All Montreal Canadiens statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

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By Marc Dumont
Marc has been covering the Habs for over a decade. He previously worked for Journal Metro, The Athletic, The ... More about Marc Dumont

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