Honoring #4: Montreal Canadiens Beat Vancouver Canucks

On an emotional night in Montreal, the Montreal Canadiens were able to muster just enough offense to down the Vancouver Canucks. Let’s take a look at how the night went down.

Dec 9, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec (14) gives away a puck as he is name first star of the game against Vancouver Canucks at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

First off, no one does tradition or ceremony like the Montreal Canadiens. The way the spotlight was focused on Jean Beliveau‘s seat all night, and how they added his jersey number to the seat literally gave me goosebumps. His wife has shown some great dedication to her husband’s cause by showing up and celebrating his storied life an career with us common folk. Tomas Plekanec proved he is a cut above the cloth when he gave her the game puck after the win. Total class.

Miracle of miracles the Habs actually stuck first! Although not in the first period they still opened the scoring and kept their steak of winning when scoring first alive, now sitting at 11-0! The goal was a sneak shot by Brendan Gallagher, but he offense was created by a good cycle by the newly minted line of Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher. Anyone who doubted my previous rants that Galchenyuk should be the 1st line center with Pacioretty on his wing will have to eat crow at least for one night. They were dynamic and controlled the pace of the game, creating offensive chances time and time again.

The Canucks would tie the game at 1-1 with a shorthanded goal that really was the result of an offensive zone gaff and the poor back-check of both David Desharnais and PK Subban. Andrei Markov was caught a little flat-footed and really didn’t press Jannik Hansen and allowed a cross crease pass to Derek Dorsett who deposited in the open cage.

Dec 9, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec (14) scores a goal against Vancouver Canucks goalie Ryan Miller (30) during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s talk about special teams. The Habs definitely lost the special teams battle going 0 for 5 on the powerplay, which included a lengthy 5 on 3, while allowing a short handed goal against. The Canucks would only get 2 opportunities on the powerplay and they didn’t manage to score, but their penatlykillers got the job done, even if they were relentlessly pressured at times.

Here are the players that I would like to single out after last night’s performance;

• Alex Galchenyuk – He was a stick-handling dynamo out there last night. Created a ton of chances and was even 62% in the dot!
• Max Pacioretty – Finally woke up and was a force all game long. Pushing the tempo and creating chances. He might have scored into the open net, but he also dinged one off the post on the penaltykill that clearly had beaten Miller.
• Tomas Plekanec – Scored the Winning goal on a beauty of a feed from Sven Andrighetto. He was effective in the dot winning 57% of his draws, and was a force on the penatlykill.
• Sven Andrighetto – I normally don’t include more than 3 names, but this kid has spunk. He’s quickly becoming an offensive catalyst which the Habs really needed. 2 points in 2 games since his call-up isn’t bad for a young man getting his first taste of the big leagues.

The Habs controlled the play and outshot the Canucks 25 – 16, and Carey Price picked up a much needed win after consecutive losses. He played well enough for the win, and even made a highlight reel save on Nick Bonino keeping his team in the game while they controlled the play. This is why you need a top flight goalie. Sometimes the most dominating games need timely stops to actually be turned into points.

Dec 9, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes a save against Vancouver Canucks right wing Linden Vey (7) as defenseman P.K. Subban (76) defends during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

My final thought from this game was that Therrien finally moved Deharnais away from Pacioretty and off the 1st line. It shouldn’t take a coach that many games to see that things aren’t working. For a team that preaches “you get what you earn”, Deharnais hasn’t been the offensive catalyst who is supposed to be the number one center on this club. Let’s just hope the coach let’s the current line combinations time to gel a little to see what can happen.

As always, thanks for reading!