The Vancouver Canucks hosted the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Arena on Saturday for their first and only matchup of the season on the West Coast. Both teams were coming off close one-goal losses, the Canucks to the Nashville Predators 2-1 and the Canadiens to the Edmonton Oilers 6-5.
After the Canucks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, the Canadiens’ offence came alive and scored four unanswered goals – three in the third period – to win 4-3. They were led by rookie Ivan Demidov’s first three-point night in the NHL as he scored the game-winner in the third and assisted on Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky’s power-play goals. The other goal came from Mike Matheson, with Conor Garland rounding out the scoring for the Canucks. Here’s your game recap.
Game Recap
For the most part, the Canucks controlled the first period in shots and chances, outshooting and outchancing the Canadiens 11-4 and 12-4, respectively, with eight of those being high-danger. The Canucks’ efforts were rewarded early with Pettersson’s second of the season, as he took a pass from Filip Hronek and roofed it into an empty net. The play was started by Garland drawing a forechecker to him in the neutral zone and opening the ice up for Hronek, who eventually fed Pettersson in the slot for the goal. The only power play of the period belonged to the Canucks, but they couldn’t get one past Dobes, and the first ended with the Canucks up 1-0.
The Canucks went ahead 2-0 on the power play after Josh Anderson hit the post shorthanded, as Quinn Hughes blasted a shot that was tipped by DeBrusk for his second of the season. The Canadiens got one back on a power play of their own later in the frame, with Suzuki scoring on an empty net after a nice setup by Demidov. The period itself was a lot more even, with the Canadiens firing 14 shots at Lankinen and the Canucks countering with 10. The Canadiens also got their first three high-danger chances of the game, closing the gap on the chance and shot differential in the process. By the end of the period, the shots were closer at 21-18 and still a one-goal game, this time at 2-1.
The Canucks came into the third up by one, but the Canadiens tied it quickly on the power play early in the period, thanks to Slafkovsky’s fourth of the season. Then, Matheson gave his team their first lead of the game a few minutes later, and Demidov added another shortly after that to stretch the lead to 4-2. Garland was able to pull the Canucks within one in the final three minutes, but that’s as close as they would get, falling for the third time in a row, 4-3.
What’s Next?
The Canucks get right back at it tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers, while the Canadiens will get Sunday and Monday off before they face the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
