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TAKEAWAYS

  1. The Vancouver Canucks were better on Tuesday than they were on Monday. But it still wasn’t enough to beat the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. After falling 6-2 and going far too quietly into the Montreal night 24 hours earlier, the Canucks produced a sturdier start and a solid finish on Tuesday. But yet again, as on so many nights already this season, the Canucks contributed to their own demise. A brutal Brandon Sutter turnover through the middle of the ice led to Josh Anderson’s second goal of the opening period and -- despite a decent first 10 minutes of the hockey game -- put the Canucks in a 2-0 hole. Then at 3-1 in the late stages of the second period, JT Miller was unable to control a bouncing puck just inside the Montreal line. Jesperi Kotkaniemi gained possession and sent Tyler Toffoli the other way and the former Canuck bagged his second of the night and NHL-leading 9th of the season (incredibly 8 of them have come against Vancouver) beating Thatcher Demko on a backhand. The mistakes weren’t as frequent as they were on Monday, but the Canucks continue to have puck management issues that seem to blow up in their face. It’s a problem they need to fix.

 

  1. The Canucks are now 0-6 when surrendering the opening goal of the hockey games and that was the case in both games in Montreal. On Monday night, the Habs opened the scoring 60 seconds into the game. On Tuesday, the Canucks had nothing to show for their efforts despite registering five of the first six shots of the game. But momentum turned when Alex Edler took a cross-checking penalty on Corey Perry and the Canucks then were assessed a too many men penalty while already short-handed. The Canucks managed to kill off the 48-second two-man advantage, but the Habs seemed to gain some life off the power plays and Josh Anderson went to work. The big Montreal winger fended off Jalen Chatfield and poked a rebound past Demko at the 13:53 mark of the opening period. On five of the six occasions when falling behind 1-0, the Canucks have also gone down 2-0. At that point they are chasing the game. They won’t always be able to opening the scoring, but they have to ensure that games aren’t over just because they go down 1-0. The Canucks need to find a way to claw their way back into games. In both games in Montreal, they scored to make it 2-1, but could not get that next goal they needed. On Tuesday night, the Canucks waited nearly half the hockey game to get their first power play. With the team on the board after Antoine Roussel’s first goal of the season and looking for the equalizer, Tanner Pearson took a hooking penalty that negated the man-advantage (see Takeaway 1 re: self-inflicted wounds). Instead of a chance to tie the game, the Canucks gave their first power play chance of the night away after just 42 seconds.

 

  1. As a response to Monday’s disappointing show from his top players, Travis Green split the Lotto Line to start Tuesday’s game. He moved Bo Horvat between JT Miller and Brock Boeser and dropped Elias Pettersson to skate with Tanner Pearson and Nils Höglander. While the effort was better to open Tuesday’s game than at any point on Monday night, it wasn’t until the third period that the Canucks saw the kind of urgency they needed from their best players. Down 4-1 to start the third, Pettersson looked like he took out a week’s worth of frustration ripping a wrist shot past Jake Allen and under the bar for his fourth of the season and the Canucks first road power play goal of the season. Pettersson had some purpose to his game in the third period and nearly scored again in tight on the backhand on another power play moments later. Miller responded with a far more engaged effort on Tuesday after perhaps his poorest showing in Canuck colours the previous night. If you just went off the scoresheet, you’d think Miller had a monster game. He led all Canucks forwards with 23:31 of ice time including 10:52 of the third period, had four shots on seven attempts, six hits and three blocked shots. He certainly seemed invested on Tuesday and added his ninth assist of the season on Pettersson’s goal. Overall, neither of the new look top lines dominated and the Canucks failed to win. So it’s hard to call the changes an overwhelming success. But the Canucks needed to see some signs of life from their best players and it may merely be a silver lining, but at least there was some sort of response. It’s hard to imagine if there hadn’t been.

 

  1. The schedule will show the Habs beat the Canucks on February 2nd. But really, this game was won last fall. That’s when the Canucks made the organizational decision to shed salary and walk away from key pieces of last season’s team while the Habs went the other way. They got ultra-aggressive in the off-season acquiring Josh Anderson from Columbus for Max Domi on October 6th and then signed Anderson to a seven-year $38.5M contract days later. On October 12th, the Canadiens convinced Tyler Toffoli to leave Vancouver and sign in Montreal for four years and $17M. On September 2nd, the Habs traded for Jake Allen from St. Louis looking to shore up their netminding behind Carey Price. On Tuesday, Allen stopped 36 of 39 shots to improve to 3-1 on the season with his second win in two weeks over the Canucks. Beyond that, the Canadiens also committed $25M to defenseman Jeff Petry on a four year deal and Petry had a goal and an assist on Tuesday after scoring twice on Monday night. The point is that the Habs recognized areas of concern on their hockey club over the off-season and made bold moves to address them. The Canucks stood pat for the most part and it looks in the early going this season like they are feeling the impact. Tuesday’s outcome was the result of a Montreal team that got serious about getting better. And the Habs were able to make their moves despite having Carey Price’s $10.5M deal and Shea Weber’s $7.857M on the books for seasons to come. How do they do it? No Montreal forward makes as much as Loui Eriksson this season.

 

  1. Bo Horvat is likely the least of the Vancouver Canucks concerns. But it’s not fair to repeatedly throw darts at the Lotto Liners without mentioning that the captain has gone seven games without a goal and has just one point (his off the top of the net assist on Nils Höglander’s goal in Winnipeg on Saturday) in his last five games. The Canucks need all of their top players going and right now Horvat has hit a cold patch. It happens, but it can’t continue much longer as the team heads for three straight in Toronto. He was the first player in the league to get to five goals this season, but that’s where he sits after 13 games. He scored twice in back to back games against the Habs on January 20th and 21st. That feels like a long time ago now. Horvat didn’t register a point in either game in Montreal although he did have three shots on goal on Tuesday and his line with Miller and Boeser held its own in terms of shot attempts, shots and expected goals, although came out on the wrong end of the ledger in scoring chances and goals scored (0-2) at even strength. Horvat knows what he means to the Canucks and their success and he’ll surely find a way to play his way out of this stretch. The Canucks have scored 28 goals – and 13 of his teammates have found the back of net – since Horvat last cashed in. He’s likely overdue to bump the slump soon, but it’s up to him to make it happen.

 

 

Jeff Paterson
Vancouver Canucks reporter
TSN 1040 Sports Radio
@patersonjeff