Saturday October 12 Montreal 4 - Vancouver 1
The Vancouver Canucks put out a good effort as they welcomed the Montreal Canadiens and their large contingent of fans to Rogers Arena on Saturday. Unfortunately for the home team, one bad bounce was the difference in a 4-1 loss.
Five-on-five, the Canucks played the Habs even, with Montreal's only even-strength marker coming late in the third period. The game was decided by special teams, great goaltending from Carey Price and a little bit of dumb luck.
The turning point came at 16:12 of the second period. Three minutes earlier, Henrik Sedin had tied the game 1-1 on a beautiful play, then the Canucks went on the power play after an interference call on Jarred Tinordi. Vancouver was applying good pressure when, re-setting behind their own net, Jason Garrison and Dan Hamhuis got crossed up. The outlet pass was bobbled into the goal crease. The puck bounced off Roberto Luongo's left skate, then his right, then deflected into the net. The goalie never saw it.
Lars Eller was awarded with the goal as the last Canadien to touch the puck after his clearing attempt from the Montreal zone. That made the score 2-1 and proved to be the winning goal. Vancouver couldn't find the mental toughness to recover from the gaffe.
The loss means the Canucks' record slips to 3-3 through a relatively easy section of the schedule. They now head out east for seven road games over two weeks. Perhaps some team-building time away from home will help Torts and his team to bond and better understand each other. It's still early days—hard to get a read on where this team will take us through a full 82-game schedule.
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 40 - Montreal 38
Blocked Shots: Vancouver 16 - Montreal 17
Penalty Minutes: Vancouver 6 - Montreal 6
Hits: Vancouver 19 - Montreal 14
Quick Hits:
- Head-to-head, Carey Price outdueled Roberto Luongo as both goaltenders hope to earn consideration to start for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February. To the delight of the large contingent of Habs fans at Rogers Arena, Price was the difference in the early going, making a number of athletic saves as Vancouver outshot Montreal 14-9 in the first period and 17-11 in the second.
- Through the first five games of the season, Vancouver could point with pride to its perfect penalty kill. On Saturday, Montreal went 2-for-3 on the power play. The own-goal was also Vancouver's first shorthanded goal against this year. The Canucks will now have to be content with their perfect 1-for-1 record on penalty shots, as Luongo stoned Max Pacioretty in the third period.
- After looking reasonably steady in the early going this season, Roberto Luongo showed signs that he was wound up on Saturday, playing against the team he cheered for as a child. After Montreal's first goal, which broke the Canucks' perfect penalty-killing streak, he argued with the officials that the puck had been frozen when, in fact, it had already crossed the goal line before Dan Hamhuis retrieved it to shovel under Luongo's pad.
- As Hamhuis struggles through the early days of the season, Jason Garrison continues to be a force. Garrison recorded 10 shots on goal on Saturday, a season-high for any Canuck. He also picked up an assist on Henrik's goal for his sixth point of the year, trailing only P.K. Subban in the defensive scoring race.
- Mike Santorelli's stint with the Sedins lasted just 20 minutes on Saturday. Tortorella started juggling his lines at the beginning on the second period, so Jannik Hansen was riding shotgun on the top line for Henrik's goal. Zack Kassian failed to bring the hoped-for spark in his return to the lineup. He played just under 13 minutes, recording one shot, one hit and one block.
Since Monday's a holiday here in Canada, I won't be posting. I'll be back on Tuesday with a preview of the seven-game road trip and first game in Philadelphia. I'll also be posting a couple of stories at Bleacher Report, so follow me
@pool88 for those links when the stories post.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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