Thursday October 30 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Montreal Canadiens 2 (OT)
Hockey fans from both sides were treated to a wildly entertaining contest on Thursday when the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Montreal Canadiens in overtime at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
I didn't think the energy in the building was especially positive at puck drop. I suspect the bad weather contributed to plenty of latecomers—in the early going, the seats that weren't empty seemed to be mostly filled with Habs fans.
But the vibe started to crackle once the puck was dropped.
Montreal came out strong, forcing the Canucks to take two penalties in the first half of the first period. That's where I saw the steps this group is taking towards playing solid team defense.
With Kevin Bieksa in the box for the first man advantage, the second half of the kill went to Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber, who were in position and making smart plays. The Swiss pair have already made huge strides since the opening game of the season.
By the second half of the period, the Canucks started to get their legs offensively. An offensive flurry at the end of the frame gave Vancouver a 9-7 advantage in shots on goal through 20 minutes.
Best of all, the game was fun! There were plenty of play stoppages due to icing calls: Montreal loves to try for the long breakout pass, which misses at least as often as it succeeds. Even so, the pace was high and the on-ice energy and effort was terrific.
Nowhere was that more apparent than the game-within-a-game between P.K. Subban and Daniel Sedin, of all people. They locked up at least three times over the course of the game, and after the RNH-Hamhuis altercation a couple of weeks ago, a scrap didn't seem completely out of the question.
Botchford sums up the incident nicely in
last night's Provies:
Subban trying to fight Daniel Sedin sure was something.
Don’t think many saw that coming. Daniel didn’t. He took the high road after the game, complimented Subban for being a great player and basically said:
“My bad.”
But neither Sedin was, well, impressed with the way Subban played.
“I should have just let it go, but I was involved in the game,” Daniel said. “I can’t let it affect my game. For a while, he was trying to get to me.
“At the same time, he’s their top player. For him to get involved like that, I don’t think it helped their team either.”
Henrik said: “You have to stay away from him. That’s the way he plays. And Daniel didn’t give in.
“But I think (Subban) is out there to play hockey and that’s what he should focus on.”
You’ve been told, PK.
Daniel certainly got his revenge with his gorgeous winning goal in overtime.
The other emotional turning point of the game was Vancouver's first goal, which came midway through the second period while Alexei Emelin was lying prone on the Montreal blue line.
I didn't see Alex Burrows' hit on Emelin in the moment, and I didn't see the goal because I was watching the motionless defenseman and waiting for the play to be blown dead.
Instead, Derek Dorsett and Nick Bonino did some nifty passing which ended with a 1-0 lead for the home team.
The videos I've seen of the hit are pretty inconclusive. High and late? Maybe. Hard to say.
We'll get the full breakdown from the Department of Player Safety soon enough:
Perhaps the most surprising side note from this entire incident is that, for all his abrasiveness, Burrows has never been suspended in his career. He's better known for hair-pulling than he is for dirty hits, which should help his cause. So will the fact that Emelin returned to the game in the third period.
Aside from the hit, Burrows was at his agitating best throughout the night.
The Canucks' win moves their record to 7-3, which is good enough for fifth in the NHL at this moment, but the Western Conference is once again bunched up with contenders.
Last year, it wasn't unusual to see the Canucks surrender leads late in games, so I was concerned to see that pattern return in the third period last night.
Alex Galchenyuk made a nice tip to get the Habs on the board with less than eight minutes to go in the game, then the Canucks fell apart when they were finally awarded their first power-play of the game with just under six minutes to go.
Alex Edler had played a great game up till that point: he was solid defensively and finished with a team-high seven shots on goal. But as the lone defenseman on the power play, he suddenly flashed back to last year's Edler, looking nervous, bobbling the puck, and giving up chances to the shorthanded team.
Luckily, Ryan Miller calmly handled two late breakaway chances by Tomas Plekanec. He was good all game—named first star—and is delivering as promised since he arrived in Vancouver. (It was raining pretty hard last night, too.)
Max Pacioretty's tying goal with 2:33 remaining set us up for Daniel's overtime heroics, sent both sides home with some form of satisfaction, and will probably help to add another level of crackle to the next game between—for the moment—Canada's two top teams.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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