Vancouver was stop three on the five-game road trip for the Montreal Canadiens. Vancouver is a high-flying team, and Thursday night the Canucks showed it, posting an easy 4-1 win.
Wilde Horses
If this team is going to come together overall, it has to improve on special teams. The power play has been stronger this year than last season, but the penalty kill has lagged.
Against the Oilers on Tuesday night, the penalty killers did well against some of the most potent snipers in hockey. Joel Armia took a four minute high-sticking penalty late, and it looked like it was going to cost the Canadiens a result, but they got the game to overtime.
Against Vancouver, early in the contest, Montreal took a penalty for too many men on the ice to give the Canucks a two-man advantage power play for one minute and six seconds. The Canadiens killed it off effectively.
The Canadiens posted some strong individual performances as well. Cole Caufield had more terrific chances, but he continues to find this to be a frustrating season. On one power play, Caufield produced three quality chances. In the first, he wired a shot off the post. Only five seconds later, he got a pass in the slot and ripped another shot. Twenty seconds after that, Caufield made a terrific set-up to Alex Newhook for another possible goal.
Caufield did get an assist as the Canadiens got on the board late in the second. He fired a shot from the blue line that was deflected by Juraj Slafkovsky. The teenager continues to impress with his 15th goal of the season. He’s had points in six straight games, and 20 points in his last 22 games. The club seems to have made the right pick at number one overall.
Joel Armia was also, once again, strong. Armia should be proud of his season. He was sent to Laval, which had to be a terrible insult for the veteran, but he played well on the farm, kept his head up high, returned to Montreal where he has put his best regular season together for the Canadiens.
Armia has been criticized for sleeping through some games, and looking highly motivated only for the playoffs, but this season, he has given his best self for the organization. He and Newhook continue to find each other well on the same line.
Wilde Goats
The Canucks are a great hockey team. Lines two, three, and four have had 109 goals this season. The Canadiens with, once again, no secondary scoring in this game, have 54 goals on lines two through four. No one should look beyond this 55-goal gap to know why Vancouver is near the top of the standings, and the Canadiens are near the bottom.
Nick Suzuki and his line mates fared well yet again against the opposition’s top players. However, whenever Suzuki manages to break even against the McDavids and Matthews of the hockey world, there is no team reward for that when the secondary players find life so easy against Montreal.
Wilde Cards
The Canadiens were forced to use Rafael Harvey-Pinard on the second line in Vancouver because the regular winger on the second unit, Joshua Roy, suffered a hand injury. Roy returned to Montreal the morning after the contest in Edmonton.
Roy blocked a shot from Evan Bouchard with his right hand. Roy required further assessment from the Canadiens doctors after X-rays in Edmonton did not go well. The Canadiens PR staff announced on Thursday night that Roy had suffered an upper body injury. Roy is expected to be out as long as six weeks.
Roy was playing extremely well. He has a bright career in front of him, and the hope is the injury isn’t so serious that he loses some mobility in the hand when he is fully recovered. No details on the injury were given, as is policy from the team.
It is remarkable how many Canadiens have been injured in the last few years. There are varying theories, but none hold any water. It just seems to be horrible luck, and that horrible luck continues unabated from season-to-season.
The six-week time line seems to indicate that Roy is gone for the season, unless the Laval Rocket make an extended playoff run. They would have to, firstly, advance to the playoffs, then win the first round.
Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after each Canadiens game.
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