Habs battle back to nip Canucks 3-2
Last season is becoming a distant memory for the Canadiens and their fans. Win or lose, this new-look edition of the Canadiens is entertaining to watch and Saturday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena was no exception. Trailing 2-1 midway through the third period, the Canadiens fought back to win 3-2 when Jonathan Drouin scored a power-play goal at 17:16 of the third period. Yes, the Canadiens actually scored on the power play, ending an 0-for-14 slump. It was only their third power-play goal in the last 12 games (3-for-40). Tomas Tatar and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Canadiens, while Michael Del Zotto and Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks. Carey Price made 35 saves to win back-to-back games and earn first-star honours for the second straight game as the Canadiens improved their record to 11-6-3. “That’s entertaining hockey right there,” Canadiens defenceman Jordie Benn said after the game. “They got a good young squad. They got some players over there that can play the game really well. We were fortunate enough to come out with the two points, but that was exciting.” Yes, it was. After 20 games last season, the Canadiens had an 8-10-2 record. They were both bad and brutally boring en route to finishing 28th in the overall NHL standings, getting shut out 12 times and scoring only one goal in 14 other games. Twenty games into this season, the Canadiens have been shut out only once and scored one goal twice. They’re fun to watch — unless they’re on the power play. But maybe Drouin’s goal will help turn things around. The Canadiens went into the game ranked 30th in the NHL on the power play. Tatar’s goal came at 8:07 of the second period after he snuck in behind the Vancouver defence at their blue line and took a long pass from defenceman Jeff Petry. Tatar went in alone on a breakaway and beat goalie Jacob Markstrom high to the glove side for his ninth goal of the season. Shaw’s goal came at 11:41 of the third period to tie the score 2-2 when a Max Domi pass from behind the net bounced in off his skate. It was the fifth goal in five games for Shaw, while Domi extended his point streak to nine games. Domi becomes only the 10th player in Canadiens history to have a point streak of nine games or more in his first season with the team. The last player to do it was Pierre Turgeon, who had a 13-game streak in 1994-95. This is a totally different team from last season. “We’ve got some guys back home, Paulie Byron (lower-body injury), who really give your team a lot of speed, too,” Julien said Friday. “So that was one of the things we looked at. How can we make this team successful with the kind of group that we had and we went about it that way. So there’s that. There’s also you have to be able to go with the flow, as they say. The league is getting faster and faster all the time, so we’re not unique there.” The Washington Capitals will be at the Bell Centre Monday night (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio). It should be fun to watch.
The league is getting faster and faster all the time, so we’re not unique there.