Copyright yardbarker
The Vancouver Canucks hosted the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Arena on Saturday for their first and only matchup of the season on the West Coast. Both teams were coming off close one-goal losses, the Canucks to the Nashville Predators 2-1 and the Canadiens to the Edmonton Oilers 6-5. After the Canucks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, the Canadiens’ offence came alive and scored four unanswered goals – three in the third period – to win 4-3. They were led by rookie Ivan Demidov’s first three-point night in the NHL as he scored the game-winner in the third and assisted on Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky’s power-play goals. The other goal came from Mike Matheson, with Conor Garland rounding out the scoring for the Canucks. Here’s your game recap. For the most part, the Canucks controlled the first period in shots and chances, outshooting and outchancing the Canadiens 11-4 and 12-4, respectively, with eight of those being high-danger. The Canucks’ efforts were rewarded early with Pettersson’s second of the season, as he took a pass from Filip Hronek and roofed it into an empty net. The play was started by Garland drawing a forechecker to him in the neutral zone and opening the ice up for Hronek, who eventually fed Pettersson in the slot for the goal. The only power play of the period belonged to the Canucks, but they couldn’t get one past Dobes, and the first ended with the Canucks up 1-0.
