The Canadiens were victimized in Vancouver, as the Habs were trounced in GM
Place for an eighth consecutive time. The last time the Canadiens won in Vancouver was November 30th 2000.
Since then the Nucks have outscored the Habs in BC by a 37-15 count. Montreal had a combined +/- rating of minus 20 – one for every player in uniform – and in one way or another, they all deserved it.
The Canadiens seemed gassed after pushing hard with Calgary for three periods the night before, but no one stepped up and led this team and despite the first ten minutes of the game being slow and boring, the Canucks were able to bust it open with great outside speed and soft hands around the net.
If head coach Jacques Martin can take any positives from tonight’s game it will be how his team played in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd period, outshooting the Canucks 14-0, but other than that they were outplayed for every second of those other 50 minutes, being out shot 35-14.
Forget the "Positive" and "Negative" in this article. There was
too much of the latter and not enough of the former. On to the grades…
Player |
Grade |
Notes |
| Carey Price |
D |
Seven goals on 32 shots sucks no matter how you slice it. The first two goals were tough but if he stops even one of those the game may have ended quite differently. |
| Max Pacioretty |
D | He needs more seasoning in Hamilton and although he had a decent shift or two he really looks out of place. There is no point in keeping him up if he is going to play less than 10 minutes per night. |
| Scott Gomez |
C | Alright on the draws and some decent puck movement on the power play but a goose egg on the scoreboard just wont cut it. |
| Brian Gionta |
C+ | He was all over the ice but was ineffective in getting to Luongo, was frustrated at even strength. |
| Mike Cammalleri |
B– | He was flying tonight and creating a lot of space for himself and his line mates but in the end had zero offensive contribution. Did lead all Canadiens with 5 shots. |
| Tomas Plekanec |
B+ | One assist and once again he was the best forward on his line. He seems to have the small, physical edge back in his game and he is finding ways to get into scoring areas but he needs some help on the 2nd line. |
| Andrei Kostitsyn |
B- | He FINALLY SHOT THE PUCK and guess what? It went in. Other than that he was once again invisible. 7 shots in 4 games for him is unacceptable. |
| Guillaume Latendresse |
C- |
Afraid and slow, Gui was not an influence tonight. Zeros across the board including hits. For him to be successful he has to use his body. |
| Maxim Lapierre |
C– | His worst game of the season, he was dominated in the face-off circle and his inability to help at even strength or the penalty kill really hurt. |
| Matt D’Agostini |
D | Looks like he misses Hamilton. Might be a victim of Martin’s system as it looks as though he is unable to play both offence and defense. The play that showed it all is when he decided a soft pass over a shot while coming in on a two-on-one with Chipchura. |
| Travis Moen |
D | On the ice for 4 goals against, -3 no shots and unlucky bounces made Mr Moen look like a rookie tonight. |
| Kyle Chipchura |
D | He is working hard but that just does not seem to be enough. He was over 50% in the face-off circle and did manage 2 shots but had no positive effect at all. |
| Georges Laraque |
D+ | So he threw three hits but they were all way too late in the game to mean anything. The only reason he does not get an F is because he managed to stay even on the +/- scale. |
Roman Hamrlik |
C | Invisible is the best way to describe Roman, no shots. On for two of the three Vancouver PP goals. |
| Jaroslav Spacek |
C | Needs to move the puck forward quicker and shoot the puck more on the power play. He was caught one the ice for two of the 3 Vancouver power play goals. |
| Paul Mara | C- | Picked up his 4th point in 5 games but he was on the ice for two of the three power play goals that Vancouver scored. Sometimes blocking too many shots is a bad thing when you can‘t clear the zone soon after. |
| Josh Gorges |
B+ | Far and away the Canadiens best defenseman managed to stay even and led the team in blocked shots. Lots of second effort helped at both ends of the ice. |
| Hal Gill | C | Minus two, lots of mental lapses and clumsy play led to some scary moments all night long. 17 minutes may just be too much for him on a nightly basis. |
| Yannick Weber | F | Not sure why he is up with the big club if he is not going to get power play time (not one second on the PP until the third. Also was a -3 and out of position all night long. |
| Powerplay | B+ | Nothing wrong with 25% and there was lots of positive puck movement and scoring chances. Things do not look too terrible on the back end without Markov so far on the PP. |
| Penalty Kill |
F | Fail rate of 40% is awful, shot blocking was ill timed and resulted in way to many lose pucks floating around the slot. Only three teams have a worse PK to start the season Edmonton Detroit and LA. |
This article was written by
Jonathan Rebelo.