The Canadiens, who allowed all of 12 goals in their first nine games, still had two more opponents before reaching November, so that streak wasn’t in much danger. “An Original Six team and it was huge”.
Advertisement
Even though they didn’t tie the record, the Canadiens were still only the third team in league history to open a season with at least nine consecutive wins (joining the aforementioned Maple Leafs and Sabres teams), and the only team to do so by winning each of their first nine games in regulation. In fact, the stats argue that the Canadiens, who haven’t had a single lineup change yet, are by miles the best team in the league, offensively and defensively, with Price far and away the leading No. 1 goalie, with a 1.29 GAA and.
“We got off to a good start, got pucks on the net”.
Gallagher said the die was cast when the Canucks grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first period.
They had outscored teams 8-0 in the first period this season. Meanwhile, the defense is awful, at one point at minus-21 through seven games – the third-poorest start in National Hockey League history.
“What I remember is, the hard part that I found is that we got such a good cushion that coming down the stretch we kind of lost that urgency in our play”, Briere said this week. “I’m trying to earn his (Desjardins’) respect and I know it’s not going to be an easy (decision), but the coaches have really helped me”.
The Canucks stormed out of the blocks as Jared McCann scored two and Luca Sbisa one by just 15:52 in the opening period.
Vancouver snapped a four-game losing streak and won for the first time on home ice in six tries this season.
Prust will have an MRI on the ankle Wednesday and won’t travel with the Canucks on their two-game road trip.
“I hit a rut and just rolled right over my ankle and I didn’t hear any pop”, said Prust.
Early in the third period Torrey Mitchell tipped in an Alexei Emelin blast from the blue line to put the Canadiens on the board 3-1, as spatters of Go Habs Go erupted in the crowd.
In the recent past however, especially in the Tortorella and post-Tortorella eras, the Canucks have clammed up when the game’s pace picks up, especially when the flow or the bounces become unpredictable. And on the second goal, it was that quick wrist shot that beat Price glove side that was another example of what’s keeping him there.
Toffoli then scored his seventh goal of the year into an empty net with less than a minute left in the game, and center Trevor Lewis scored another empty netter with 27 seconds left to close things out.
“It was a weird game”, Montreal coach Michel Therrien said.
Winnipeg went on the game’s first power play with one minute left in the first period, but couldn’t break the scoreless contest.
Therrien downplayed the end of the Canadiens’ winning streak.
“They have a lot of speed and come at you a lot of different ways”, says Desjardins. There’s a chance Richard Bachman, who played eight games for the Stars over three seasons, could start Thursday.
“As a player, you always want to get off to a good start, ” said Gilmour. “They took it to us”.
“We left Price looking stranded and there’s no excuse for that”, said Pacioretty. “He’d make sure we weren’t complacent”.
The Montreal Canadiens weren’t going to win them all.
“We knew they had been playing good”, said Dorsett.
Advertisement
ICE CHIPS: The Canucks played without defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who was a late scratch with what the team called a lower-body injury. He was replaced by D Matt Bartkowski.
