CANADIENS
Montreal

CANUCKS
Vancouver

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Semin
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Flynn – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Subban
Beaulieu – Petry
Gilbert – Pateryn[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Condon
Tokarski

Scratches: Jarred Tinordi, Alexei Emelin, Paul Byron
Injured reserve:  Carey Price
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

When the Canadiens met the Vancouver Canucks on October 27th, they were undefeated in nine previous games. Franchise and league records were falling. To some, the Habs were not only unbeaten but unbeatable.

The Cancuks would spoil that party in Vancouver. They spanked the Canadiens 5-1 fueled by three unanswered first period goals. The streak was dead.

Since that game, the Habs have posted a mediocre 4-3-2 record. The Rangers and Stars have caught the Canadiens and cracks have started to show in the armour of backup Mike Condon.

So when Vancouver scored two first period goals and added a third early in the second period, the Bell Centre faithful were having none of it. Spotting the Canucks another three goal lead triggered restlessness, then outright booing and jeering of the home squad.

Condon looked shaky. P.K. Subban had a rough start. And the pairing of Jeff Petry and Nathan Beaulieu were downright awful. The crowd had even become quiet, almost accepting of their fate.

Enter Lars Eller.

All the underappreciated centre turned winger does is work hard, win puck battles and create opportunities for his lone linemate, Alex Galchenyuk. On the penalty-kill Eller knocked down former Canadien Yannick Weber at the Habs blueline, stole the puck, skated the length of the ice a ripped a shot past Jacob Markstrom.

As noted on the broadcast, the short-handed goal is the NHL’s equivalent of a pick-six. It is a momentum changer. Post-game, even Michel Therrien had to admit that Eller’s goal was the turning point.

Two minutes later, Max Pacioretty was in the right place at the right time to backhand a shot past Markstrom. Following the Eller goal, the Canadiens dominated. They outshot Vancouver 27-15 in the final 43 minutes.

Following the game, the buzzword was character. Obviously, a healthy dose of it is necessary for a long playoff run. Coming back from a three-goal deficit to win is a building block that may prove useful as the season goes on.

The Canadiens now turn their attention to the Coyotes who will be their opponent at the Bell Centre on Thursday night..

▲     Lars Eller, Tomas Fleischmann, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Markov, P.K. Subban

▼     Mike Condon, Jeff Petry. Devante Smith-Pelly, Brian Flynn, Nathan Beaulieu

1. David Desharnais   MTL
2. Daniel Sedin   VAN
3. Tomas Fleischmann  MTL

• “It was a tough start for us, but I thought that Lars Eller’s goal gave us a lot of life. We kept pushing that pace. I really liked the character of our team because we competed really hard. We deserved to win.”
• “To me this was a character win. It’s rare you can come back from a three-goal deficit, and the players were able to make that comeback happen.“

Lars Eller

• “It was important [to win this game]. We’d rather be up 3-0, of course. I think it’s the first time this season we came back from being down more than one or two goals. It’s very satisfying. It builds character in the room and it builds confidence. You don’t think about scoring three. You just think about scoring one. Once it’s 3-1, there’s a lot of game left. It doesn’t seem as much if you’re thinking one goal at a time.”

Mike Condon

• “It’s strange because all the games before that, the ones that I played at least, we didn’t give up a first-period goal.“

Tomas Fleischmann

• “We felt pretty confident about our game tonight. The last two periods I would say we were pretty hard-working against them and we had a lot of shots. We were thinking we might score earlier, but it came with three minutes left in the game. Good thing it happened.”

Max Pacioretty

• “We’ve been together for a little bit, especially the core group of guys, and we’re pretty honest with each other. I think that’s the most important thing, that you can look in the mirror and say you did a good job, and I don’t think anyone could have done that after the first period.”

Canucks forward Daniel Sedin

• “We made a mistake, it cost us, but we’re up 3-1, we’ve got to keep going. When we survived the second period there I thought we played pretty good in the third. They didn’t have much, I think, until they got the goal there.”

Canucks coach Willie Desjardins

• “It just seems that we’re getting caught. We had a great chance, we missed the net, and it went around the other way, they got a 3-on-2 out of it. We score on that other one, we’re all happy, but we didn’t so we’re certainly disappointed again.“

Quotes courtesy of NHL.com