Maybe the Montreal Canadiens were just destined to set a franchise record in their first ten games of the season by collecting 19 of 20 possible points available to them in the standings.
That might be the only way to explain how they extended their winning streak to eight games with a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday despite being out-shot 42-21.
“That’s probably our worst game we’ve played this year,” said Canadiens defenceman Nathan Beaulieu, whose first goal of the season proved to be the winner in this one. “We definitely got away with one.”
Yes they did.
With a little more than half of the game remaining, the Canadiens had allowed 24 shots and accumulated just three of their own. They were being out-hustled and out-hit by a fair margin, too.
And yet this Canucks team—searching desperately for a way to halt a five-game losing streak and climb out of 29th place in the NHL in goals for—couldn’t execute a play that would beat goaltender Carey Price.
In the third period, down 2-0, the Canucks got a power-play opportunity with a little less than 10 minutes remaining and couldn’t find a way into Montreal’s zone. When Vancouver did finally find a way over the offensive blue line, forward Bo Horvat feathered a one-timer pass to goalless-on-the-season forward Loui Eriksson, who broke his stick trying to shoot it before tripping over the puck.
“That’s just a fine example to point to,” said Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller. “You can kinda compound things and point to that. But there’s a lot of good things and it’s frustrating not to have any kind of reward for it. I think that’s what the guys are starting to feel and we have to kinda rise above that.”
That’s a challenge for the Canucks to begin undertaking against the Senators in Ottawa Thursday night.
Meanwhile, one can’t help but wonder if the Canadiens can treat this win as a loss to reinforce the urgency with which they need to play in order to continue achieving successful results.
“It’s tough to go home and feel good about that,” said Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty. “That was unacceptable.
“You cash in the points when they’re there, but at the same time you don’t see the energy after the game of the guys feeling too good about themselves. Moreso, we let goaltender Carey [Price] down. We relied on him to bail us out, and that’s not the way we want to play.”
Price is the ultimate equalizer.
Through six starts, Montreal’s goaltender is undefeated, and he’s sporting a .964 save percentage and a 1.17 goals against average.
When asked if this game was a wake-up call for his team, Price coolly responded, “I’m pretty awake.”
No kidding.
For as good as Price’s numbers suggest he’s been—and his backup Al Montoya is currently 3-0-1 with a .955 save percentage—goaltending hasn’t been the main reason the Canadiens are rocking the NHL’s best record.
Montreal has received balanced scoring from their forwards. Fourth line centre Torrey Mitchell, who recorded his fifth goal of the season in Wednesday’s game, is a perfect example of how tough it’s been for opposing teams to match up against the Canadiens so far.
The team has also been a stalwart defensively. They’ve only allowed a league-low 13 goals in 10 games and own the league’s second-best penalty kill, which is operating at 90 per cent efficiency.
But right now, the Canadiens are averaging 32.6 shots against per game. There are only four teams in the NHL allowing more.
It’s an aspect of the game the Canadiens will have to start chipping away at in practice Thursday before traveling to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Friday. Pacioretty says it’s one of a few that require fine tuning.
“I’m not trying to critique everything to every little point, but let’s call a spade a spade,” said Pacioretty. “We’ve been talking for days now that we want to improve our game, and that we’re not satisfied.
“If we don’t match [Columbus’] intensity on Friday, I can easily see them taking two points from us.”
Or maybe destiny will get in the way again and keep the Canadiens rolling to a ninth consecutive win.
