MONTREAL — How the Vancouver Canucks view this two-game series with the Montreal Canadiens might obscure the reality that, even though they’re only two points behind in the standings, they’ve played four more games.
This is an opportunity to keep their playoff hopes alive, to put pressure on their closest target and to redeem themselves for the way they’ve played in most games against the Canadiens. They are approaching it with the necessary desperation.
"Guys understand what’s at stake," said Vancouver coach Travis Green on Friday. "They’ll be fired up, I’m not worried about that."
You have to think the Canucks have gained some confidence, too, of late. They’ve gone 7-2-0 since the beginning of March. They’ve won six of those games without top gun Elias Pettersson, moving away from the careless east-west puck movement that allowed the Canadiens to crush them in transition and beat them in four of their first five meetings this season, and goaltender Thatcher Demko has played outrageously behind them.
"He’s been great for us," said Tyler Motte, who returned to Vancouver’s lineup on Wednesday after missing five weeks due to injury. "You guys have seen the heater he’s been on right now; it’s done a lot for our group having him in net and him feeling his confidence. I think we’re giving him a little bit more work than we would like to."
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Still, Demko has handled it brilliantly, winning seven of eight starts and posting a .951 save percentage through March despite giving up five goals to the Canadiens in a game last week.
The 25-year-old will start Friday’s game and play against Montreal backup Jake Allen, who has a .922 save percentage in 10 starts but is 0-2-3 in his last five.
Jeff Petry, who leads Canadiens defencemen with 25 points in 29 games, knows what his team needs to do in front of Allen and against this hungry Canucks team.
"I think obviously if you’re sitting in their position, you can see that there are games in hand, but (they’re) striking distance away," he said on Friday. "We have to look at the reverse side of things where we want to extend that and make it a bigger gap to overcome.
"Playing the same teams over and over, they’re four-point swings, so we have to make sure that we’re ready to and have the mindset of not allowing them to catch us or jump us in this series. This is a big two games and we have to focus on tonight and make sure we put a doubt in their head from the start of the game and all the way through and have that carry over to tomorrow."
The Canucks will be without Tanner Pearson for both games. Green said Pearson suffered a lower-body injury on Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined for at least a month.
Jimmy Vesey, who was claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week, will make his Canucks debut Friday, and Antoine Roussel will return to the lineup after not playing since Vancouver’s 5-1 loss to the Canadiens on March 10.
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Joel Armia on notice
Tomas Tatar, Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher will start on a line together after being reunited in Montreal’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
That leaves Jonathan Drouin and Josh Anderson on the wings of Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Paul Byron and Corey Perry will play with Jake Evans. It also leaves Artturi Lehkonen on the sidelines for a third consecutive game.
Lehkonen might not bring offence to the equation — he only has two goals and two assists in 21 games — but he can bring speed and responsible play all over the ice, and those assets might be an entry point for him if Joel Armia doesn’t start playing to his potential.
Armia, who will start Friday’s game next to Nick Suzuki and Canadiens leading scorer Tyler Toffoli, has started all of his games under Ducharme as a top-nine forward. He’s produced goals in only two of those 11 contests, he’s been held without a point in seven of them, and he was bumped down to the fourth line and given only 10 minutes in Montreal’s loss to Winnipeg.
The 27-year-old’s edge on Lehkonen is his ability to produce more offence, but can he maintain it if he’s not doing the job?
"I just had a talk with him," said Ducharme on Friday. "I really believe in him. He’s got great potential. I think when his feet are moving, when he’s active, when he’s dynamic, he’s one of the strongest players we have to handle the puck and protect the puck. He’s got a really solid shot. So, obviously we’re working with him, we’re giving him guidelines, trying to help him out on things. It’s about also being consistent. We believe in him, and we’ll see in the next few games how he handles that."
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Jordan Harris decision looming
Montreal’s third-round pick at the 2018 draft has finished his junior season at Northeastern University and sources have informed Sportsnet the decision to join the Canadiens is now in his hands.
Harris, 20, is an excellent skater and quality puck-mover who plays the left side. He produced six goals and 19 points for the Huskies this season. According to sources, he’s been told he’ll have an opportunity to immediately burn the first year of his contract in the NHL with the Canadiens, if he chooses to sign, and that he’ll meet with family and his advisor this weekend before deciding.
Entrants into the NCAA Frozen Four tournament won’t officially be announced before Sunday, but multiple sources say Northeastern will not participate.
Should Harris decide to sign, perhaps as early as Sunday, the next step will be for him to travel to Montreal to serve a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
