(Vancouver) The Vancouver Canucks took advantage of a rare double from defender Nikita Zadorov to increase their lead in first position in the Western Conference by winning against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Virtually excluded from the playoffs, the Habs suffered a fourth consecutive defeat, this time by a score of 4-1.
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“We couldn’t generate enough things,” said Trevor Letowski, who replaced head coach Martin St-Louis, who was absent for a third game in a row for family reasons. We had no answers offensively.
“They have been consistent. We knew it was coming, but we realized that they are a good team. They played well. »
Conor Garland and Nils Aman also threaded the needle in victory. Casey DeSmith signed his 10e victory of the season by making 16 saves.
Juraj Slafkovsky was the only scorer for the Canadian. Samuel Montembeault stopped 21 pucks, suffering a sixth defeat in a row. His last victory dates back to February 27, against the Arizona Coyotes.
PHOTO BOB FRID, USA TODAY SPORTS
Juraj Slafkovsky
Montembeault was notably in front of the Canadian’s cage in Tuesday’s defeat against the Edmonton Oilers.
“Every team is different,” he argued, when asked about the Canucks. We faced the very talented Oilers, and the Canucks are more complete in all three zones. In the third period, they gave us absolutely nothing. It’s a well-built team. »
Tanner Pearson returned to the Habs lineup and faced his former team. He was replacing rookie Joshua Roy, who was injured blocking a shot against the Oilers. The recruit will miss four to six weeks of activities.
The Bleu-Blanc-Rouge will now visit the Kraken on Sunday in Seattle and conclude their five-game trip out West against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday in Denver.
The Canucks too strong
PHOTO BOB FRID, USA TODAY SPORTS
Casey DeSmith
The Canadian made a string of good appearances at the start of the game, forcing DeSmith to report on a few occasions, but things got complicated afterwards.
The visitors took two minor penalties to give the Canucks a stretch of more than a minute with a two-man advantage midway through the first period.
The Montreal team escaped without allowing a goal, then Brendan Gallagher almost scored coming out of the penalty box.
“The first eight to 10 minutes were our best in the game before we took the first penalty,” Letowski said. The three penalties slowed us down. They didn’t score, but it affected the game. »
The British Columbia team opened the scoring a few moments later when Zadorov’s shot slipped into the back of the net. Canucks forward Sam Lafferty and Canadian defenseman David Savard obscured Montembeault’s view.
“It’s up to me to find the puck in traffic,” proclaimed the goalie.
During a third Canucks power play before the end of the first period, defenseman Quinn Hughes hit the post head-on. Defender Kaiden Guhle was then hit in the face by Nils Hoglander’s elbow, but the situation escaped the officials.
Zadorov doubled his team’s lead with 27 seconds left in the first with a shot taken right into the heart of the slot.
After giving the first three penalties to the Canadian, the referees took action four times against the Canucks in the second period. The visitors were nevertheless unable to reduce the gap in three superiorities.
The Canucks then dealt a hard blow through Garland at 18:14.
A missed pass from Arber Xhekaj towards Guhle, at the Canucks blue line, was the origin of this goal. It allowed Teddy Blueger to recover the puck and give it to Garland, who fooled Montembeault with a shot into the upper right part of the net.
Slafkovsky then reduced the gap by deflecting a Cole Caufield shot 53 seconds later. The Slovak thus collected at least one point in a sixth game in a row.
The Canucks hit the final nail in the Canadian’s coffin when Aman surprised Montembeault with a shot from the point at 11:44 of the third period.