Top Six Minutes: Ivan Demidov breaks out in Vancouver

Something tells me Montreal is going to finish the game with more penalties than the Canucks, so they will need to deal with that.

First period

Ray Ferraro is a significant upgrade on Garry Galley as tonight’s colour commentator.
The Canucks seem to be shooting for tip in front of Jakub Dobeš. Not exactly a high-skill approach, but it could work against Montreal.
Elias Pettersson doesn’t tip the puck in. He accepts a cross-crease pass with Ivan Demidov playing defence and opens the scoring.
I really thought Montreal would be ready for a strong start after last game. They’re not into this game at all right now.
Kirby Dach comes down the wing and sends a shot off the shoulder of Kevin Lankinen. The rebound bounces just out of reach of the other two forwards on the line.
Arber Xhekaj has Conor Garland get past him and has to reach out to slow him down. Montreal will go on the penalty kill.
The Canucks have a couple of chances, but Montreal survives the two minutes.
The game pauses for a commercial break with just under eight minutes to play and Montreal has two shots.
Not even the top line is able to connect a pass in this period.
It seems any chance Montreal does have at getting a shot gets blocked by someone else in a Habs jersey. They look awful at the moment.
The first real offensive-zone setup Montreal gets in the period is spoiled when Alexandre Carrier has a weak point shot blocked.
And that concludes a rather terrible period of hockey for Montreal.

Montreal is looking better in the opening couple of minutes. They’re actually making plays with the puck.
Already as many shots for Montreal through four minutes as they had in the opening frame.
A two-minute shift from Montreal in the offensive zone end when Joe Veleno takes a penalty.
Josh Anderson gets sprung on a short-handed breakaway by Jake Evans, but hits the post.
Quinn Hughes fires a point shot that gets tipped in by Jake DeBrusk. An inch away from a tie game, now it’s 2-0.
The Canucks’ game seems to be high shots. Dobeš has a few new dents in his mask tonight. Maybe they don’t know the backup is no longer Cayden Primeau.
Xhekaj runs some way too obvious interference to open up some space for his defence partner behind the net. He’s going to sit in the box for two minutes, and maybe many more on the bench after that.
The Canucks do a similarly boneheaded thing by running a similar pick on their power play. The ref’s hand was going up before the contact was even made.
With Montreal on a brief power play once Xhekaj’s penalty expires, Ivan Demidov finds Nick Suzuki’s wheelhouse from across the ice to keep his captain’s point streak going.

A very good follow-up shift from the top line almost ties the game. Suddenly the Habs are moving the puck around well.
Despite there only being five seconds left to play, the Evans line pushes hard for a goal, and they draw a penalty that will begin when the third period does.

The Canucks are playing keepaway to start.
Juraj Slafkovský breaks his sticks, and tosses it away as the celebration when the puck goes in the net.

Two primary assists for Demidov tonight.
Montreal is starting to do the breakout tactic of having one skater draw attention, stop to freeze the defence, and hit a player moving at speed to get past that layer of coverage. It’s how they’ve made teams look slow all season long, and are finally starting to in this game as well.
Evander Kane cross-checks Cole Caufield headfirst into the boards, then complains about the call. Players should automatically earn an extra two for complaining about obvious calls.
Demidov almost gets his third primary point on the power play, but Lankinen stops him at the side of the net.
Demidov is giving this top unit a completely different look with a playmaker on the opposite side to Suzuki. Like a football team playing with two quarterbacks.
Montreal has all the pressure coming off that power play. It’s been a while since they gained momentum on an unsuccessful man advantage.
They capitalize with a goal off the stick of Matheson. The Montreal Canadiens are now in the building.

Quinn Hughes grabs Suzuki to slow him down on a race to the puck and ends up getting the icing call. Suzuki throws out his hands in disbelief.
There’s a primary point for Demidov at five-on-five, a bullet from the right faceoff dot off the leg of a Canucks defenceman and in.

The Olés have begun at Rogers Arena.
The Canadiens are now hanging on. They’re in two-goal-lead mode.
Newhook keeps the puck on a two-on-one with Demidov. I would have preferred to see a pass there even a low-percentage one.
Another tip-in goal for Vancouver. The Canadiens need to start playing again.
Slafkovský hits the side of the empty net from centre ice.
A shot just goes wide of Montreal’s net with 30 seconds to play.
Montreal is killing off the clock a few seconds at a time with icings.
And that’s what happens with time expiring as the puck is sliding toward the Canucks’ end.
A 4-3 win that has the road trip record at 2-1, and their overall record at 7-3 ahead of Tuesday’s game in Seattle.

3) The Maple Leafs aren’t even popular at Scotiabank Arena

2) This is looking more likely by the game

1) Never bet against Ivan Demidov