The Canadiens went down three goals on a missed save by Mike Condon that fooled everyone including the refs who needed video assistance to determine that the puck had deflected into an upper compartment in the net. The goal was scored after Alex Galchenyuk took a bad penalty that could have seen him stapled to the bench, if not for a short-handed goal scored five minutes later by Lars Eller to put the Habs back in the game.
The Great Dane’s goal sparked the Canadiens. Max Pacioretty capitalized on a Brendan Gallagher rebound just under two minutes later to cut the Canucks’ lead to 3-2.
The Canadiens dominated the second period, registering 15 shots on 28 shot-attempts.
It looks like Alex Semin could be out of chances. Before Lars Eller got the Habs back in the game, Semin had seen just over two-and-half minutes of ice-time. His shifts were boosted as the momentum had turned in the Canadiens’ favour giving him 5:46 on the statsheet, but before the second period ended, his place on the “second line” was being filled by Torrey Mitchell.
Michel Therrien could of course come back to his regular lines, but up until Lars Eller shorthanded, the “second line” was seeing fourth line deployment, trailing in usage behind all other lines, and being used fourth in the line rotation.
Scoring Summary
| 1ST PERIOD | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:26 | VAN | Adam Cracknell (3) Backhand shot – ASST: Derek Dorsett (3), Matt Bartkowski (4) | 1 – 0 VAN | |
| 17:54 | VAN | PPG – Jared McCann (6) Wrist shot – ASST: Henrik Sedin (9), Radim Vrbata (5) | 2 – 0 VAN | |
| 2ND PERIOD | ||||
| 03:17 | VAN | PPG – Daniel Sedin (6) Slapshot – ASST: Yannick Weber (3), Alexander Edler (5) | 3 – 0 VAN | |
| 08:40 | MTL | SHG – Lars Eller (6) Wrist shot – ASST: Tom Gilbert (1) | 3 – 1 VAN | |
| 10:53 | MTL | Max Pacioretty (9) Wrist shot – ASST: Brendan Gallagher (9) | 3 – 2 VAN | |
Penalty Summary
| 1ST PERIOD | ||
|---|---|---|
| 05:08 | MTL | P.K. Subban Holding – 2 min against Henrik Sedin |
| 10:05 | VAN | Yannick Weber Tripping – 2 min against Dale Weise |
| 15:53 | MTL | Brendan Gallagher Hi stick – double minor – 4 min against Daniel Sedin |
| 18:19 | VAN | Matt Bartkowski Slashing – 2 min against Max Pacioretty |
| 2ND PERIOD | ||
| 03:12 | MTL | Alex Galchenyuk Interference – 2 min against Jake Virtanen |
| 07:12 | MTL | Brian Flynn Roughing – 2 min against Alexander Edler |
| 12:08 | VAN | Radim Vrbata Too many men/ice – bench – 2 min |
Shots
| PERIOD | VAN | MTL |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 11 | 9 |
| 2nd | 7 | 15 |
| Total | 18 | 24 |
Team Stats
| CATEGORY | VAN | MTL |
|---|---|---|
| Power Plays | 2/5 | 0/3 |
| Hits | 16 | 25 |
| Faceoff Wins | 19 | 26 |
| Giveaways | 9 | 11 |
| Takeaways | 5 | 7 |
| Blocked Shots | 13 | 8 |
| Penalty Minutes | 6 | 10 |
