I’m still trying to wrap my head around Brock Boeser playing in this game. On Monday night, I was pessimistic and cynical, pointing out that bone bruises can sometimes still take weeks of recovery. The day before the game, Boeser was still on crutches and a walking boot.
Then suddenly he threw aside his crutches like Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim and started doing backflips, I assume. And every Canucks fan simultaneously said, “God bless us, every one.”
I saw a Christmas miracle when I watched this game.
- There were an even dozen goals in this game, so here are the 12 goals of Christmas; feel free to sing along!
- On the first goal of this game, the Canucks gave to me: Vanek getting slightly lucky.
- The Canucks good fortune on the power play continued in this game, going 2-for-3. It started with Thomas Vanek getting gut-shot by Derrick Pouliot while screening Carey Price. The puck dropped to his feet and he slammed it in like he was in the KanJam World Championship.
- On the second goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Weird skate deflection.
- The Canadiens quickly tied the game with a power play goal of their own when David Schlemko’s point shot hit Daniel “Baby You Can Drive My” Carr’s skate and floated over Anders Nilsson.
- On the third goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Deslauriers wide open.
- The Sedins were great offensively and terrible defensively in this game, starting with the 2-1 goal. Off a Jeff Petry zone entry, Pouliot challenged the puck-carrier and Erik Gudbranson took the man going to the net, leaving Jason Deslauriers at the back door. One of Henrik or Daniel should have picked him up; neither did.
- On the fourth goal of this game, the Canucks gave to me: Biega playmaking.
- Alex Biega is a conundrum. At times he is constantly out of position, chasing the game and looking like he has no business being in the NHL. At other times, he’s constantly involved in the play, pushing the pace with his skating and ability to jump up in the rush, looking like he’s a legitimate second-pairing defencemen. This game was the latter and he was rewarded with just his third point of the season, setting up Vanek at the side of the net with a lovely pass from the slot.
- On the fifth goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Soft goal on Nilsson.
- Anders Nilsson didn’t have a lot of help in this game, with most of the goals coming off bad defensive plays or unlucky deflections, but he definitely should have had the 3-2 goal. Yes, it was a 2-on-1 after Carr got in behind Troy Stecher, and it was a pass across the “royal road” into a one-timer, but Nilsson opened himself up way too much coming across and got beat through the five-hole. That just shouldn’t happen on a shot from that far out.
- On the sixth goal of this game, the Canucks gave to me: Goalie interference.
- Daniel Sedin tied the game 3-3 with some help from Tomas Plekanec. Vanek’s centring pass went off Plekanec’s skate to Daniel, but that wasn’t enough assistance, so Plekanec sat on Carey Price to take him out of the play. That left Daniel with plenty of room to kick the puck up to his stick and tuck it in like a child with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head.
- On the seventh goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Bad penalty killing.
- Brendan Gaunce has been given a little more responsibility in the faceoff circle of late and went 4-for-8 in this game. Unfortunately, one of the ones he lost led directly to a goal, as Andrew Shaw won the puck back to Jeff Petry and he ripped a slap shot past a screened Nilsson. Both Gaunce and Markus Granlund had a chance to get out into Petry’s shooting lane, but were either too slow or too hesitant to get there. I’ve seen less standing around from roadside construction crews.
- On the eighth goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Welcome back Gudbranson.
- You can look to Henrik or Pouliot on the 5-3 goal, but Gudbranson takes most of the responsibility in my book. He passed up an opportunity to hit Jonathan Drouin on the zone entry, lost gap control and allowed an easy passing lane, then was far too slow to turn and get back to the front of the net to defend Paul Byron, who wound up wide open for the easy tap-in. Overall, Gudbranson had a pretty good game in his return, but that goal summed up a lot of reasons why he’s struggled in Vancouver.
- On the ninth goal of this game, the Canucks gave to me: Brock Boeser sniping.
- The Canadiens seemed pretty proud of their pre-scouting on the Canucks after the game, but they clearly missed one thing: don’t leave Brock Boeser wide open in the slot, particularly on the power play. The Sedins won a puck battle along the boards and Daniel whipped the puck out to Boeser, who was unfazed by Carey Price coming out hard to challenge him. He simply ripped the puck into the top corner like it was nothing. His two-point night brought him back up to a point-per-game pace and his 18 goals now rank him fifth in the NHL in goalscoring.
- On the tenth goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Tired backchecking.
- I have to place the blame for the 6-4 goal on Henrik’s shoulders. It was his pass in the skates of Reid Boucher that led to the odd-man rush the other way and, clearly out of gas, he couldn’t get back on Alex Galchenyuk. When Michael Del Zotto couldn’t break up the pass, it was game over, man, game over.
- On the eleventh goal of this game, the Canucks gave to me: Vanek hat tricking.
- After the game, Vanek said, “I didn’t even think I played particularly great. Just the puck went in.” He’s not wrong. Vanek had the worst corsi on the night and only had three shots on goal: he scored on all three. At the same time, he was going to the right areas on the ice to score and had a four-point night; when you can have a bad game and put up three goals and an assist, just go with it.
- On the twelfth goal of this game, the Canadiens gave to me: Daniel Sedin coasting.
- There may have been an empty net, but there’s no excuse for Daniel Sedin to stop skating on the backcheck. Pouliot came back hard and prevented Max Pacioretty from getting the easy tap-in, but he just centred for Phillip Danault, who was unencumbered in front of the net thanks to Daniel coasting back. He’s clearly been listening to too much Lupe Fiasco.
