Montreal Canadiens end Vancouver Canucks’ winning streak with shutout win
The Vancouver Canucks have been one of the hottest teams in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference. Since 22 October, the team has strung together an impressive six-game winning
streak. However, as the old adage states, all good things must come to an end, and that is what happed to the Canucks’ hot streak when the Montreal Canadiens handed them a 2-0 shutout loss.
How it happened
The home team drew the first blood in this game, as defenceman Andrei Markov unloaded a powerful wrist shot that beat Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo at 6:53 of the first period. The
assists went to captain Brian Gionta and Tomas Plekanec, who returned to the line-up after having missed the Habs’ last game with the flu.
No goals were scored by either team in the second period, but that changed in the third. Roman Hamrlik scored his first goal of the season at 4:39 of the final frame to put the Canadiens
up 2-0. Mike Cammalleri and Jaroslav Spacek earned the assists on Hamrlik’s power play goal. The two goals were all the Habs needed to take the win, abruptly ending Vancouver’s winning streak.
Carey Price turned in a stellar performance in the Habs’ net, turning aside all 34 of the shots he faced to earn his sixth career shutout. Canucks counterpart Luongo, a Montreal native,
made 27 saves on 29 shots.
What they’re saying
Price, who is a native of Anahim Lake, British Columbia, but was originally born in Vancouver, was happy to get a win over the team he supported while growing up. When the Habs faced the
Canucks in Vancouver last season, Price and his team-mates found themselves on the wrong end of a 7-1 drubbing.
“It was obviously lingering in the back of my mind,” the goalie told NHL.com after the game. “I didn’t want to have that happen again.”
Price was kept busy in the Habs’ net, making lots of big saves on the Canucks during the game. By his own admission, when things are going well, everything comes together.
“I just tried to do everything the right way and do everything fundamentally sound,” Price said. “When you do that, some nights everything comes together perfectly.”
Hamrlik’s third-period goal temporarily ended the Habs’ power play woes. The team has gone 0-for-17 in recent games. The team has scored four power play goals this season, and Hamrlik
has been in on all of them.
“That’s news to me,” Hamrlik said. “It’s nice to be there to be able to help on the power play, but I have to just keep things simple, keep shooting and getting pucks through.”
Both teams will return to action on Thursday, 11 November. Montreal will take on the Boston Bruins, while Vancouver will do battle with the Ottawa Senators.
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