A frustrating evening for the Canadian in Vancouver

vancouver | An unpunished elbow to the face, a goalkeeper tripping you, intense congestion near the semicircle, an inability to get out of the area regularly, and a massive attack that was blocked on three occasions – it was a frustrating evening for the Canadian in Vancouver.

• Read also: No victory in Western Canada for CH

A tough match that ended in an unequivocal 4-1 defeat, the third loss in as many matches since the beginning of this journey. Fourth if we add what happened against the Bruins, which he suffered at the Beal Center.

The Canucks forwards have passed the word on to position themselves as close as possible to Samuel Montembeault. All evening, they clogged the Canadian goalie's semicircle, sometimes going at it in pairs.

Add to this the opponent's Habs defender trying to clear him, creating heavy traffic in front of Montembault. On several occasions, Canucks defenders attempted to take advantage of these screens.

And that's exactly what Nikita Zadorov did with his first goal of the match. Overshadowed by David Savard and Sam Lafferty, Montembault never saw the disc track.

“It's up to me to find the puck in traffic,” the goalie said.

The scenario was almost identical to Niels Ammann's. On this occasion, the Swede blocked a shot by Tyler Myers.

Aside from this dense and growing presence, locals often did not give their rivals a chance to breathe. Their ability to move the puck across the entire surface of enemy territory forced the Canadiens players to chase them all evening.

It's as if Canucks flyer Rick Touchet has heard that Montreal's hybrid defensive system isn't always up to par.

Massive dry attack

The Habs would have given themselves a better chance of winning if they could capitalize on one of their numerical superiorities. Three times in the second half he had the man advantage as he tried to overcome a two-goal deficit.

“We needed at least one goal at that point. It could have changed the look of the game a little bit,” Trevor Letowski admitted after the match. “It was disappointing.”

We have to give credit to the Canucks who blocked access to the middle of the zone well. Unable to solve this challenge, the massive Canadian offensive spent most of its time in the suburbs. Litowski's forces managed to overpower their opponent at the third opportunity.

Cole Caufield then hit the post before Casey DeSmith made a huge save with his pad at the expense of Alex Newhook, who managed to volley the ball from the slot.

Ghoul made a mistake

Furthermore, while he played perhaps his best game of the season on Tuesday in Edmonton, Kayden Guehle had a tough game with his body. He first suffered an unpunished elbow to the face from Teddy Blueger.

Later, he was bullied by Nils Hoglander with whom he had a falling out. Finally, he saw Blueger's pass, which would lead to Conor Garland's goal, pass just under the blade of his stick.

At one point, we wondered if he wouldn't break his stick on an opponent's head because we felt he was too tired.

When we tell you it was a frustrating evening.