MONTREAL - After a season-long seven-game road swing, the Canucks are happy to be finally returning home.
James Milner Liverpool Jersey .Vancouver seemed to run out of gas at the end of a two-week road trip that culminated with a 3-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.The Canucks have gone 3-3-1 since hitting the road at the end of November despite winning three of their first four games.Were definitely excited, said goaltender Ryan Miller, who made 21 saves in defeat versus the Canadiens. A lot of guys are ready to get home. After 14 days, its just time. Well regroup.Vancouver conceded a goal late in the third period to Montreals Tomas Plekanec, and Max Pacioretty added a third for the Canadiens in an empty net with one second on the clock to extend the Canucks winless run to three games.After starting the road trip with wins in Columbus, Washington and Pittsburgh — and a loss in Detroit — Willie Desjardins men have since been beaten by three Canadian teams. The Canucks lost 5-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday, and then blew a three-goal lead versus the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, ultimately losing in overtime.If you can go .500 on the road, you have a chance of getting in the playoffs, said Desjardins. But we had a chance to do better than that. We had what we needed. I didnt think we played badly in any of the games.Added Alexandre Burrows: Well take the .500 road trip and well go back home and get better and keep improving. It would have been nice to get more, but if you looked at the two-week road trip early in the year and said (we would go) .500, I think we would have taken it. We got through it.On Tuesday, the Canucks (18-9-2) were lackluster for much of the encounter, taking just 16 shots on Carey Price. Montreal directed a total 69 pucks towards Miller (25 shots on, 26 blocked, 18 misses), while Vancouver managed just 30.The Canadiens (18-10-2) had several chances to put the game away early on, but couldnt capitalize.With a two-man advantage to start the second period, Montreals Alex Galchenyuk had a glorious opportunity to put his team ahead after a goal-mouth scramble, but he fired the puck wide. Then, Pacioretty hit the post to Millers left near the end of the same period. Minutes later, youngster Sven Andrighetto failed to make contact with a loose puck on the doorstep.We all knew we needed to do more offensively, said Brendan Gallagher, who put the Canadiens in front 1-0 in the second period. We generated a lot of chances. Every line contributed.A modified Habs team took to the ice, as coach Michel Therrien did some substantial line shuffling after Montreals loss in Dallas on Saturday.Galchenyuk played centre with Pacioretty and Gallagher on the first line, while David Desharnais played with Michael Bournival on the second. Andrighetto joined Plekanec and Jiri Sekac on the third.The new-look Canadiens finally broke the 1-1 deadlock with less than five minutes remaining in the game when Plekanec tipped a beautiful pass from Andrighetto into the roof of the net.It was a nice play by Andrighetto, said Plekanec. One of the defencemen got too close to him so he had room to make that play to me and I just tried to lift it up because I was tight to the net and got lucky.The play was made possible when a streaking Plekanec caught Vancouvers Burrows flat-footed at the blue-line. The Montreal native took full blame for the goal.Its all me, said Burrows. I missed my turn, and the guy blew by me. I had to be above him, and I missed my turn.The victory ended Montreals three-game losing skid. The Canadiens are now 15-1-1 when tied or leading after two periods.Prior to puck drop, the Canadiens honoured the late Jean Beliveau with a video tribute, moment of silence, and lengthy standing ovation. The Canadiens great passed away last Tuesday at the age of 83. Beliveaus wife, his daughter and his granddaughters were in attendance.We played one of our best games of the season, said Therrien. The guys made sure it was a special night.Shortly after the end of the ceremony, Nick Bonino came a hair from putting the Canucks ahead just one minute into the contest, but Price made a diving save to his right to keep the puck out.Montreal went scoreless in the first period for the 22nd time this season.Therriens men finally got their breakthrough when Gallaghers seemingly harmless shot from the face-off circle beat Miller glove-side into the top corner of the net at 6:56. The goal was Gallaghers third since signing a six-year contract extension with Montreal on Nov. 29.The Canucks wasted little time finding their equalizer, with Derek Dorsett beating Price exactly five minutes after the Canadiens opened the scoring. Dorsett scored Vancouvers fourth shorthanded goal of the season after taking a cross-ice feed from Jannik Hansen on an odd-man rush with Brad Richardson in the box.Vancouver has not beaten Montreal at Bell Centre in regulation time since 2007.This was the second and final meeting between the Habs and Canucks this season.Notes: Lars Eller missed the encounter with an upper-body injury. Mike Weaver, who suffered a concussion against the Stars on Saturday, was also out of the lineup. ... Nathan Beaulieu, recalled from Hamilton on Monday, dressed for Montreal for the first time in three weeks. … The Canadiens have scored a league-low nine first-period goals this year. … The Canucks have not scored a power-play goal in their last four games (0-for-13).
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Xherdan Shaqiri Liverpool Jersey . During halftime, Love told The Associated Press he would receive treatment Saturday night and hoped to play Monday night against Houston. "I knew that my quad was bothering me pretty bad so I went out there and tried to move around a little bit and it just wasnt quite right," Love said.Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Brandon Knight had 18 points, four assists and four steals, Jared Dudley added 17 points and nine rebounds off the bench and the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Charlotte Hornets 104-94 in overtime on Monday night. The Hornets overcame a 21-point first half deficit in regulation to force overtime, but the Bucks began the extra session on a 9-2 spurt to seize control. Giannis Antetokounmpo bookended the flurry with a jumper and a hook shot to stake Milwaukee to a 92-85 advantage. Charlotte never got within less than six the rest of the way. Antetokounmpo posted 16 points, eight boards and four assists, while Zaza Pachulia provided 15 points for the Bucks, who had dropped four of their last six games coming in. Kemba Walker netted 28 points, Gerald Henderson supplied 19 points and five helpers and Marvin Williams pulled down 14 boards for Charlotte, which has lost three straight on the heels of a four-game winning streak. Final Score: Chicago 92, Indiana 90 Indianapolis, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - Jimmy Butler tallied 27 points and nine rebounds and the Chicago Bulls overcame a sluggish fourth quarter and held off the Indiana Pacers, 92-90, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Pau Gasol scored 20 points for Chicago, which nearly squandered a 21-point lead. Mike Dunleavy, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, made it 75-54 with his three-point play late in the third quarter, but a prolonged scoring drought and impressive resilience from the hosts led to the near comeback. Final Score: Brooklyn 107, Sacramento 99 Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Mason Plumlee had 22 points and the Brooklyn Nets defeated the Sacramento Kings 107-99 on Monday night. Joe Johnson posted 16 points and six assists, while Jarrett Jack added 16 points for the Nets, who have won four of their last five games on the heels of a three-game losing skid. DeMarcus Cousins tallied 24 points and 13 rebounds and Rudy Gay provided 25 points, nine boards and five assists for Sacramento, which has dropped eight of its last 10 games. Final Score: Orlando 102, Miami 101 Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Victor Oladipo was solid down the stretch at both ends of the floor to help the Orlando Magic to a 102-101 win ovver the Miami Heat on Monday.
Dejan Lovren Liverpool Jersey. Oladipo tied the game with under a minute left, then his free throw broke that tie in the closing seconds before he had to lock down on Dwyane Wades potential game-winner at the buzzer. Nikola Vucevic paced the Magic with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Oladipo netted 22 points. Orlando snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Heat, which included a six-game skid in Miami. Wade went for 25 points in the Heats third loss in four games. Danny Granger had 21 points off the bench and Chris Bosh returned from an eight-game absence with a calf injury to score 20 points with eight boards. Final Score: Washington 104, Houston 103 Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Bradley Beal deposited a season-high 33 points and John Wall posted another double-double as the Washington Wizards went on the road and beat the Houston Rockets, 104-103. Beal made five of Washingtons eight 3-pointers and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the foul line. Wall tallied 13 points and 12 assists, his tenth double- double in 15 December games. With the win, the Wizards improved to 7-1 over their last eight games against Western Conference foes. James Harden led five Rockets in double figures with 33 points. Josh Smith, in his third game with the club, had only three points with four turnovers on 1 of-6 from the field. Houston fell to 0-2 with Smith in the starting lineup. Final Score: LA Clippers 101, Utah 97 Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Blake Griffin led five Clippers in double figures with 24 points and the LA Clippers got back on track with a 101-97 win over the Utah Jazz. Griffin stuffed the stat sheet, adding seven assists, six rebounds and three blocks for the Clippers, who had lost three of four. They fell 110-98 to Toronto on Saturday. Chris Paul scored 20 points with eight assists, J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford scored 17 apiece and DeAndre Jordan pulled down 19 rebounds. Jordan has recorded at least eight boards in every game this month and has at least 11 in 19 of his last 20 games Gordon Hayward led Utah with 22 points and seven assists. Rudy Gobert had 11 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. The Jazz, who only shot 13-for-22 from the foul line, had won four of five. ' ' '
