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The Montreal Canadiens lost their third straight on their current road trip, falling 4-1 to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at Rogers Place.

This one wasn’t close, and a good indication of why the Vancouver Canucks are atop the western conference standings. Montreal only managed 17 shots on Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith, who you might recall was a Hab for about a month this summer.

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Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 15th goal of the season, while Sam Montembeault gave up more than three goals for the first time since Feb. 15.

Prior to the game, the team announced Joshua Roy will miss the next 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury after blocking a shot with his right hand during the Edmonton game on Tuesday. His season is likely over.

Brendan Gallagher had a chance to get the Habs on the board first, but DeSmith bested him on the backhand attempt.

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Defenceman Nikita Zadorov was an unlikely sniper for Vancouver in the first period, scoring not just once, but twice.

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After the Habs failed to score on three second period power plays, the Canucks took a commanding 3-0 lead late in the frame. Conor Garland fired one from far out and beat Montembeault glove side.

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Slafkovsky gave Habs fans a glimmer of hope under a minute later, scoring on a deflection from a Cole Caufield point shot. Suddenly the Habs were back to being down two with the third period looming.

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Against the Oilers, the Habs came out firing in the third period. Perhaps showing their superiority over their western Canadian rival, the Canucks allowed no such comeback. They locked the game down with 20 minutes to go, with Montreal only mustering three measly shots on goal with the game on the line. Nils Aman delivered the 4-1 dagger to secure the victory for the Nucks.

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Rick Tocchet’s Canucks are a well-oiled machine, and looked playoff-ready against the lottery-bound Habs. It also doesn’t hurt that Vancouver is in the middle of a nine-game homestand.

After looking like a quality defensive pairing for a stretch, the David Savard-Arber Xhekaj duo had a rough night. So did Kaiden Guhle, who was finally separated from the all-left handed pairing with Mike Matheson and returned to his natural side. The four blue liners were a combined -7.

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Thanks to the Liveblog commenters for staying up late for this dud. The one positive, besides Slafkovsky getting his 23rd point in his last 27 games? Former first-rounder Noah Juulsen has found a home on the Canucks after an injury nearly derailed his career in Montreal. He played 14:12 on the third defensive pairing against his former club.

3. “The Canucks didn’t really break a sweat. Pretty good indication of how far away we are from being competitive.” -T Moore

2. “What we expected. VAN just too good. 17 SOG won’t win any game.” -Kelly Morgan

1. “Ex-Habs always seem to play well against us. Why don’t our ex-something guys play well against their old teams?” -Michael Way

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