How you start really does matter in hockey — but so does how you finish.

The Vancouver Canucks have not started well this season. Of course, the night they finally do ended up being a loss.

Ironic. The Canucks have played nine games this season and scored first four times — and, yet, somehow they’ve lost two of those games. The second of those was a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.

It was an entertaining game. Truly. The Canucks were great in the first period. Their power play looked good. Elias Pettersson had his best game of the year and had three points.

But, in the end, the youthful energy and talent of the Canadiens’ lineup was the difference.

Good start

Either Saturday’s first period or the first period in Washington was Vancouver’s best fir

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