The Vancouver Canucks have yet to truly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat this season. A couple of times, however, they have snatched a slightly better defeat from the jaws of defeat.
The Canucks’ first game of the season against the Calgary Flames nearly ended as brutally as possible, as the Canucks coughed up a three-goal first-period lead and trailed by a goal going into the final minutes of regulation. It took a brilliant goal by J.T. Miller to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining to force overtime.
And then they lost in overtime. But it could have been worse.
Monday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes went south in a different way, as the Hurricanes took a two-goal lead and seemed prepared to nurse it all the way to the final horn. But the Canucks clawed their way back into the game, tying the score late in the third period to again force overtime.
And then, again, they lost in overtime. But, again, it could have been worse.
The Canucks have just one regulation loss this season, one of just four teams with that distinction. Even though the Canucks have made mistakes and failed to play up to their potential in several games this season, they keep earning points in the standings.
It’s early in the season, but those points matter and it’s a major positive that they’re earning them while sorting out their issues. But, oh boy, do they have issues.
“The last ten minutes was great,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “But before that, I don’t think we were ready to play; Carolina was. They believed in what they were doing, beat us to pucks, and we had a lot of guys, early on, not moving their feet and not winning battles. Then we decided to do those things and we made a game of it.
“You take the positives out of it — getting the point — but I still think there’s lessons to be learned.”
In other words, the Canucks got the point but they also need to get the point and start executing better on the lessons Tocchet and the coaching staff are trying to instill.
“It’s early in the season but we need some guys to take the information we give them and apply it,” said Tocchet.
Like Archibald’s enemies, I got the point when I watched this game.
- The Hurricanes dominated the opening minutes, repeatedly forcing turnovers in the neutral zone and offensive zone with their high-pressure system. It seemed like they were first to every single puck and were constantly on the attack. Like the sudden betrayal of Stegosaurus by Ceratosaurus, the Hurricanes opening the scoring was inevitable.
- “You’re playing a team that’s man-on-man, so when the puck goes somewhere, you can’t watch the puck,” said Tocchet about what went wrong early. “You’ve got to find your man to get body position…You can’t let people jump by you. That’s why Carolina was all over us in the first period. [Adam Foote] calls it five feet: get that five feet before their five feet.”
- The opening goal came off a moment where Daniel Sprong was five feet behind his check. Under minimal pressure, Vincent Desharnais forced a bank pass up the boards and Shayne Gostisbehere stepped in front of Sprong to pick it off, springing a 3-on-2 the other way. Jackson Blake tipped Jack Drury’s pass to William Carrier and he blasted a slap shot into the top corner.
- Quinn Hughes came an inch from tying the game shortly after, as he danced around Seth Jarvis to get into the high slot, but his shot hit the shaft of Pyotr Kochetkov’s stick and stayed out. Maybe that’s why Kochetkov tried to pokecheck everybody after that: he thought his stick was magic.
- No matter: the Canucks tied things up immediately after. J.T. Miller burst into the Hurricanes’ zone with speed and drove around the net. Kochetkov stuck out his magic stick to try stop him but only managed to lose his stick and get knocked flat on his rear end. Miller centred for Brock Boeser, who fired the puck past Kochetkov as he sat there like a baby covered in peanut butter.
- It seemed like Arshdeep Bains had given the Canucks the lead with his second goal in as many games by once again driving the net, which would have been a treat on Diwali Night at Rogers Arena. Unfortunately, Rod Brind’Amour snuffed out the celebration by challenging for offside: Pius Suter wasn’t able to hold the line when Sprong made an extra move at the blue line, so the goal, like a crush who left a voicemail on your phone, was called back.
- Instead, the Hurricanes took a one-goal lead into the intermission. Nils Höglander and Conor Garland seemed to get confused about who was the high forward after an offensive zone faceoff, with both drifting around in no-man’s land — literally, neither had a man — while the Hurricanes broke the puck out for a 2-on-1. Hughes didn’t seem to realize it was 2-on-1 at all and overplayed the puck-carrier, leaving Martin Necas all alone for a breakaway. It was a complete clustercuss. Lankinen can be forgiven for not stopping the Necasian snap shot but everyone else — no forgiveness.
- “We knew they flip a lot of pucks,” said Tocchet. “As soon as they get it, they punt the ball. So, you can’t dive in — you have to be above their guy. What’s frustrating for the staff is we explained this to them for the last two days. I felt that a couple of guys were diving in and that’s why they got those odd-man rushes. Can’t happen anytime but especially against Carolina.”
- Two minutes into the second period, Jack Roslovic extended the lead. J.T. Miller turned the puck over on the boards, turning into a 3-on-2, with Jake DeBrusk as one of the defenders. He didn’t defend particularly well, as a quick passing play led to Brent Burns setting up Roslovic for an open net.
- Somehow, the Canucks out-shot the Hurricanes 9-to-3 with Erik Brännström on the ice at 5-on-5 and out-scored them 1-to-0 but his defence partner, Vincent Desharnais was out-shot 7-to-5 and out-scored 2-to-0. That’s weirdly impressive. I mean, for Brännström. That’s really bad for Desharnais, who struggled to move the puck against the Hurricanes’ aggressive up-ice pressure.
- Brännström even got a pinch of ice time on the penalty kill and didn’t look at all out of place. At this point, it seems more likely that instead of coming out of the lineup when Derek Forbort is ready to return, Brännström will get moved over to the right side. His puck-moving game has become a key component of the Canucks’ third pairing.
- (Just spitballing in a parenthetical, so feel free to ignore: what if the Canucks instead moved Brännström to the second pairing with Tyler Myers and instead bumped Carson Soucy to the right side on the third pairing. He’s played the right side before and has been majorly struggling in second-pairing matchups. Just a parenthetical, don’t get mad at me.)
- I do have to give Desharnais some credit for saving what looked like a certain goal late in the second period. After a truly baffling pinch by Tyler Myers, Desharnais faced a 2-on-1. He got turned inside out by a spinorama by Blake but Lankinen got his toe on the puck, leaving the puck laying in the crease in front of a wide open net. Before Blake could get to it, Desharnais hacked the puck away, only for it to go off Lankinen’s stick and back through the crease. Fortunately, everyone missed it and it skidded out the other side.
- Frustrated with his team’s performance, Tocchet shook up the lines in the third period. Arshdeep Bains was bumped up to play with Pettersson and Garland, while Höglander moved to the fourth line with Suter and Sprong. Honestly, Höglander and Sprong were chaotically fun together — sure to give Tocchet an aneurysm but maybe an option for the future when trailing.
- “Obviously, when you change [a line], you don’t like it,” said Tocchet. “Didn’t like Höggy at all. Petey…listen, I’m not going to pick on that line, I just felt like I wanted to make a couple of changes.”
- The Canucks cut the lead to one midway through the third. Filip Hronek made a beautiful stretch pass to Miller down the left wing and he drew the defence down low before dropping the puck to Boeser, who, in turn, also moved down low, bringing every Hurricane in the zone below the top of the faceoff circle. That left generous acreage for Hughes to step into a one-timer and he blasted the puck right through Kochetkov with a sublime slap shot.
- Lankinen was the primary reason the Canucks got a point in this game. He made so many phenomenal saves that it’s hard to just pick one to highlight, but the most momentous came just a couple of minutes after Hughes’ goal to prevent a major momentum shift during a Canucks’ power play. Sebastian Aho set up Seth Jarvis on a shorthanded 2-on-1 that looked like a certain goal but Lankinen flashed out his lanky limb and got his blocker on it.
- The Canucks’ power play went 0-for-3 and only managed to create three shots on goal, none of them particularly dangerous. Passes weren’t connecting, zone entries weren’t entering, and retrievals weren’t retrieving. It was a mess.
- “We’re going to have to make some changes [to the power play],” said Tocchet. “Not working hard enough, very lackadaisical. And that’s a high-pressure team. We had the odd time where we had a couple looks — actually, the gameplan worked when Hughes threw it at the net and Millsy almost scored in front. That’s the key against this pressure penalty kill: being able to make one or two plays and then get it to the net. A couple of guys there were playing slow.”
- I loved this third-period set play on the breakout, as Hughe sent a stretch pass to Boeser and he tipped it in the air across the ice for Miller to knock down with his hand for a breakaway. Dmitry Orlov reached in to disrupt the chance, which looked like a penalty but there was no call. In the officials’ defence, they were likely looking for the slash on the right hand and Orlov got all stick — but he also got a piece of Miller’s left hand and he flinched (as if his left hand is particularly sensitive right now, he speculated wildly?).
- Jake DeBrusk still can’t buy a goal. With five minutes to go in regulation, he got five feet ahead of Jaccob Slavin down the right wing for a glorious chance. He tucked the puck inside to avoid pokechecks from both Slavin and Kochetkov but then rushed his shot, firing it into Kochetkov’s right toe.
- It’s fine, he was probably offside anyway. Let’s not have his first goal as a Canuck get called back.
- In contrast to DeBrusk, Pettersson was far too patient on his own glorious third period chance, never getting a shot off at all after cutting across the top of the crease, as he was checked by Andrei Svechnikov. Overall, it was a frustrating performance for Pettersson, who had been trending so well: he had just two shot attempts and only one on net. Like The National, he needs to get his s*** together, needs to gather his s***.
- What makes it worse is that Pettersson’s chance could have won the game thanks to a bizarre misplay by Kochetkov earlier in the third. Höglander sprung Sprong on a partial breakaway and Kochetkov came charging out with his magic stick, only to slide right past Sprong, though he forced him to the corner. Sprong centred the puck and it came to Suter with an open net: unlike his myriad earlier chances in the game, Suter finished the play to tie the game.
- And then overtime happened and Miller seemingly forgot how to shoulder check — please be cautious when Miller is merging on the highway. Hughes got drawn out of position but was still in position to pressure Gostisbehere as he got the puck at the top of the zone. Unfortunately, Miller only had eyes for the puck and also closed on Gostisbehere, leaving Aho excessively open going to the net. Lankinen made a brilliant stop on his first shot but couldn’t get to the rebound.
- I apologize if any of this was confusing or disorienting. I’ve been battling a fever the last few days but I’m doing my best to battle through to keep providing you your regular I Watched This Game content. If it wasn’t too terrible, please share it with your friends so my efforts weren’t in vain.
