This weekend, the Vancouver Canucks showed they're starting to adjust to life under John Tortorella. The Canucks grabbed wins from the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames to boost their record to 2-1 for the young season.
It was a party at Rogers Arena on Saturday as the Canucks crushed the Oilers 6-2. The team followed up the win with a gutsy late charge in Calgary to snatch a 5-4 overtime win away from the Flames.
Here are the highlights of the weekend's activities:
Saturday October 5 Vancouver 6 vs. Edmonton 2
Tensions ran high going into Saturday's home opener after John Tortorella announced at the morning skate that Alex Burrows would miss "a couple of weeks" with a foot injury.
The game's start was equally unnerving. Both teams started hitting immediately and the expected chippiness materialized just 1:02 into the game. Jannik Hansen and Andrew Ference started pushing and shoving at the faceoff and were assessed coincidental minors.
On the ensuing 4-on-4, the Oilers took the early 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game—a bad-angle attempt by defenseman Jeff Petry. A minute later, things went from bad to worse when Kevin Bieksa took a tripping penalty on David Perron.
But wait! All was not lost. A shorthanded breakaway goal by new acquisition Brad Richardson evened the score at 3:42. By the end of the first period, the Canucks enjoyed a 3-1 lead on additional goals from Dan Hamhuis and Jannik Hansen, and John Tortorella got tongues wagging after engaging in a war of words between the benches with Oilers' assistant coach Keith Acton.
The Canucks kept their foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes, chasing Oilers' starter Devan Dubnyk in the second period after five goals on 31 shots. Daniel and Henrik Sedin lit up the scoreboard like it was 2011 and new defenseman Ryan Stanton took advantage of some late icetime to endear himself to Tortorella with three blocked shots when the game was long out of reach.
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 44 - Edmonton 23
Blocked Shots: Vancouver 10 - Edmonton 19
Penalty Minutes: Vancouver 24 - Edmonton 40
Ryan Kesler fought Will Acton late in the first period, which is what triggered Tortorella's screaming match with Will's father Keith. Tom Sestito also squared off with Luke Gazdic in the third period.
Overall, an entertaining game with a satisfying result.
Sunday October 6 Vancouver 5 at Calgary 4 (OT)
The Canucks showed heart—and John Tortorella showed some fearless line-juggling—as the team rallied to steal a 5-4 overtime win from the Calgary Flames.
Vancouver was sleepwalking through the first two periods. Defensive mistakes were rampant as the Flames outshot the Canucks 26-14 through two to build a 2-1 lead. Early in the third, another defensive breakdown led to a breakaway goal from Calgary rookie Sean Monahan and the Canucks looked dead in the water.
The juggling started with the struggling defense in the second period. Later, Tortorella started mixing up his forwards in earnest—even breaking up the Sedins—and good things started to happen. Daniel set up Jannik Hansen to cut the lead to 3-2, then Henrik set up Mike Santorelli four minutes later to tie the game. The Canucks continued to press, and Dale Weise gave his team the unlikely lead at 16:06.
A late scramble by the Flames tied the game with 19 seconds to go in the third, but Vancouver triumphed when Kevin Bieksa gave Mike Santorelli a nifty setup for his second of the game at 3:17 of overtime.
Secondary scoring was key on Sunday. On the blue line, Ryan Stanton once again acquitted himself well. And in his NHL debut, Eddie Lack was terrific. He kept the Canucks in the game through 40 minutes, setting up the rally for his first-ever big-league win.
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 28 - Calgary 36
Blocked Shots: Vancouver 18 - Calgary 19
Penalty Minutes: Vancouver 6 - Calgary 2
Don't plan the parade route just yet—it's only Edmonton and Calgary. But it's the happiest hockey weekend we've had in Vancouver in quite some time.
Other Notes:
On Sunday morning, I joined host Mike Augello, Oilers blogger Matt Henderson and Flames blogger Colin Dambrauskas for the first HockeyBuzz Pacific Division podcast of the season. We previewed the entire division; I talked about shot-blocking, Burrows' injury and much more.
Here's the link. Scroll down for
Pacific Buzz.
I'll be doing some hockey stories for Bleacher Report this week as well as my regular HockeyBuzz updates. Follow me on Twitter
@pool88 for links to the stories when they post.
The Canucks have another big week ahead of them, with three home games. Tuesday night, they face Cory Schneider and the New Jersey Devils. Thursday, it's the grudge match against the San Jose Sharks. Saturday, Rogers Arena will likely be a sea of bleu, blanc et rouge as the Montreal Canadiens come to town.
I'll be back tomorrow to preview the Roberto Luongo/Cory Schneider showdown.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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