Friday March 18 - Edmonton Oilers 2 - Vancouver Canucks 0
The Vancouver Canucks fired 40 shots on Cam Talbot but failed to get on the scoresheet as they dropped a 2-0 decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night at Rexall Place.
Here are your highlights:
Despite the 40-25 edge in shots, the Canucks never really threatened in the game. Still, things might have been different if this Brendan Gaunce goal had been allowed to stand when the game was still scoreless early in the second period.
The official ruling was that Gaunce made incidental contact with the goaltender before the puck went into the net—and that's not a reviewable infraction. It was, I'd say, the only real decent scoring chance the Canucks directed toward Talbot in the game.
Zack Kassian finished his night with a plus-one in 10:46 of ice time—lowest on the Oilers. He seems to be clear on his current role. His entire stat line consists of a first-period slashing penalty and six hits—which is pretty impressive for just 15 shifts.
Not much else to say about a game that was severely lacking in entertainment value. Willie Desjardins did elect to keep both Nikita Tryamkin and Andrey Pedan in the lineup rather than going back to Alex Biega, and the two Russians both did pretty well. Tryamkin's ice time spiked up to 17:07, including 1:01 on the penalty kill, playing mostly with Dan Hamhuis, while Pedan logged 12:11 in a pair with Matt Bartkowski.
Vrbata was hurt in the third period and was seen with his knee heavily wrapped after the game. Is that the last glimpse we'll have of him as a Vancouver Canuck?
A Friday night win for Buffalo moves the Sabres past the Canucks in the standings. Vancouver's locked into 25th place going into Saturday's game against the St. Louis Blues—now tied at 66 points with Calgary, who picked up a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to Colorado on Friday, and just one point ahead of Edmonton.
Saturday March 19 - Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues - 7 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 70 GP, 27-31-12, 66 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
St. Louis Blues: 72 GP, 41-22-9, 91 pts, second in Central Division
Radim Vrbata isn't the only player who will be missing when the Canucks play their third game in four nights against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, back at Rogers Arena.
Coach Desjardins says Radim Vrbata is out with lower body injury. Chris Tanev is questionable for as are Alex Biega & Yannick Weber.
Yes, you saw that right. We joked about it last week, but Chris Higgins was recalled by the Canucks this morning and is expected to be in the lineup tonight.
Desjardins says Chris Higgins has been excellent with the players in Utica. He's a great pro & they're happy to have him back in Vancouver.
Higgins has gone 9-4-13 in 22 games with the Comets, including five goals in his last four games. He has earned plenty of praise for both his play and his role as a mentor for the team. Full credit to him for finding his game again under tough circumstances. I hope he shines tonight.
Strangely, the Canucks have excelled in the second half of back-to-back games this season, with a 5-2-1 record. It's hard to imagine that being true tonight against a St. Louis Blues team that has been in town since Thursday—unless they fall victim to another round of the Roxy flu like the Nashville Predators did last week.
The Blues currently sit two points behind the Dallas Stars in the Central Division standings—and the Stars are now without Tyler Seguin for a few weeks after a skate cut to his Achilles tendon on Thursday.
I'm guessing the Blues would dearly love to finish the season in first place and avoid what's currently another brutal first-round matchup against their arch enemies, the Chicago Blackhawks. So, I think St. Louis will be motivated tonight.
Blues No. 1 netminder Brian Elliott will be back between the pipes tonight after missing 10 games with a lower-body injury.
Here's how the Blue will look in front of Elliott:
They rank just below the Canucks in terms of the importance of the man-games they've lost—and yet they're hanging in fourth place overall in the NHL standings. Respect!
To wrap up today—losses for both the Canucks' prospects in their conference championship tournaments on Friday.
Brock Boeser tallied two assists, but North Dakota fell 4-2 to Minnesota Duluth. North Dakota plays Denver today for third place in the NCHC.
Over in Hockey East, Thatcher Demko made 22 saves as his Boston College Eagles fell 5-4 to Northeastern. But check out Demko's save of the night:
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