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Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Done in by Doan & Coyotes, Bronze For Boeser |
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Monday January 4 - Arizona Coyotes 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
Captain Shane Doan proved it's still possible to be an offensive force at age 39 when he scored his 14th and 15th goals of the year, including a garbage-can game-winner, to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
The Canucks had some ugly moments in their own zone during this game, but nothing was more disturbing than seeing Daniel Sedin's bloody mouth after a puck to the face in the first period knocked out some of his teeth. The play and the aftermath are included in the highlight package but thankfully, they've skipped over the gorier shots. You'll have no trouble finding those on Twitter if you're curious.
I figured, with that kind of damage—and the fact that Daniel is a 35-year-old hockey player—it was unlikely that the teeth that came out were his own.
I can't say I was actually surprised that Daniel missed less than 10 minutes of the game getting repaired—and came back to score his 17th goal of the season in the third period. He didn't even want to leave the bench. Those Sedin boys are impervious to pain!
I wondered if Dan Hamhuis popped over from the players' lounge with a word of encouragement while Daniel was getting glued back together?
Hamhuis' own recovery from a puck to the face took another step forward on Monday.
Here's where he was at before the wiring was removed:
It's great to see Hamhuis making progress but it sounds like he still has a long road ahead to get back to playing shape.
For all the heat that Hamhuis took before his injury, the Canucks' defence sure could have used him last night when they seemed to collectively forget how to box out the net.
It was weird to see Chris Tanev flailing helplessly out of position on both of Doan's goals, though the backbreaker of the night was the tap-in by Laurent Dauphin—the first career NHL goal for the 20-year-old second-round pick who goes, rather hilariously, by @flippers27 on Twitter. Not *all* hockey nicknames are of the "Millsy" or "Doaner" variety...
Dauphin's goal came just 19 seconds after Bo Horvat had tied the game 1-1—driving to the net to end the nine-game power-play drought and score his first goal in more than two months. He last lit the lamp for the game-winner against Philadelphia back on November 2.
Both Ben Hutton and Yannick Weber look atrocious as Flippers takes the puck to the net like he's Mario Lemieux. I wonder if he'll get an easier NHL goal in his career?
The Canucks did make a game of it in the third period, when a Michael Stone goal was overturned by Willie Desjardins' first successful Coach's Challenge of the season. Daniel's goal came just 23 seconds later, suddenly making the score 3-2 instead of 4-1, but the Coyotes did a good job of locking it down the rest of the way—particularly through a long stretch of nearly five minutes of continuous action starting with 7:45 remaining, where the Canucks managed just two shot attempts—both by defensemen. Matt Bartkowski missed the net and Alex Biega had his point shot blocked by ever-present rookie Dauphin.
There were some bright spots in the game, in addition to Daniel's resilience. Ronalds Kenins played his best game of the year, finishing the night with four hits and four shots on goal. And Jared McCann's tutoring appears to have paid instant dividends. He went 7-4 in the faceoff circle on Monday night, one of his best showings of the year, and put three shots on net, including a couple in the third period.
Given the schedule they've had, this is really the first time all season that the Canucks have had a chance to do any teaching or skill development with their young players. It sounds like the goal is to put Jake Virtanen on a similar path:
Despite the Canucks' defensive breakdowns on Monday, I thought they're starting to look like a team that is re-gaining some energy after their taxing travel schedule through the autumn months. They still have another week at home, with three nicely spaced-out games, before heading out on their last long Eastern road trip of the year.
The Canucks are practicing this morning:
Based on that list, sounds like Baertschi and Prust are back in the mix?
All eyes will be on the Carolina Hurricanes when they practice at 1:00. Eddie Lack is back in town on his 28th birthday and is riding a 4-0-2 record in his last six games. He hasn't lost since December 8, he has given up just five goals in total in his last three games—and he'll be starting against Vancouver on Wednesday.
A lovely preamble for the equally dramatic return of red-hot Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers next Monday night. Who knew sunbelt teams could cause so much intrigue?
To wrap up today—it's Bronze for Brock Boeser as Team USA hammered Sweden by a score of 8-3 at the World Junior Championships.
Boeser picked up his first goal of the tournament to put the Americans up 3-2 early in the second period. He also had two assists over the seven games and finished the tournament with a plus-2. Since he doesn't turn 19 until February 25, he'll be eligible to play for the Americans again next year—a great course of action if he decides to stay in college.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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