Tuesday November 25 - Vancouver Canucks 2 - New Jersey Devils 0
On an emotional night at Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks stuck to their gameplan despite strong early goaltending from Cory Schneider, eventually skating away with a 2-0 shutout win over the New Jersey Devils.
Here are your highlights:
For a Tuesday night game against the New Jersey Devils, a good-sized crowd—and plenty of Canucks alumni—made it to the rink on time to take part in a moving tribute to Pat Quinn, who passed away on Sunday.
Here's the video of the ceremony, in case you missed it:
During the 2010-11 season, Quinn was working as a scout for the Edmonton Oilers here in Vancouver after the Oilers' coaching reins were passed to Tom Renney. I saw him regularly up in the press box that season—and intermittently in the years since. Watching the tribute last night from my usual seat really drove home the fact that we won't be seeing his familiar face up in the rafters again. He'll definitely be missed.
After the ceremony, I was feeling pretty emotional as I got down to work to start the first period. The Canucks players channeled their emotions very impressively, with a dominating start. I'm not sure the Devils even touched the puck for the first half of the period, as Vancouver peppered Cory Schneider with 10 shots on goal before the Devils were able to test Ryan Miller for the first time.
Schneider finished the night with 34 saves, and received a warm reception from the fans at Rogers Arena. There's no bad blood lingering in that relationship.
But there's also no need to think about turning back the clock. Ryan Miller was sharp when he needed to be for Vancouver, especially in the third period. He turned aside 20 shots on the way to his second shutout of the season.
Schneider also happened to be in the house on a historic day for the Canucks franchise. Bo Horvat was told before the game that he'd be staying up with the Canucks for the full season—and the cameras were rolling. Check out another great video—the kind of moment that we, as fans, don't normally get to see:
Horvat had a quieter night than we've seen in the last couple of games, playing less than nine minutes. But he still went 7-for-8 on the dot and was on the ice while the Devils had their goalie pulled for the extra attacker in the last minute of the game.
There was talk that the team plans to start integrating him on the penalty kill, but the Canucks' only penalty of the night on Tuesday was Derek Dorsett's fighting major for tangling with Seth Helgeson. That task will need to wait for another day.
Though Bo won't be returning to London this season, the possibility remains that he could be lent to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship in December. Pierre Lebrun of ESPN
quotes a Canucks source as saying:
The team will monitor whether the 19-year-old center continues to progress and make tangible contributions to the NHL club. And if that’s the case, he won’t be sent to the world juniors. But if there’s any sign of regression over the next few weeks, perhaps a trip to the world juniors in Montreal and Toronto, where he would be a key player, could be a great experience in his development.
Phrased like that, it's basically a win-win situation for Horvat and the Canucks. I imagine injuries could be a factor as well, if Vancouver ends up undermanned around the time of the tournament.
It's a bonus that the travel this year doesn't involve a trip to Europe: the tournament will be held in Montreal and Toronto. The Canucks have until the December 19th holiday roster freeze to make a decision. Vancouver plays just four games during the duration of the main tournament between December 26 and January 5th, but they're tough ones: on the road against Anaheim and San Jose, then home to Los Angeles and Detroit.
Alex Burrows was back in the lineup on Tuesday and was named third star for opening the scoring early in the second period. He had lots of jump in his game, and I was interested to read about what has kept him out of action for the past week.
Jason Botchford reported in
last night's Provies that because Burrows woke up feeling ill after taking a hit to the head last Wednesday in Edmonton, the team decided to keep him out of action in case he had a concussion.
“I had a sore throat. Plugged ears. Runny nose and everything. The doctor was a little bit concerned. Thought it might be from the hit.
“But that night I got a fever and had the sweats. It was some kind of virus I caught. But it was sending the doctors mixed messages. They wanted to be cautious.
“But I just had a bad virus. I can still feel it in my throat.”
I love Botchford's description of Burrows' play on Tuesday: "His line galloped around like centaurs most of the night. Burrows was on the ice for 18 shot attempts for and just two against at evens."
So, another solid win gives the Canucks five out of six possible points during this homestand, and sole possession of third place in the NHL, two back of Anaheim and Montreal with a game in hand.
They're on the plane today, heading to the east coast for a seven-game road trip that kicks off against Columbus on Friday. Another big test.
Tomorrow, I'll touch on the Canucks antagonizing Jagr, yesterday's trade, Zack Kassian's possible injury and a 10-game suspension for prospect Cole Cassels in the OHL.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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