Saturday October 22 - Los Angeles Kings 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3 (S/O)
The Vancouver Canucks suffered their first loss of the season when Tanner Pearson scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Los Angeles Kings the 4-3 victory on Saturday at Staple Center. Here are your highlights:
Despite the disappointing outcome, the Canucks gave their fans lots to smile about. For the second time already in the young season, the team erased a 3-0 deficit to earn at least a point—and they did it in a tough rink, on a night where Jacob Markstrom was not at his best in net for the first half of the game.
Also, the power play came to life on Saturday. After clicking just once in 15 tries through the first four games, the Canucks went 2-for-6 with the man advantage against the Kings thanks to goals from Henrik Sedin and—with just 35 seconds to play in regulation and Markstrom on the bench for the extra attacker—Alex Edler.
Despite having six power plays compared to just three for Los Angeles, the Canucks were outshot for the second straight game—this time by a margin of 31-25. Whether it was the fatgiue factor that comes from playing their fifth game in eight nights or the inability to get the matchups they want as easily when they're on the road and don't have last change, they didn't look as structurally solid as they have at Rogers Arena this season.
The Kings carried the play early and opened the scoring just 4:35 into the first period on a goal by Brayden McNabb. After a power-play goal by Tanner Pearson and a shortie from Dustin Brown, Vancouver was in its 3-0 hole by the 33-second mark of the second period, but the team showed impressive resilience in chipping away at the lead. Though the Kings have lost their top two goalies to injury, Peter Budaj was solid, improving his record to 2-0-0 since being recalled from the AHL.
The Canucks also lost their first player to injury this season when Derek Dorsett left the game in the second period with an apparent shoulder problem after taking a heavy hit from Brayden McNabb.
Derek Dorsett left in the 2nd period and is not with the team to start the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/XjTMO3YqgB
With back-to-back games this weekend, Jake Virtanen returned to the lineup but didn't leave much of an impression. He played 10:15, all at even strength, and took his last shift of the game with 6:37 to play in the third, finishing with three shots on goal and one hit.
As one might expect going against a team with Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter, the Canucks also got hammered in the faceoff circle on Saturday. The Kings won 57 percent of their draws and all four of their centres finished the night above 50 percent. Vancouver's best faceoff man was Henrik Sedin, who went 6-for-12.
Willie Desjardins didn't get much juice from his re-jiggered lines on Saturday, either. He started the game with Sven Baertschi lining up with the Sedins and Bo Horvat playing with Loui Eriksson and Virtanen, but the Dorsett injury and the plentiful power plays led a fair amount of juggling. Willie clearly likes Brandon Sutter with Markus Granlund and Jannik Hansen—that line stuck together and generated the only even-strength goal of the night. Eriksson finished the night as Vancouver's busiest forward, with whopping 23:50 of ice time—only 10 seconds of which were on the penalty kill.
Thanks to the comeback, the Canucks remain the top team in the Western Conference by virtue of their points percentage. St. Louis also has nine points, but has played one more game. The Canucks are tied with Montreal atop the league standings with a record of 4-0-1 but the Habs hold down first place overall thanks to their +11 goal differential. Vancouver's is only +3.
Sunday October 23 - Vancouver Canucks at Anaheim Ducks - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet
Vancouver Canucks: 5 GP, 4-0-1, 9 points, first in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 5 GP, 1-3-1, 3 points, fifth in Pacific Division
Right back to work today—with a 5 p.m. game against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center.
Like the Kings, the Ducks are struggling out of the gate for the second straight season. Anaheim recorded its first win of the year in its last game, a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia to finish out a five-game season-opening road trip—the first time this year that they've managed to score three times in one game.
Tonight's game is the Ducks' home opener, so they may have a little extra fire in their bellies. Even after all the travel, they're also the more rested team—their last game was on Thursday.
Now that they're home, the Ducks have also made some tweaks to their roster:
Ducks send Nick Sorensen, Jacob Larsson and Mason Raymond to AHL San Diego, recall Shea Theodore, Michael Sgarbossa and Joseph Cramarossa.
Hampus Lindholm remains in Sweden as an unsigned restricted free agent and Rickard Rakell, while now signed, has yet to suit up as he continues to recover from offseason surgery. Defenseman Simon Despres is also on the sidelines with an upper-body injury.
The Ducks' lineup, of course, features a few ex-Canucks. Here's the snapshot of their seasons to date:
Ryan Kesler: 5 GP, 0-2-2, plus-1, average 22:08 per game, 62.5 percent in faceoff circle
Kevin Bieksa: 5 GP, 0-0-0, even plus-minus, 21:01 per game, 2 penalty minutes
Emerson Etem: 2 GP, 0-0-0, plus-1, average 6:01 per game, 2 penalty minutes
Expect to see Jack Skille back in the lineup in place of the injured Derek Dorsett tonight, which means Virtanen should stay in for his second straight game. Ryan Miller is expected to make his return to the net.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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