Anders Nilsson placed on IR, Vancouver Canucks shoot blanks against Pens (canucks)

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Anders Nilsson placed on IR, Vancouver Canucks shoot blanks against Pens

By Carol Schram

Oct 28, 2018 • 3:15 pm

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Saturday October 27 - Pittsburgh Penguins 5 - Vancouver Canucks 0

If you're a fan of top-level hockey, it's been quite a week here in Vancouver. After Alex Ovechkin torched the Canucks for two goals in the Washington Capitals' visit on Monday, Saturday night's game by the Penguins turned into the Malkin-and-Crosby show by the time it was all said and done.

Here are your highlights from the Vancouver Canucks' first shutout loss of the season:

The Canucks have scored the first goal in just two of their 12 games so far this season—and won both of them: the season-opener against Calgary and last Saturday's win over Boston.

Like Elias Pettersson, I was thinking that we could have had a different game if he'd buried his early breakaway chance, 1:44 into the first period.

“If I would have scored on maybe one or two of my chances in the first period, it would have been a different game,… Pettersson told Jason Botchford of The Athletic after the game.

The crash into the end boards after he was tripped up by Casey DeSmith sent a gasp through the crowd at Rogers Arena, but Pettersson said he was no worse for wear. He finished the night with 19:01 of ice time, nine seconds off the high-water mark of his six-game NHL career. But not only did his career-opening five-game point streak come to an end, he wasn't even credited with a shot on goal. His final stat line for the night included two missed shots—both on the Canucks' second power play of the night, in the first period—as well as one hit and one giveaway.

In the faceoff circle, he was an uncharacteristic 41 percent, but consider the competition. He actually went 2-for-3 against Crosby, but was 0-for-3 against Malkin and just 2-for-6 against Riley Sheahan. He came out of the night slightly better than Brandon Sutter, who finished with a 39 percent success rate.

After Pettersson's early near misses, the other turning point of the game for me was Jamie Oleksiak's unpenalized second-period hit on Tyler Motte.

I had been thinking that Motte's trademark hustle had been in short supply over the past few games, but he brought it on Saturday—particularly before he was crushed by the 6'7", 255-pound behemoth.

Motte crumpled to the ice and looked dazed as he quickly got to his feet, but made it to the bench under his own steam and didn't miss a shift.

An injustice to a player like Motte doesn't draw the same fan reaction as a certain hit on Pettersson did a couple of weeks ago, but I felt like there was a sag in the energy in the building when no penalty was called.

Did the Canucks lose their composure for a minute? On the very next sequence, Bo Horvat lost the neutral-zone draw to Malkin and 34 seconds later, Phil Kessel tallied what turned out to be the winning goal.

My other observation from Saturday's game: ohmigod the Canucks miss Edler and Tanev.

This shouldn't be breaking news: those two were playing huge minutes against the opposition's top players before they were hurt. Derrick Pouliot has looked especially overwhelmed but the entire group was having a heckuva time completing passes against the Penguins. The ice looked bad, but only for Vancouver.

There were also a couple of occasions where the Canucks did gain the zone and looked like they might be able to make something happen offensively, only to see the man at the top of the umbrella bauble the puck as it was moved around. Not pretty.

As for poor Jacob Markstrom—after a strong first period that included a brilliant toe save on Malkin, he was hung out to dry late in the third, when the Pens put a bow on their win with three easy goals in the span of 3:28.

I'm guessing Markstrom's going to carry most of the load for the next week, too: Anders Nilsson has been placed on injured reserve on Sunday, and Richard Bachman recalled.

The Canucks are practicing on Sunday at Rogers Arena:

Some focus on the power play, which has connected just once in 14 tries over the course of the last seven games.

Jeff Paterson also mentions that in addition to Chris Tanev, Brandon Sutter is also missing from the mix on Sunday. Hopefully that's just a maintenance day.

Looking ahead at the schedule for this homestand, I was most concerned about what would happen when the high-scoring Colorado Avalanche roll into town on Friday, but Monday's opponent could be just as daunting. After a bit of a slow start, the Minnesota Wild are riding a league-high five-game winning streak following their 3-2 home victory over the Avalanche on Friday night.

So let's wrap up with a couple of positives. Quinn Hughes had a three-point night on Saturday as the Michigan Wolverines completed their weekend sweep of St. Lawrence with a 3-1 victory.

Hughes looks like he's starting to roll now. He sits second in scoring for Michigan with six points in five games. He can't get here soon enough!

One more college GIF before I sign off for today:

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