Daniel Sedin gets 1,000th point, Brock Boeser November rookie of the month (canucks)

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Daniel Sedin gets 1,000th point, Brock Boeser November rookie of the month

By Carol Schram

Dec 1, 2017 • 2:27 pm

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Thursday November 30 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - Nashville Predators 3

If these Vancouver Canucks can find their way to the late rounds of the playoffs, watch out! After two wins already against last year's Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the Canucks took out the Western Conference champs from Nashville in their first meeting of the year on Thursday night.

It was a game filled with drama. Here are your highlights:

It's a good thing Daniel Sedin has been low key about reaching the 1,000-point milestone. He had to share the attention with a couple of other major stories on Thursday night.

First, there was "Do it for Dorsett," the team's collective wish to go out and win one for their teammate, who announced the end of his hockey career that morning.

Dorsett's not technically 'retiring,' of course. He has one more year left on his contract after this season, so he'll be on the Canucks' long-term injured reserve list until the end of 2018-19.

Jim Benning is on the trip with the team and gave some contradictory answers when asked if he'd look for a player to replace Dorsett's toughness in the lineup. There was talk of filling the spot from within, but there was also this:

The cap space could also be used to augment the team in another area.

The Canucks did come out with a scrappy energy, starting with a big hit from Alex Edler on Viktor Arvidsson on the first shift of the game. All told, the final hit total was 19-15 in favour of Nashville, with six of those hits coming from Austin Watson—who earned every one. All told, the game was feisty and entertaining on both sides.

Given the hot streak that Nashville has been on and the fact that they'd only lost once at home so far this season, it seemed like the game could get out of reach quickly when Craig Smith powered past Michael Del Zotto to the front of the net to open the scoring early in the second period.

But our hero Brock Boeser swooped in once again to save the day, ending his three-game goalless drought with a beauty to tie the score just 12 seconds later.

Then Del Zotto took a hooking penalty, which set up the Nashville power play. Filip Forsberg made it 2-1 with his 13th of the year at 4:31.

From there, it was Anders Nilsson time. The Canucks got some big-time saves from their netminder to keep them in the game and set up all the third-period drama. After 40 minutes, Vancouver was down 3-2 and Daniel's assist on Loui Eriksson's goal had given him career point 999.

The Canucks hadn't come back all season when trailing after two periods, but their Dorsettian determination turned that around on Thursday. Who better to tie it than Daniel, whose sixth of the season came midway through the period.

There was no big on-ice celebration. Expect to see Daniel get the love he deserves when the Canucks return home on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I'm sure he was happy to settle for the win. That came off the stick of Brock Boeser, when he was set up by Nikolay Goldobin for his second of the game.

On a different night, having Goldy make his season debut on a line with Boeser and Horvat would have been the story of the game. Last night, it was just a pleasant aside. His dish on the goal was a beauty and he finished the night as a plus-two, with two shot attempts.

With the Preds pressing for the equalizer in the late stages, the Canucks sealed the win with one of the most unselfish plays you'll ever see.

Daniel gets point 1,001, Eriksson gets his fifth of the year and the Canucks come home with a respectable 3-2-1 record off the road trip.

Meanwhile, as December begins, monthly player awards are being announced.

Boeser's hat is now officially in the Calder Trophy ring!

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