Josh Leivo scores but PK lets down the Vancouver Canucks in loss to Wild (sam gagner)

sam gagner

Josh Leivo scores but PK lets down the Vancouver Canucks in loss to Wild

By Carol Schram

Dec 5, 2018 • 2:50 pm

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Tuesday December 4 - Minnesota Wild 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2

Josh Leivo and Tyler Motte scored the goals but the Vancouver Canucks' penalty kill let them down again as they suffered their third-straight one-goal loss at home on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.

Here are your highlights:

I didn't think Nikolay Goldobin's healthy scratch was a big deal on Tuesday. It was his first of the year, he'd been pointless in three games after his hottest stretch of the season and he hadn't done much in the Canucks' 6-2 spanking by the Wild at Xcel Energy Centre a couple of weeks back, despite 20:41 of ice time.

Goldy's absence also gave Travis Green the opportunity to slot Leivo onto a line with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, to see what the new guy could do. And with Leivo and Goldy both represented by the same agency, the players' reps also may not have minded the move.

Leivo's 16:38 of ice time on Tuesday was a season high for him, and included 5:34 of power-play time. It took him just three shifts to get on the scoreboard as he streaked down Main St. to convert a feed from Pettersson:

Though he played limited minutes in a fourth-line role in Toronto this year, Leivo's now up to five goals, which ties him for fifth on the Canucks with Markus Granlund—and puts him just one goal behind Boeser.

Brock got four of his five shot attempts on goal last night, which is a bit of an improvement from previous games. But we're still not seeing the magic that worked so well for him last year.

I think it's mostly mental at this point, that he's second-guessing himself—maybe for the first time in his hockey career. Last year, I think he would have been much quicker with his release if he'd gotten a last-second pass like this one from Pettersson, with more of a chance to surprise the goalie. But his hesitation on Tuesday gave Devan Dubnyk enough time to make the save.

After Pettersson torched Dubnyk for two goals at Rogers Arena back in October, the Minnesota netminder also seemed to have a better read on his shot off the rush this time around.

The Canucks' other goal came from the reunited fourth line of Motte with Tim Schaller and Jay Beagle, when the group was allowed to stay out for an offensive-zone draw after creating some chaos around Dubnyk midway through the second period before the referee blew play dead.

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well for the Canucks' penalty kill, which went 0-for-3 and was ultimately the difference in the game.

The Wild struck quickly, too. In the first period, they needed just 15 seconds for Zach Parise to put the puck in the net after Mikko Koivu won a draw against Bo Horvat when Michael Del Zotto was sent to the box for tripping Jordan Greenway.

The turning point of the game came late in the second, when Alex Edler went to the box after getting tangled up with Greenway, then Michael Del Zotto followed a minute later on a soft cross-checking call on Parise.

With the 5-on-3 gift, Eric Staal beat Beagle to set up Ryan Suter's 2-2 goal just seven seconds later. Fifty-five seconds after that, Jason Zucker connected on what proved to be the game winner, with Markus Granlund and Motte on the PK duty.

Those penalties came after the Canucks had sagged in the second period. The Wild had a 16-11 overall edge in shots in the middle frame, including the first 10 shots of the period before Ben Hutton was finally able to get a puck through to Dubnyk more than eight minutes in. Vancouver did push back well in the third, though. They outshot the Wild 14-5 in the final frame but weren't able to tie the game and squeeze at least a point out of another close one.

With just one game remaining in this homestand—against Nashville!—and just one point to show for the first four contests, the Canucks are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole by the day. Or, if you prefer, Losing for Hughes.

Vancouver remains in 26th place overall but with 25 points in 30 games, their points percentage of .417 ranks them 29th, ahead only of Chicago (.411) and L.A. (.375).

The Canucks also quietly announced on Tuesday that they've sent Sam Gagner back to the Toronto Marlies to make room on the big roster for both Beagle and Leivo. Gagner did not need to be placed on waivers again in order to be re-assigned.

In my mind, the big-picture outcome of this transaction is positive for Vancouver. I don't think Brendan Leipsic will be missed, and in the meantime the Canucks have swapped out 29-year-old Gagner for the bigger 25-year-old Leivo, who isn't young but is widely believed to still have upside—and who will be an RFA with arbitration rights at the end of this season, currently earning just $925,000.

Elliotte Friedman mentions in this week's 31 Thoughts column that Chicago was a contender for Gagner when he signed with the Canucks as a UFA two summers ago, and that the Blackhawks may still be interested in him. Even if the return is small, that'd be a good deal for Jim Benning to make. The only caveat I see is potential salary retention: because the Canucks are still retaining salary on Roberto Luongo and can only retain on two players at a time, if they pick up a portion of Gagner's deal for the next year-and-a-half, they wouldn't be able to use that tool for any future deals.

The Canucks have a day off on Wednesday before finishing off their homestand on Thursday night, then they hit the road for three next week: a noon game on Sunday in St. Louis, then Tuesday in Columbus and in Nashville on Thursday.

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