Vancouver Canucks climb into playoff spot with unlikely win over Flames (anton rodin)

anton rodin

Vancouver Canucks climb into playoff spot with unlikely win over Flames

By Carol Schram

Jan 7, 2017 • 12:11 pm

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Friday January 6 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Calgary Flames 2

When the Vancouver Canucks mustered just 14 shots against the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome just before Christmas, they rightly earned themselves a 4-1 loss.

On Friday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, they did even worse. Yet somehow, with a season-low 13 shots for AND a season-high 46 shots against, the Canucks built a 4-1 lead by the early stages of the third period and coasted to a 4-2 victory.

Here are your highlights:

Off the top, things weren't looking good for the home side. The Flames got on the board just 1:18 into the first period, when Matthew Tkachuk won a board battle that allowed Michael Frolik to open the scoring on the first shot of the game.

Amazing to think it'd take until Shot No. 45 before the Flames would score again—a meaningless goal on the power play with just 1:43 left in regulation.

The first sign that it was going to be an unusually good night came when the Canucks actually came out on the right side of a video review at 8:48 of the first period—first by the refs, then after a Coach's Challenge by the Flames. What looked like it could have been a shorthanded goal by Matt Stajan and a 2-0 lead for Calgary was negated—and the Flames lost their timeout and their opportunity to challenge any further plays in the game.

Generally speaking, the Canucks aren't aggressive crease-crashers, but I'm sure the knowledge that a team can't ask to challenge for a toe in the crease can make players feel a little safer when they go to the net.

Brendan Gaunce drove in pretty aggressively when Michael Chaput scored his first as a Canuck midway through the period. The fun part of this goal comes when Jack Skille fakes the shot before passing to Chaput—it even faked out the cameraman on the replay view.

Add another goal song to the collection.

Less than three minutes later, we were treated to another chorus of "Louie, Louie" as Loui Eriksson was awarded his ninth of the year when what looked like it was supposed to be a pass to Brandon Sutter fooled Brian Elliott after catching a pice of Calgary defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon on the way to the net.

The hockey gods were smiling on the Canucks. Outshot 11-6 in the first period, they went to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead.

The only bad news was an injury to Chris Tanev, which came just before the Eriksson goal. He crumpled in front of the Vancouver net after being hit by a puck—apparently to the head.

Remarkably, Willie Desjardins said after the game that Tanev's not ruled out for tonight's game in Calgary. It'll be another lucky break for the team if he is able to play.

On Friday, the remaining five defensemen carried the load for 47 minutes after Tanev left the game. Willie did a good job of keeping everyone in the mix—here's how the final ice time broke down.

Hutton was icing down his hand after being hit by a Calgary shot during the second period, but stayed in the game. Brandon Sutter also had to be propelled to the bench, speed-skater style, by Nikita Tryamkin after taking a puck off the foot during the third period, but he also returned to action. Keep an eye on both those players in the rematch tonight.

Though the buildup for Friday's game was all about Sven Baertschi's hot streak, it was another ex-Flame, Markus Granlund, who delivered the daggers to seal the win.

Granlund picked up his eighth of the season on the power-play in the last minute of the second period, when the Canucks were outshot 12-4, then followed up early in the third with a deflection of this Bobby Orr-style shot by Tryamkin.

Brian Elliott's personal five-game winning streak came crashing to a halt as he gave up four goals on 13 shots—that's a .692 save percentage. Meanwhile, Ryan Miller recorded a .957 save percentage on the night as he won his fifth straight game. He was named first star for the second straight game and is now 12-10-1 on the season with a 2.62 goals-against average and a save percentage of .915—dead on his career average.

Millsy doesn't get much love in this town but he has put together a strong stretch of games!

The win stretches Vancouver's streak to six games, pulls the Canucks just one point behind Calgary with Saturday's game still ahead and—yes—puts the team in a playoff spot for the first time since October.

We'll see if they can keep it going tonight. Game time 7:00 on the CBC from the Saddledome.

One other quick note before I go—Anton Rodin drew into the lineup at the last minute, as Alex Burrows was said to be ill. Rodin played 9:14 and had one shot on goal—a patient attempt that, for quite awhile, stood as Vancouver's only shot of the second period.

Rodin played just 2:17 in the third period but it wasn't like he was pulled out of rotation. His last shift ended with 5:39 on the clock. It was a bit of a special-teams scramble in back half of the third, with two penalties on the Canucks, one on the Flames and Elliott pulled for 58 seconds.

So far, Willie has only turned to Rodin in emergency situations but I think it's still too early to say that he can't gain a foothold in Vancouver this season. There's half a season—and probably a bunch more injuries—still to go.

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