Saturday December 31 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Edmonton Oilers 2 (S/O)
Your head might be pounding from last night's New Year's Eve festivities, but you're not reading this wrong. Though the odds were stacked against them, the Vancouver Canucks ended 2016 with their third straight win, taking two points from the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place thanks to Bo Horvat's shootout goal.
Enjoy these highlights!
The first time came with 7:48 to play in the first period, when Brandon Sutter appears to have tipped a Markus Granlund shot past Cam Talbot.
Replay of Granlund's no-goal goal. 😡 pic.twitter.com/gNcOwfvzJe
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 1, 2017
The goal was disallowed after a Coach's Challenge by the Oilers, with the argument being that Sutter had a foot in the blue paint, and his body position impeded Talbot from getting his glove up to make the save. Alrighty, then.
At a time when the NHL is trying to increase scoring, it seems counterintuitive that so many of these ticky-tack reviews go in favour of the goaltender, but I have a theory: I think the league is trying to make goalies feel safe and comfortable so they can finally get consensus on those new goalie-equipment guidelines.
Considering the new gear was supposed to be in use at the beginning of this season, it has been ages since we've heard any new details on how that initiative is coming along. The goaltenders have been dragging their heels in agreeing to new standards—maybe the league is throwing them a bone to try to get them onside?
Whatever the reason, last night's game remained scoreless after a feisty first period that saw the Oilers outshoot the Canucks 14-9, largely on the strength of a dominating power-play midway through the period where they generated six shots on goal.
After his first-period success on the Coach's Challenge, Todd McLellan went back to the well again in the second, when a terrible Eric Gryba giveaway led to a nice three-way passing play that was finished off by Alex Burrows.
Second #Canucks goal of the night makes it 1-0 Vancouver with 13 mins to play in the 2nd period. Burrows. pic.twitter.com/5GZjVgzTJZ
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 1, 2017
No dice for McLellan this time—the Canucks were granted a 1-0 lead.
Troy Stecher's old North Dakota teammate Drake Caggiula evened the score before the end of the second—just after the end of a power-play that came when Nikita Tryamkin chased down a streaking Connor McDavid and got called for a hold. I thought Tryamkin did a great job of sticking with the speedy superstar, and apparently I wasn't alone.
Nikita Tryamkin just made a fantastic play on Connor McDavid, but since McDavid is good, it must have been a penalty.
— Pass it to Bulis (@passittobulis) January 1, 2017
With every passing game, I'm becoming more and more of a fan of Tryamkin's. I don't mind that he's not wreaking havoc with a million highlight-reel hits, because I think he can be more than that. He moves well, makes great decisions and is even showing a little bit of offensive sizzle as he gains confidence.
I think his mere presence gets all the Canucks more room on the ice. And considering he's still only 22 years old and just 41 games into his NHL career, I think his upside is enormous. The Canucks are definitely benefiting from having Alex Edler and Chris Tanev back in their lineup, but Tryamkin and Stecher are showing that they're legitimate top-six NHL defensemen.
I had a great chat a couple of days ago with Luca Sbisa about the young blueliners, among many other topics. Hope to get that posted for you in the next couple of days—it's hard to find a spot for an interview when we have so many games to watch!
Anyway—back to the game.
In the third period, the teams traded goals again. Sven Baertschi gave the Canucks the 2-1 lead with his eighth of the year...
Baertschi scores on his own rebound, hopefully that's allowed. 😘 pic.twitter.com/PPWoMSS5Ed
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 1, 2017
With his second assist of the game and fourth of the week, Bo Horvat took over the lead in Canucks' scoring on that goal. He now has 10 goals and 25 points in 38 games—on pace for 22 goals and 54 points and definitely trending in a positive direction. Horvat has been a beast all over the ice this week—not just driving down the ice on his Kesler-like solo rushes but making sweet, smart plays to set up his linemates, killing penalties like a boss and performing well in the faceoff circle.
And in case you haven't noticed, this is all happening while Cory Schneider, who was traded so the Canucks could draft Horvat, is going through a prolonged slump in New Jersey. Schneider has gone just 1-6-1 since defeating the Canucks back on December 6, giving up 29 goals—an average of 3.625 goals per game. The Devils have fallen to 27th overall and Keith Kinkaid has been called upon to start their last two games.
At this moment in time, that deal is looking like a slam-dunk for the Canucks. Horvat's holding his own among the standout forwards from the first round of the 2013 draft, which also include Nathan MacKinnon (1st), Aleksander Barkov (2nd), Sean Monahan (6th), Max Domi (12th) and the rapidly-improving Alexander Wennberg (14th) and Ryan Hartman (30th).
The Oilers needed a late power play goal by Connor McDavid to tie the game with 1:33 to play in regulation. It came off another weak penalty call, this time when Daniel Sedin got all stick as he chased down Jordan Eberle.
Though regulation finished with the shots 38-27 in favour of Edmonton, even longtime Oilers writer Terry Jones thought the Canucks were the better team through 60 minutes.
In my opinion Vancouver deserved a regulation time win. But to overtime we go.
— Terry Jones (@sunterryjones) January 1, 2017
The good thing? We got an unbelievable five minutes of overtime. I was nervous about how the Canucks would fare against the Oilers' speed, especially when Willie Desjardins threw Daniel and Henrik Sedin out together a couple of times in the late going, but we saw some great goaltending at both ends of the ice, with the shots 6-5 for Edmonton in the extra frame.
More great goaltending was the order of the day in the shootout. Jacob Markstrom didn't have to face Connor McDavid, but he stopped Mark Letestu, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, letting Bo Horvat's top-shelf wrister stand as the game winner.
What a beauty shot by Horvat in the shootout - #Canucks win 3-2 pic.twitter.com/QQ3BzbKjWJ
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) January 1, 2017
Named the game's third star behind Markstrom and McDavid, let's give Bo the last word:
Great way to start off the new year with a big win! Happy New Year everyone !! Have a great #2017
— Bo Horvat (@BoHorvat) January 1, 2017
With their 3-0 run against Pacific Division rivals since Christmas, the Canucks have climbed five spots in the NHL standings, up to 23rd overall, and now sit just three points out of the Western Conference wild card.
They'll start the New Year at home with winnable games against Colorado on Monday, then Arizona on Wednesday. Can this hardworking, confident team keep rolling?