Friday January 16 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Carolina Hurricanes 0
Goaltender Ryan Miller took his first real step towards earning the devotion of Vancouver Canucks fans this week. He became the first goaltender in franchise history to post consecutive shutouts on the road as the Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday night.
Here are your highlights:
In just 48 hours, the Canucks have gone from a team that can't score goals and is destined to miss the playoffs to an unstoppable force.
Could Joey Kenward be their lucky charm?
I know it sounds crazy, but this turnaround has come during Kenward's two games as an emergency fill-in for the ailing John Shorthouse. Considering it's not his regular gig, I think he has done a pretty decent job, though he's mis-called the odd player and has some rah-rah tendencies. But we can't argue with these game results.
Just as coaches are reluctant to tinker with winning lineups, would the broadcast crew consider sticking with Kenward if the team's winning, even when Shorty's ready to return?
Doubtful. Right?
While we're talking about broadcasters, I'd like to wish a very happy 80th birthday to the original Voice of the Vancouver Canucks, Jim Robson. Even when the team was terrible back in the early days, his high standards set a precedent for high-quality play-by-play that we still benefit from to this day.
And here's an interesting tidbit, as the torch is passed to the next generation:
Sharing a BDay with Jim Robson is @HockeyAbbs. Won't tell you how old, but he wasn't alive for #Canucks 1st trip to Stanley Cup Finals ;)
— Joey Kenward (@kenwardskorner) January 17, 2015As for the game itself, it may have been "just" Carolina, but the Canucks didn't exactly dominate from the opening whistle.
The scoreless first period was sloppy on both sides but the 'Canes got most of the chances, outshooting Vancouver 12-4.
All told, the only period in which the Canucks held the edge in shots was the second, when they did all their scoring, by a margin of 9-8.
I was especially chuffed by the type of goals that were scored on Friday night. Goals off the rush are exciting, it's great to see Vancouver take advantage of defensive gaffes by the opponent, and secondary scoring from the likes of Dorsett, Matthias and Burrows makes me feel like this team does have enough depth to win games without relying solely on the Sedin line.
Willie Desjardins deployed Dan Hamhuis a bit differently than I'd expected on Friday night, sitting down Luca Sbisa and pairing Hamhuis with Frank Corrado with an eye towards easing him back into the lineup.
Corrado played 14 minutes, as did Ryan Stanton, while Hamhuis finished the night at 19:48, just five seconds less than Bieksa. He did spend some time with Bieksa on the penalty-kill, and did some spot duty at times with Chris Tanev. He was his usual steady self, which will help going forward.
So, the crisis is averted for now. The Canucks are back in second place in the Pacific Division. And the team has two days off to enjoy sunny Florida in January before meeting up again with Roberto Luongo and the Panthers on Monday night, followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
It'll be interesting to see how the goaltending situation is handled in those last two games before the All-Star Break. Miller is hot—no doubt—and handled the back-to-back assignments beautifully this week. The Canucks' 53 points in 43 games is now back on par with their record from last season.
As we can all breathe easy for the weekend, I'll wrap up today with the video from the Canucks' Yoga on Ice session, with your intrepid host Zack Kassian. Pretty fun stuff.