Saturday March 14 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Toronto Maple Leafs 1
Not even a visit from the esteemed Toronto Maple Leafs can fill Rogers Arena these days.
The press box was packed and the attendance was announced at the sellout level of 18,870 but there were plenty of empty seats scattered throughout the lower bowl for Saturday afternoon's marquee matchup.
With esteemed bluesman Jim Byrnes entertaining the crowd with live music before the game and during the intermissions, the Vancouver Canucks bounced back nicely from their shutout loss against the Los Angeles Kings with a spirited 4-1 win. Here are your highlights:
There was a lot to like about this game.
Seeing Brad Richardson set up Chris Higgins for the game's opening goal on both players' first games back from injury was a breath of fresh air.
Richardson was the Canucks' best face-off man on the night (though still just 5-of-11 for 45 percent) and played 14:08 in a third-line role with Derek Dorsett and Chris Higgins.
Dorsett, of course, was the star of the show—atoning for his rough night against the Kings on Thursday with a career-high three points, including a hustling second-period goal after a penalty that helped salt the game away.
Zack Kassian also had a spirited game. The Leafs have been through so much drama in the last year that I'm not even sure if his second-period dust-up with Dion Phaneuf had anything to do with him having been Public Enemy No. 1 in the Toronto camp last season after that skate cut that took out Dave Bolland for a good part of the season last time the Leafs were in town, in November of 2013.
Bolland's long gone, as are David Clarkson, Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren—who dominated the box score with their fisticuffs in last year's game. And Alex Burrows sat out the game, so he didn't get a chance to renew his longtime rivalry with Phil Kessel.
For the record, here's why Kassian was ejected after his scuffle with Phaneuf:
Zack Kassian's gamer was for missing tie-down. Not abuse of linesman.
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacVanSun) March 15, 2015Bit by bit, the Canucks are doing away with their reputation for being meek. Jannik Hansen pulled a move worthy of Alex Burrows himself when he mocked Phaneuf for turtling at the end of the second period. Even The Hockey News noticed:
Jannik Hansen turtles to troll Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf http://t.co/G0uZB4uax6
— The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) March 15, 2015Once again, Eddie Lack was solid, with the Leafs' only goal coming on one of the softest penalty-shot calls I've ever seen—but one that I totally saw coming after the refs' four straight phantom penalties against Vancouver as the Canucks took control of the game in the second period. "Game management," indeed.
Flyin' Phil's penalty-shot goal gave the Toronto fans in the house a little something to cheer about, without affecting the game in any appreciable way. No harm, no foul, really.
With Kevin Bieksa and Yannick Weber back in the lineup, the defense certainly did its job on Saturday. They have what should be two more relatively easy opponents to look forward to next week as Philadelphia and Columbus come to town.
While the Canucks won easily on Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks all lost in regulation, while Minnesota and Winnipeg won.
So, the Canucks are back in second place in the Pacific for the moment, one point up on Calgary and three points ahead of L.A., who have dropped back out of the wild card for the time being.
Nothing too significant on the NHL's seven-game schedule today, as far as playoff seeding goes.
Markstrom Triumphs in Utica
Meanwhile, down on the farm, Jacob Markstrom kept things interesting by pitching a shutout on Saturday in the Utica Comets' 4-0 road win over the Chicago Wolves. That should certainly help his confidence!
The Comets will move on to play the Iowa Wild Sunday at 3 p.m., with Markstrom once again expected to get the start. Handy weekend for him to join the farm team, with them on a "Western" trip out to the Central Time Zone. Markstrom will probably return to Vancouver after today's game.