Tuesday January 27 - Anaheim Ducks 4 - Vancouver Canucks 0
We waited a week for that?
The Vancouver Canucks suffered a deflating 4-0 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at Rogers Arena, also losing energy forward Derek Dorsett to injury midway through the game. Here are your highlights:
When Kevin Bieksa was injured in Tampa Bay before the All-Star Break, I expressed concern about what might happen if it was the start of an injury trend for a team that has, for the most part, been pretty healthy this year.
There's no word yet on what exactly is wrong with Dorsett other than an "upper-body injury," but the Zapruder film shows that he took a shoulder or elbow to the jaw from none other than Ryan Kesler. Click here to check out the video for yourself.
Ryan Getzlaf had missed a few shifts earlier in the game after taking a hit from Dorsett in the corner, so Kesler's play may have been a bit of an act of revenge.
Not surprisingly, Dorsett's not at practice today. This doesn't surprise me either:
Told by a league source that no hearing is expected for Ducks center Ryan Kesler for his hit on Vancouver's Derek Dorsett.
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) January 28, 2015Kesler's comments to Ducks beat reporter Stephens after the game seem just a tad disingenuous, however:
Kesler on Dorsett hit: "All I know is I was going for the puck and I felt him hit me. Hope he’s alright. It’s unfortunate. (1/2)
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) January 28, 2015(cont) It’s a fast game out there. Like I was saying, I was just going for the puck. Trying to make a hockey play." (2/2)
— Eric Stephens (@icemancometh) January 28, 2015It certainly gives Canucks fans all the more reason to keep booing Kesler every time he returns to town.
What's the meaning of last night's loss?
If you're a glass-half-full person, you write it off as a sluggish start after the All-Star Break against a very good Anaheim team. After three competitive games against the Ducks earlier in the season, the Canucks may have been due for a bit of a more one-sided outcome.
If your outlook is more glass-half-empty, here are a couple of grim stats that will fuel your fire:
#Canucks have been shutout in back-to-back home games. They have not scored at home since January 8th (176 minutes & 21 seconds).
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) January 28, 2015#Canucks at 46 games:
First 23 games: 16-6-1 (33 pts**) & 70 goals scored
Past 23 games: 10-11-2 (22 pts) & 52 goals scored
**Led #NHL
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 28, 2015If the downward trend continues and Vancouver only cobbles together 11 points in its next 23 games, you Tank Nation types might get your wish after all.
The Flames beat Buffalo last night, so they're now tied with Vancouver with 55 points, though the Canucks still have two games in hand. SportsClubStats reports that last night's results increased the Flames' chances of a postseason berth by 6.1 percent, while Vancouver's dropped by 5.4 percent.
The new odds are 86.9 percent that they'll get in, but Vancouver is going to need to find a way to score some goals and earn some wins on home ice if they hope to fulfill that destiny in April.
What troubles me about Tuesday's outcome is something that we saw happen last season as well—when the Canucks try to ramp up the intensity, it comes back to bite them.
There was some real emotion in the game with the score 1-0 in the second period. Corey Perry's penalty off a tightly-contested faceoff looked like it could finally shift the momentum in Vancouver's favour. Instead, Zack Kassian ended up being the only player penalized in a scrum that ensued two minutes later, then Jannik Hansen decided that since nobody had seen him get pushed into the Ducks net by one of the Anaheim defensemen, he'd try to pretend that the same defensemen knocked him into the back of Frederik Andersen.
With the delayed penalty on Hansen in effect—and four seconds left in Kassian's minor—the Ducks quickly got the puck up ice, where Kyle Palmieri snuck it past a surprised Ryan Miller. That 2-0 goal was game, set, match—and the Ducks went back on the power play.
Kassian was more noticeable than I thought he has been in awhile. He led the Canucks with five hits (!!) and played 13:32 on a line with Shawn Matthias and Nick Bonino that seemed to generate some chances, but ended up minus-two on the night. Dan Hamhuis was minus-three, playing with Frank Corrado.
It's a less-than-full house at practice today:
Nux practice underway with lots of players missing. No twins, Vrbata, Tanev, Dorsett, Richardson. #Canucks
— Elliott Pap (@ElliottPap) January 28, 2015Assuming Dorsett's out for any period of time, the Canucks will need to call up a forward from Utica. With the Comets mired in a scoring slump of their own, no easy option presents itself. Does Nick Jensen get another look? Will they choose a grittier player like Darren Archibald or Tom Sestito? Or does an improving Hunter Shinkaruk get rewarded for his hard work?
Can Jacob Markstrom play goal?
One final note before I wrap today. What do you think about Zack Kassian for Matt Bartkowski?
That's the report from The Score, based on initial information from Darren Dreger and Ben Kuzma's observation about Boston scouts in attendance at Rogers Arena last night.
I'm not sure I buy that particular match, though. I believed Jim Benning when he said he wanted to go ahead with the defensemen he has through Bieksa's injury, so I'm not sure that Bartkowski fills a need here. Furthermore, he's a 26-year-old who's an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
Kassian may not have much trade value at this moment, but I have a hard time believing that Benning would move a 24-year-old who will still be a restricted free agent when his next deal expires after 2015-16 for 40 games of a middle-of-the-road defenseman like Bartkowski.
The Bruins are going to have to do better than that if they want me to sign off on this trade.