Tuesday January 20 - Tampa Bay Lightning 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
The Vancouver Canucks head into the All-Star Break with a 3-2 record on their latest road trip thanks to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Here are your highlights:
The Canucks really didn't have much of a chance in this one. Tampa Bay has been virtually unbeatable at home and hadn't played since Saturday, while Vancouver was on the second half of a back-to-back, finishing off a lengthy road trip, and playing their starting goaltender for the fourth game in six nights.
Plus, all the puck luck that Vancouver enjoyed during Ryan Miller's shutout streak vanished as quickly as it appeared. The Lightning got some lucky bounces that made the difference in the game.
If we're looking for positives, I'd have to add my voice to those who were saying yesterday that Chris Tanev is shaping up to be one impressive defenseman. The Lightning are the top-scoring team in the league, but he and Alex Edler were the defense pairing that finished even in the plus-minus ranking. Tanev made some great hustle plays over the course of the game to break up Tampa Bay scoring chances and neutralize Steven Stamkos.
Unlike some of his teammates, Tanev also looked like he had a decent amount of gas in the tank. I'm starting to think his skating is an underrated part of his game.
Yeah, he doesn't have much of a shot, but my biggest beef with him earlier in his career was the fact that his lankiness made him easy to knock off the puck. We don't see that so much anymore.
I'm also on board with the idea that his hockey sense is part of what has helped Alex Edler settle down and play up to his potential this season.
Frank Corrado also had a pretty good game—scoring Vancouver's only goal on an aggressive foray to the net and finishing the night as a minus-one. His consistent play since he has come into the lineup is good news, since it looks like Kevin Bieksa might be out of action for awhile.
Bieksa left the ice immediately after getting hit in the hand/wrist area by a Victor Hedman slap shot in the third period. There was no update on his condition after the game, so we probably won't hear anything further until the team reconvenes early next week after the All-Star Game.
Though Bieksa is taking plenty of heat for his defensive lapses this season, he does bring an element of grit to the blue line, and is an excellent penalty-killer. I think he'll be missed if he's out for any period of time. And I fervently hope this doesn't signal the start of the Canucks' injury parade, which was a big part of their undoing last season.
Right now, the good news is that the boys get a week off to rest their weary bones—except for Radim Vrbata, of course, who's headed to Columbus for the All-Star Game. The players will need to make the most of this time off—the pace of the Canucks schedule picks up dramatically as they'll make up their games-in-hand in February and March.
The good (?) news is that Vancouver has already completed 25 of its 41 road games, while having played just 20 at home. Travel won't be as much of an issue while 21 of the team's last 37 games are played at Rogers Arena, but I use the question mark because their road record to date (15-8-2, .640 points percentage) is better than their home record (11-8-1, .575 points percentage). Better play at Rogers Arena will be the biggest key to this team's potential success in the second half.
For now, here's where Vancouver stands:
After 45 games played, they're still tucked reasonably comfortably into second spot in the Pacific Division with 55 points. San Jose's one point back with 54, Calgary has 53 and Los Angeles has 52, but Vancouver still holds one or two games in hand on all those teams.
For comparison, after 45 games last year the Canucks were 23-13-9 on January 17 after their shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That adds up to 54 points.
It is unnerving that the differential in point production this year isn't higher, but if the team can produce at a decent level after the break, I think by mid-February we'll start to see the separation. Last season's Canucks began their downward slide from games 47-57, then picked up momentum from there.
Other surprising stats to compare after 46 games:
Goals for: 2014-15 - 124, 2013-14 - 121 Goals against: 2014-15 - 114, 2013-14 - 107
I think this exercise will feel a lot more satisfying 10 games from now.
With the downtime for the rest of the week, we'll have a chance to look more closely at individual players, check in with the prospects, and hopefully find some vacation tweets so we can live vicariously through some of the players' holidays. Since they're already in Florida, it'd make sense to me for them to fly their families in to join them for a few days of sun and fun.
No need to panic over last night's loss. Keep calm and carry on posting those trade suggestions!