Tuesday November 15 - New York Rangers 7 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks stole a win at Madison Square Garden last week, but the New York Rangers weren't going to let that happen twice. The Blueshirts rode a four-goal third period to a 7-2 victory on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
It wasn't a great night for Jacob Markstrom. His new mask is cool, but is it unlucky?
The past meets the present on Jacob Markstrom's new mask. https://t.co/pHJtwHAXEn
— #HockeyFightsCancer (@NHL) November 16, 2016
The Rangers are a tough team to stop. Averaging 4.24 goals per game, they're the most prolific team in the league and nearly a full goal ahead of second-place Columbus (3.36), let alone everybody else. And they scored seven times on just 25 shots. That's a jaw-dropping 28 percent success rate—nearly double their league-leading rate of 14.6 percent which, again, is tops in the league and more than two percent better than second-place Columbus (12.5 percent).
“I was not sharp today,… Markstrom told Ben Kuzma of The Province after the game. “There were five of the seven (goals) I’d like to have back. You don’t want to see it happen and I’ve got to make some timely saves and I didn’t do it tonight.
“You’ve got to play your best and I didn’t do that today and that’s why the scoreboard looks like that.…
At the end of two periods, I thought a comeback might still be possible. Like the Dallas Stars on Sunday, the Rangers were a banged-up team that was playing its third game in four nights on the road. On Sunday, the Canucks were down by the exact same score after 40 minutes, 3-1, before taking over the game in the third. And the Canucks did outshoot the Rangers 13-7 in the final 20 minutes but somehow managed to get themselves outscored by a margin of 4-1.
Against such a good team, I don't think even a big loss like this should be considered a possible catalyst for change, but the scary part for beleaguered coach Willie Desjardins is what comes next.
The Canucks host the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday—the only team in the NHL that's currently below 29th-place Vancouver in the standings. A bad loss to Arizona might be too much for the organization to ignore.
Recent history indicates that they *should* be all right. Vancouver was 3-1 against Arizona last season.
Once again, the pairing of Ben Hutton and Erik Gudbranson had a rough night, finishing minus-two. They've now dropped to the worst plus-minus on the team, both tied with Brandon Sutter at minus-nine.
Still, this is strange...
Not trying to start riot, but if any #Canuck needs 2 weeks in AHL to find game/confidence, it's Ben Hutton. Looks lost, overwhelmed.
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacVanSun) November 16, 2016
Because Hutton was 22 when he started his NHL career, he needed to play just 70 games before he'd require waivers when being sent to the AHL, per CapFriendly. He played 75 games last season alone, so the AHL was never an option for Hutton.
It may be time to re-think that carved-in-stone Hutton/Gudbranson pairing but, interestingly, Luca Sbisa and Nikita Tryamkin are proving to be quite great together. They both finished with even plus-minuses last night, because they were on the ice for both Canucks goals, but Sbisa and Tryamkin both boast even plus-minuses for the season so far—on a team where the minuses are piling up quickly!
Speaking of waivers, the latest chapter in the Jake Virtanen saga played out today.
#Canucks re-assign Jake Virtanen to @UticaComets. https://t.co/pluQhX2ZeB pic.twitter.com/CbKnnlqpmc
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 16, 2016
Much was made yesterday of the fact that Virtanen came back to Vancouver because he didn't have his "stuff" in Utica, but I think that's all much ado about nothing. If anything, this tells me that after his trial stint this weekend, the organization has now gotten onto the same page, that a significant stretch of development time will be the best thing for Virtanen. In that case, he probably does need more "stuff" than he had with him during the road trip.
Virtanen's gone, but the team has one more healthy body now available up front.
Megna back practicing, joins a fully attended #Canucks skate. pic.twitter.com/VYc9lmv9sC
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 16, 2016
That's the only change for the moment.
#Canucks have Megna skate with main group. No, Larsen for 2nd day. No Rodin. No 36/8 + lines likely the same from NYR game #CanucksOn1040
— Jon Abbott (@HockeyAbbs) November 16, 2016
And finally—on the off chance that you missed this yesterday:
Bob McKenzie: "VAN is going back to BUF & checking on the availability of Evander Kane. BUF's primary target is bolstering their blueline."
— Canucks Now (@CanucksNow) November 15, 2016
Evander Kane has been back in the Buffalo lineup for four games since suffering that rib injury when he crashed into the end boards on opening night. He's pointless, and a minus-five, since his return.
Despite the fact that the Canucks have been bleeding goals for the last couple of weeks, their blue-line depth has improved significantly with the injection of Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkin into the group of regulars.
I feel like it was inevitable that this rumour was going to be raised again as soon as Kane was healthy—and it gains some steam because the Canucks are losing and may have the right puzzle pieces to make a deal happen. I'm not a Kane fan, but this is something to keep watching.