Tuesday December 3: Vancouver Canucks 3 Nashville Predators 1
Can the Canucks keep winning now that they're coming back home? The team wrapped up its latest road trip with a 3-1 record after beating the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Tuesday. Here are your highlights:
For a hot minute, the win moved Vancouver into eighth place in the Western Conference—until Phoenix rather inevitably clobbered the Oilers in a late game. The win puts the Coyotes one point clear—and they play Calgary on Wednesday. If they can grab even a single point in that game, it'd be impossible for Vancouver to pass them when the teams go head-to-head at Rogers Arena on Friday. Go Flames!
The win against Nashville wasn't pretty, but it marked the first time that Vancouver has won back-to-back games since their five-game winning streak that ended with a home victory over Washington on October 28.
For the second consecutive game, Ryan Kesler potted a pair of goals, bringing his total to a team-leading 14. Don't look now, but he's suddenly on pace for a 38-goal season!
The game lacked offensive spark for the first half. Shots were 8-5 in the first period but the attack picked up in both directions in the second, in part due to some power play opportunities. Vancouver executed well on their first chance, when Viktor Stalberg went off for tripping at 12:30 of the second. On the shift after the goal, Brad Richardson combined with Dale Weise and Jannik Hansen with a hard-working effort that finally broke the goose-egg at 15:24.
The Canucks scored first for the second straight game, but the good vibe lasted just 30 seconds before Colin Wilson hammered a puck past Roberto Luongo after an ugly Vancouver breakdown to tie the game.
The score remained 1-1 till the 7:37 mark of the third, when Kesler went to work. Both his goals were scored from the dirty area in front of the net and the second came on the power play after Roberto Luongo drew his second goaltender-interference penalty of the period.
It looked to me like Nashville made a concerted effort to start crashing the net when they got behind, but the Canucks' own Twitter account inferred that Bobby Lu might have been embellishing a little on the second call:
Luongo bowled over AGAIN. Hornqvist pushed Hamhuis into Luongo, who wins an Emmy for that flop. #Canucks to the PP. #gutterball2
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) December 4, 2013This observation did not escape the notice of Preds' beat reporter Josh Cooper of The Tennessean:
Roberto Luongo flops his way to a win http://t.co/2XciyIoyDu #preds #nhl
— JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) December 4, 2013Despite Cooper's best effort to drum up controversy, you can see in his game story that the Nashville players and coach Barry Trotz took the high road.
In Vancouver's first game without Alex Burrows, Mike Santorelli saw increased duties, playing on multiple lines. He was most effective with Kesler and Higgins but saw spot duties up and down the depth chart and played the most of any Vancouver forward, 22:38.
The Canucks developed another sudden hole in their lineup when Alex Edler didn't return to action after the first period. He played nine shifts for 7:28 in the opening frame and was on the ice when the buzzer sounded to end the period, so it doesn't seem like he hurt himself during the game.
Word from the Canucks on Edler's condition is vague so far:
"Alex Edler is day-to-day with a lower body injury" - Torts #Canucks
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) December 4, 2013Brad Ziemer's reporting on Wednesday morning that all Utica Comets defensemen are accounted for at their game-day skate, so Edler's either expected to be ready for Vancouver's next game or else Andrew Alberts will draw in.
The Canucks don't play again until Friday, so I'll have updated player grades through 30 games for you tomorrow, along with some other morsels.
Quick Hits:
- The Canucks' third goal extended the team's streak to six straight games with a power play goal—and broke Nashville's string of eight perfect games on the PK. Even when it didn't connect on Tuesday, the power play looked dangerous and executed well. Jason Garrison has found his touch again, which makes all the difference in the world.
- Rookie goalie Marek Mazanek had a great game for Nashville, stopping 30 shots and giving his team a chance to win. I didn't notice Seth Jones at all, though he was literally on the ice for half the game. Jones played 29:40 to lead all players, with two shots, one hit, two giveaways and five blocks. Did Jones make an impression on you?
- If you're willing to revisit the one bad game from this road trip, NHL.com has posted a recap video, including comments from the bench from both coaches. It's very well-produced but does not include any sign of Torts screaming at Alex Edler in the first period. Was he able to mess with his mic, or did he swear enough to make that part unusable?
Here's the video:
- The Canucks announced on Wednesday that they've signed forward Cole Cassels. Drafted in the third round in 2013, Cassels impressed in training camp. In this third year with the Oshawa Generals, Cassels has 28 points in 24 games and has ramped up the physical side of his game. He has the potential to be a mid-round steal that the Canucks desperately need in their pool of prospects.