Saturday January 3 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Detroit Red Wings 1
The score doesn't really tell the story of Saturday night's Canuck win over the Detroit Red Wings. Ryan Miller was outstanding, making 29 saves, in a tight game that was sealed by two empty-net goals by captain Henrik Sedin.
Here are your highlights:
With Vancouver's top line of the Sedins and Radim Vrbata matched up against Detroit's stars Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader, the Wings looked strong in the early going, forechecking aggressively and getting in the Canucks' faces.
In a game where countless players were tangled up with each other on the ice for the full duration, it's odd that the hits were only recorded as 11-5 in favour of Vancouver. There were lots of one-on-one battles, but also more odd-man rushes back and forth than I've seen in a single game in quite awhile. On balance, it was a high-energy, entertaining spectacle for the energetic (and somewhat divided) crowd listed at 18,870.
Ryan Stanton drew the first penalty of the game, midway through the first period, and that penalty kill seemed to settle the Canucks down a bit. After it was over, they managed to sustain some pressure in the offensive zone and end the first period on level ground.
Henrik Zetterberg got a little too aggressive early in the second, drawing a slashing penalty on Daniel Sedin which led to the Canucks' first goal of the game—a nicely-executed power-play marker by Alex Edler.
A 1-0 lead isn't much to cling to, but Ryan Miller was outstanding in the first few minutes of the third period, especially on two penalty kills. For the first time I've heard all year, the fans in the rink raised a chant of "Mil-ler! Mil-ler!" to congratulate him for his excellent play.
They also breathed a sigh of relief when Radim Vrbata converted a Vancouver power-play midway through the third—grabbing a Drew Miller giveaway and roofing it over Jimmy Howard with surgical precision.
The goal was Vrbata's 16th of the year, which leads the Canucks and has pushed him into the top 15 in NHL scoring. He's now on pace for 36 goals and 65 points, which would both be career-bests for the intense Czech.
Last night, Jim Benning had to be feeling very good about both his big-money free agent signings. Vrbata and Ryan Miller both brought exactly what they were paid to deliver—and earned Vancouver their first regulation win against the Red Wings in three years.
Now—Zack Kassian. He returned to the lineup for the first time since late November and played 11:21 with Shawn Matthias and Brad Richardson.
His first shift, 2:18 into the game was a total cluster-you-know-what. Watching the CBC broadcast back today, Matthias is listed as the left winger, with Kassian on right wing, but when he first skates onto the ice, Kassian goes directly to the left side—even though Matthias is already there!
Needless to say, Detroit immediately got the puck and went down for a Pavel Datsyuk shot—which was blocked by Tanev. Thankfully, the group got off the ice in a hurry and got themselves sorted out, but it's no wonder that they only saw five shifts in the first period.
Kassian's embellishment penalty in the second period wasn't exactly a work of genius, either. But other than that, he did OK. I felt like I could see the wheels spinning in his head when he was on the ice, as he thought hard about the right play to make in each circumstance. Hopefully it's a game he can build off to get back to the instinctive style that players need to be successful in the NHL.
After young guns Tatar and Nyquist combined to make the score 2-1 with 3:30 left in the game, I was biting my nails as we prepared for another big finish. This time, the first line came through. Henrik Sedin was able to pot not one but two empty-netters to send (most of the) crowd home happy.
After a rough start, Alex Edler may have played his best game of the year when all was said and done. He finished with a goal, an assist, five shots and a hit in a team-high 27:17 of ice time, and ended his night with a roughing minor after a wrestling match with Justin Abdelkader next to Ryan Miller's crease.
I love the look on Kevin Bieksa's face here as Edler is sent to the dressing room for the night:
Bieksa's reaction to Edler scrumming with Abdelkader tonight is pretty great: http://t.co/O7EvpgmHqj via r/canucks
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) January 4, 2015The Canucks will have a chance to savour their victory with a day off today. Thanks to a loss by the San Jose Sharks and an overtime loss from the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, Vancouver's back in second place in the Pacific Division, and the schedule will allow them to stay there at least until their next game on Tuesday against the New York Islanders.
If you recall, after Thursday's loss to the Kings I suggested that L.A. could have staged that late comeback against virtually any team. They helped illustrate that point when they bounced back from a 5-1 deficit against the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon to tally a 7-6 overtime loss—scoring three goals in the last 2:01 of regulation against Pekka Rinne, the hottest goalie in the league this year.
They may not have snagged the win, but grabbing the single point is definitely a victory all on its own.
World Junior Semifinals Go Today
It's a big day for football. Also, we have two crucial World Junior semifinal games today, which will set up Monday's gold medal game.
The tournament's top-scoring defenseman, Canucks prospect Gustav Forsling and Team Sweden will face off against the Russians at 1:00 p.m. PT, then Jake Virtanen and Team Canada meet the Slovaks at 5:00.