Wednesday January 15: Anaheim Ducks 9 Vancouver Canucks 1
Not a typo. The Canucks suffered their worst defeat in nearly a decade on Wednesday night in Anaheim. The last time they gave up nine goals was March 8, 2004. That date may sound familiar—it was the night of the Steve Moore/Todd Bertuzzi incident.
That's an unfortunate skeleton to pull out of the closet. Anyway, here are your highlights if you'd care to re-live last night's disaster.
The game felt like it could have been very different if Ryan Kesler had scored instead of hitting the post 11 seconds into the first period, but the hockey gods were not on the Canucks' side on Wednesday. Despite an evenly-played first period, Vancouver was in a 2-0 hole after 20 minutes and things got worse from there.
John Tortorella elected to pull Eddie Lack after the Ducks made it 3-0 at the 3:58 mark of the second, leaving poor Joacim Ericsson to get shelled for six on 31 shots in his NHL debut. Lack will likely get back between the pipes on Thursday in Phoenix.
The Ducks set a franchise record by scoring six of their nine goals on the power play. That grows the Canucks' season total from 15 to 21 goals against on the penalty-kill, an increase of nearly 50 percent in one night! Needless to say, Vancouver's not tops in the league on the PK anymore. Pittsburgh moves ahead as the Canucks' success rate drops to 86.5 percent.
The much-ballyhooed toughness from Monday night wasn't much in evidence until the game was well out of hand. Paul Devorski referreed both games, with a different partner each night, and was clearly unimpressed with the Canucks' aggression in the third period. Just when we thought the seven-minute power play in L.A. was uncharted territory, the officials took it to a new level on Wednesday, sending both Tom Sestito and Jannik Hansen off for seven minutes each with no corresponding penalties to the Ducks. With 7:11 to go in the game, the Canucks were left to try to kill a seven minute 5-on-3. I've never seen that before!
Sestito managed 8:35 of ice time in accumulating his 22 penalty minutes on Wednesday. Added to the 27 from Monday, he's now leading the NHL by a mile, with 152 PIMs. Antoine Roussel is second with 109. Only 57 players in the league have more penalty minutes all season than the 49 that Sestito put up in the last two games.
It sounds like feistiness runs in the Sestito family. After ESPN's Keith Olbermann called Tom a "boxing hobo on skates" following Monday's game, Sestito's 13-year-old sister jumped into the Twitter fray to defend his honour. The National Post has the blow-by-blow: pretty funny stuff all round. Click here to read.
If there's any good news, it's that there's no time to dwell. The Canucks get right back to action on Thursday in Phoenix, with a chance to score some goals and pick up some points down south before heading home.
Vancouver Canucks at Phoenix Coyotes - Thursday January 16 - 6:00 pm - Sportsnet Pacific, Fox Sports Arizona
Vancouver Canucks 24-15-9 57 points fourth in Pacific Division Phoenix Coyotes 21-16-9 51 points fifth in Pacific Division
Will a winnable game against a slumping Coyotes group be enough to get the Canucks back on track on Thursday night?
The Coyotes are on a four-game losing streak, having scored just six goals while dropping decisions to St. Louis, Winnipeg, Anaheim and Minnesota. They remain six points behind Vancouver, in ninth place in the Western Conference.
This will be the third meeting of the season between the two teams. The Canucks dropped a 3-2 shootout decision in Phoenix back in November while snatching a win by the same score thanks to Chris Higgins' overtime marker on December 6 at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks will likely have a new face in the lineup on Thursday, as Kellan Lain was the surprise call-up from Utica. Lain is not a raw rookie—he's a 24-year-old giant. Lain's 6'6", and while the NHL website lists him at 210 pounds, he's 222 according to UticaComets.com. Lain is 7-4-11 in 35 games with the Comets this season, and leads the team with 84 penalty minutes. He can play centre or wing.
No word yet on where Lain will slot into the lineup or who will be sent to the press box. Relatively speaking, David Booth showed decent energy in his return to action on Wednesday, with four shots, three hits and an assist on Vancouver's only goal in 11:44 of ice time. I think he did enough to get another chance tonight.
Quick Hits:
- Checking out the Coyotes website, I noticed they're promoting a "Canada Fest" event in Phoenix on March 8. They take on Washington that night, but also have games that week against Montreal and Vancouver. I guess they figure they can keep the Canadian fans around with a musical lineup of Canadian classic rock icons—Bachman and Turner, Loverboy and Trooper. Could make for a fun trip!
- Interesting news out of Edmonton yesterday, where they shipped Devan Dubnyk out of town, then acquired Ben Scrivens. With a glut of not-quite-proven goaltenders having made noise in the NHL this season, Scrivens netted the Kings only a third-round pick—though I guess from the Oilers that's almost like a second. Scrivens and Dallas Eakins have a relationship going back to their Toronto Marlies days so in that regard, the move makes sense.
What I don't understand is Nashville's motivation. If they need more goaltending support while Pekka Rinne is out, why wouldn't they go for Scrivens themselves instead of Dubnyk? Both are UFAs at the end of this season, so the commitment is minimal. Were they that eager to dump Matt Hendricks' contact?
Maybe I'm underestimating Dubnyk, who could get a chance to shine behind a defensive system in Nashville that's very different from what he had in Edmonton.
- Evander Kane watch is on hold for the time being. The Jets have placed him on IR retroactive to January 7th with a hand injury.