Saturday December 14 - San Jose Sharks 4 - Vancouver Canucks 2
Looking determined and prepared after a couple more days of work under their new coaching staff, the San Jose Sharks parlayed an early lead into a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Here are your highlights:
By game's end, the Canucks had outshot the Sharks 35-27. But in my mind, the game was lost in the first seven minutes or so, when San Jose outshot Vancouver 8-2 and earned a power play. Tomas Hertl finally got the opening goal at the 10:50 mark — and while the Canucks subsequently pushed back, that small lead was enough to keep the visitors frustrated until midway through the third, when the Sharks went up 2-0 before Jake Virtanen finally beat Aaron Dell and set up some frantic final minutes which saw plenty of push but not enough finish.
After the game, Dell told Scott Oake that he thought the team in front of him played better defensively, limiting the number of high-danger scoring chances that he faced.
I'm not normally one to go all Fancystats on you, but it is interesting to take a look at the Heatmap from this particular game, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick. The darker the colour, the more shot attempts came from a particular area. This map shows that most of the Canucks' pressure on Saturday did come from close to the net — generally considered much more dangerous than shots from the perimeter.
As a career backup, Dell clearly keeps his quotes on the humble end of the spectrum!
When the Canucks come out on the losing end of the box score after a good effort, Travis Green often gives the other team credit and is quite philosophical about controlling what you can control.
I'm not sure if he's trying to fire up his team for a better start on Sunday in Vegas or if his emotions just got the better of him, but he sounded a different note on Saturday.
Sunday December 15 - Vancouver Canucks at Vegas Golden Knights - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 33 GP, 16-13-4, 36 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Vegas Golden Knights: 35 GP, 17-13-5, 39 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
The Canucks' task at hand doesn't get any easier as they move on to Vegas to play the Golden Knights on Sunday. It's their first game of the year against a Vegas team that has been sputtering a bit this season — currently clinging to the second wild-card spot in the West, but in position to turn things around in a hurry. Now that Edmonton is on a four-game losing streak, Vegas is also just three points out of first place in the ridiculously tight Pacific Division. A win over Vancouver would vault them straight into second place.
Look at the standings, and you'll see that Vegas is a solid 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, while Vancouver is 5-5-0. But take a smaller sample size, and the Golden Knights are 2-3-0 in their last five, while the Canucks are 3-2-0. On the third hand, if you will, Vegas' last game was a win — 3-2 in overtime against Dallas on Friday, so they're also going into Sunday's game with a bit more rest.
One strange, and sad, coincidence: Both teams' starting goaltenders are getting back into their playing groove after their fathers recently passed away. Jacob Markstrom has been back with the Canucks for a week and is expected to start the second game of the back-to-back on Sunday, while Marc-Andre Fleury was away from his team for two and a half weeks before coming back to record a 5-1 win against Chicago on Tuesday and a 4-2 loss to St. Louis on Thursday. Malcolm Subban got the win in Dallas on Friday.
With the early 5 p.m. start time, the Knights are taking an early pre-game skate, so here's a look at their lines:
As a team, Vegas' goals for and goals against are currently an identical 2.86 per game, which is pretty remarkable. Their special teams are strong — both power play and penalty killing in the league's top 10, and they're also close to the top of the pack with six shorthanded goals on the year.
Of course, the Canucks have had a very tough time with Vegas in their first two seasons. They went 0-3-1 against the expansion team in 2017-18, then 1-4-0 last year. Nuff said on that.
One other note — after the chatter about Sven Baertschi's trade request on Saturday, which was confirmed by Jim Benning, the Canucks have placed Baertschi on waivers on Sunday.
Normally, when a player is placed on unconditional waivers for purposes of contract termination, that's how it's framed in the announcement. So I don't think this is what we're seeing here.
My guess is one of two possibilities:
- Jim Benning wasn't able to trade Baertschi, but one or more teams has said that they'd be interested in claiming him. That has value for the Canucks, because it would get his salary off their books.
- Or, perhaps Benning has worked out a deal that includes the Canucks retaining some salary, but the acquiring team wants to be able to put Baertschi in the minors without risking losing him on waivers themselves once he carries a lower cap hit. If he clears before the trade is made, I believe the acquiring team would have 30 days in which the can be sent down without needing to be placed on waivers again.
We're at the stage in the season where enough teams have injuries at forward that somebody might be willing to make a move. And as I mentioned yesterday, now's the time, with the holiday trade freeze approaching. Worst-case scenario — he clears, and Benning can show the agent that he made his best effort to be accommodating.
It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Finally, on a lighter note, I'll wrap up today with a listening tip to help you pass the hours till gametime:
Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kesler have launched a podcast, dropping two episodes this week. It's definitely worth a listen for Canucks fans.
It's a very organic conversation between two good pals, and heavy on Canuck content. There's lots of reminiscing about their days in Vancouver, thoughts on the current Canucks and inside scoops on life around the NHL. By turns, it's both irreverent and informative, and really brings us behind the curtain.
Bieksa was never afraid to show his personality — and has shown his media chops as a great guest on other podcasts and during his recent appearances on the panel on Hockey Night in Canada. It's really interesting to hear Kesler with his walls down in this format. He admits that he was always very guarded with the media during his time in Vancouver.
Their guest in Episode 1 is Todd Bertuzzi, who talked about how it felt to get that huge ovation when he skated out in his full gear for the ceremony on the first game of the season, and what he's up to these days back in Detroit — including working as a mentor with 15-year-old phenom Shane Wright of the Kingston Frontenacs.
I haven't quite finished Episode 2 yet, but there's an interview with Alex Burrows still to come — and I was fascinated to hear Kesler talking about the treatment that he has gotten and work he's doing to help improve his cognition and combat the short-term memory loss that he has experienced. I think that kind of honest dialogue can go a long way to helping athletes live better lives after their playing days are over.
The Kes & Juice Podcast is available on all major platforms.
Click here to tune in.
And enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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