Thursday August 6 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Minnesota Wild 0
What a difference a week makes.
After starting their journey in the Edmonton hub city with a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Winnipeg Jets and a 3-0 Game 1 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, the Vancouver Canucks built off Tuesday's Game 2 win with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Wild on Thursday.
Here are your highlights:
It was another chippy game, with 11 minor penalties handed out to each side, including five roughing minors for each team. After Ryan Hartman left Game 2 in the third period after he got tangled up with Elias Pettersson, he returned for Game 3 — and got a revenge hit in the second period which saw J.T. Miller leap to Petey's defense.
Canucks take exception to this hit on Pettersson from Ryan Hartman, who receives a two minute minor for boarding. Pettersson was one who shoved Hartman in Game 2, fell and hit head on ice. Definitely looks like some intent here. pic.twitter.com/ZEN41WlaLG
— NHL Player Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) August 6, 2020
The Wild did lose minute-munching defenseman Ryan Suter for the last seven minutes of the third period. He "only" played 21:04, and Dean Evason didn't have an update after the game.
As for the Canucks, Tyler Toffoli missed a second-straight game with what is believed to be some kind of foot injury, and I'm sure you've heard that Micheal Ferland has now been sent home.
After missing a good chunk of the 2019-2020 season with issues related to concussion, Micheal Ferland has returned to his home in Manitoba. Sources say he’s dealing with similar issues.
As I've said previously, I guess I can understand the mindset that made Ferland want to prove to himself and his teammates that would be able to fight and play his signature game, when he chose to square off with Marcus Foligno shortly after puck drop in Game 1. But I was horrified to see it happen, and am saddened that it may have triggered another setback. I hope Ferland can get the help he needs, and that everything he's been through doesn't negatively impact his long-term quality of life.
For the Canucks, that meant Zack MacEwen drew into the lineup for this first career (sort of) playoff game. I'm surprised that he logged just five minutes of ice time, because he was solid. MacEwen delivered three hits and two shots on goal, and drew two Minnesota penalties.
Of course, the two big stories of the day were the Canucks' Young Guns gettin' 'er done, and Jacob Markstrom recording his first (sort of) playoff shutout in just his third career postseason game.
Considering Markstrom needed 129 regular-season games to earn his first goose-egg, getting this result relatively quickly must have been a bit of a relief for him. After looking shaky at the beginning of Game 1 and seemingly losing concentration at the end of Game 2, Markstrom was on his game for the full 60 minutes on Thursday and easily outplayed his incredibly vocal counterpart, Alex Stalock, at the other end of the ice.
It took awhile for the offense to come, but Brock Boeser's power-play tap-in with 6:11 to play in the second period stood up as the game winner — his second of the playoffs, and a special tribute to his friend Ty Alyea, who was killed in a car crash on this day in 2014, when Boeser was away in Slovakia for the U18 Ivan Hlinka tournament.
An Elias Pettersson shot created Boeser's scoring opportunity, and Petey got on the board with his own first playoff goal in the third period, with a rocket of a shot that beat Stalock clean.
Sporting a shiner of epic playoff proportions thanks to a puck to the face in Game 2, Antoine Roussel had Vancouver's other goal, and has been playing his agitator role to perfection in the series.
As for Quinn Hughes — after a quiet first couple of games, he assisted on all three goals.
Quinn Hughes (0-3—3) is the third rookie in @Canucks history to record three or more points in a postseason contest, joining Pavel Bure (3-0—3 in Game 6 & 1-3—4 in Game 5 of the 1992 DSF) and Trevor Linden (1-3—4 in Game 4 of the 1989 DSF). #NHLStats#StanleyCuppic.twitter.com/jz0UPfa0V7
Hughes becomes the first Canucks rookie defenseman to pick up three points in a postseason game. Just another day at the office for him.
One thing that was noticeable to me as I watched the game is how the team dynamic has changed over the last week. Maybe the young Canucks were a little nervous, or maybe there was still some rust in their game from the strange four-month layoff. Whichever the case may be, the team looked much more cohesive on Thursday and I felt like there's evidence that bubble life really is creating a team bonding experience. Tyler Motte continues his high-energy play and was fantastic on the penalty kill — where he logged 6:45 of ice time! And Jay Beagle seemed like an integral part of the action, finishing with 5:52 on the P.K. and 15:19 in total.
With six potential elimination games on the NHL schedule on Friday, the Canucks are the only team that has won two straight after losing Game 1. The Wild seemed very disheartened on Thursday by their lack of ability to generate offense and ongoing penalty trouble. It'll be interesting to see what kind of effort they can muster on Friday night.
Even though the games are technically back-to-back, both sides have gotten a little extra rest. Thursday's game was an afternoon contest, which started at 12:30 p.m. local time. Friday's game will be the last one of the day, scheduled for another 8:45 p.m. puck drop.
“We’ve already had a good chat,” Evason said right after Thursday's game. “The best part is we get to go after it [Friday]. This wasn’t an elimination game, so we get an opportunity to come back and compete [Friday] and not have that happen. So, we have to give ourselves an opportunity. We’re ready to go.”
At this point, Travis Green's calm and supportive coaching approach has been paying dividends. On Friday, we'll see whether that's enough to earn the Canucks their first (sort of) postseason series win since 2011, and Green's first of his NHL coaching career.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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