Friday October 28 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - Pittsburgh Penguins 1
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a pulse...
Defying logic and expectations, the Vancouver Canucks triggered the first regular-season "Bruce, there it is," chant of the year on Friday night, when they took down the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 5-1.
Bo Horvat tallied his fifth and sixth goals of the season, while Tanner Pearson, Andrei Kuzmenko and J.T. Miller each added singles. The power play went 2-for-4, the penalty kill was 3-for-4 and Spencer Martin made 34 saves for his first win of the year, only allowing a power-play tally from Rickard Rakell on an impressive-looking man-advantage sequence from the Penguins.
With the win, the Canucks improve their record to 2-5-2. And while it may seem a little early to be checking the standings, Elliotte Friedman likes to opine that Nov. 1 is actually a better indicator of potential playoff positioning than American Thanksgiving later this month.
The Canucks don't play again in October, so they'll be stuck at six points. As of Sunday morning, that puts them 13th in the Western Conference standings, four points out of the wild-card spots that are currently held by Seattle and Los Angeles and with four teams to pass in order to get to eighth place.
Feels a lot like when Bruce Boudreau took over last year, doesn't it? It's time, once again, for him to remind his players that if they can gain just a point a week, it can make all the difference. But that's no easy task when opponents are working toward the same goals.
The upcoming week is one where they need to make hay. They're enjoying three days off over Halloween weekend before facing the 5-3-0 New Jersey Devils on Tuesday — and the Devils are getting set for a Sunday matinee puck drop on home ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets as I type this. Then, the Canucks will host the cellar-dwelling Anaheim Ducks (1-6-1) on Thursday as they officially celebrate Kevin Bieksa's retirement. And the Nashville Predators come to town on Saturday, with a 1-5-1 record since returning to North America after starting their season with a pair of wins in Prague over the San Jose Sharks as part of the NHL Global Series.
While the Devils are playing, the Canucks are back on the ice for practice at Rogers Arena on Sunday — with some new faces and a couple of returnees from the injured list:
New trade acquisitions Jack Studnicka and Ethan Bear are both on the ice, while Quinn Hughes and Riley Stillman are also back at practice — although Oliver Ekman-Larsson is not.
OEL played some big minutes last week: 23:54 against Carolina, a whopping 27:47 in Seattle and 22:44 on Friday against Pittsburgh. I tend to be a bit optimistic when sussing out maintenance days, but I'm going to assume that the 31-year-old is being given a rest until I hear otherwise.
After picking up Studnicka from Boston Thursday, the Ethan Bear trade was consummated with Carolina just as I was putting the finishing touches on my last blog on Friday.
Officially, Bear and minor-league center Lane Pederson come to Vancouver, in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2023 draft.
So yes, that's the second pick that Patrik Allvin has dealt away in the last month, after sending a 2024 second-rounder to Chicago as the sweetener in the Riley Stillman for Jason Dickinson deal on October 7.
And in case you've missed it, Dickinson has been a great fit since landing with the Blackhawks. He's now up to six points in six games, and the Blackhawks are exceeding expectations with their 4-3-1 record, which has them in third place in the Central Division heading into Sunday's action.
Stillman, of course, was injured in Minnesota on October 20, in his fifth game as a Canuck, and is back practicing with the team for the first time on Sunday.
As for the Bear trade — this one has been rumoured for months. The 25-year-old wasn't able to get into the lineup with Carolina this season — and was essentially supplanted by former Canuck Jalen Chatfield, who is now earning significant praise for his work on the Hurricanes blue line.
Bear is a true righty — something the Canucks desperately need. And while it's disappointing to see another draft pick go out, it's not nothing that Allvin picked up Lane Pederson in the deal. He's an undrafted 25-year-old center from Saskatoon, who has 44 games of previous NHL experience with the Arizona Coyotes and San Jose Sharks, and was dealt to the Hurricanes as part of this summer's Brent Burns trade.
I think it bodes well that both these new players have strong connections to Luke Schenn. Bear is part of the Kelowna contingent that works out with the Schenn brothers and many other NHLers every summer, and Pederson is apparently the
long-time boyfriend of the Schenns' sister.
Pederson has decent size at 6'0" and 197 pounds, is a right shot, and provides some much-needed organizational depth at centre. And he snapped home his first goal in an Abbotsford uniform in just the second shift of his debut with his new team on Saturday night.
The Baby Canucks picked up three of a possible four points in their home-opener weekend, beating the San Diego Gulls 7-3 on Friday night before falling 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday. They're now 3-2-0-1 in their first six games, good for fifth place in the AHL's 10-team Pacific Division.
With the arrival of Bear and Studnicka, also a right-shot centre, the Canucks re-assigned Noah Juulsen and Sheldon Dries back to Abbotsford on Saturday. With Stillman and Quinn Hughes also back at practice, we may see more roster movement ahead of Tuesday's game.
Finally — the schedule allowed the Canucks to have a proper Halloween party — nice timing coming off a couple of wins.
The costume pix are starting to bubble up on social media. These two are my favourites so far, and attached to what seems to be a pretty comprehensive Twitter thread:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»