Sunday November 8 - New Jersey Devils 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)
The Vancouver Canucks came back from a 3-1 deficit to earn the single point, but their 3-on-3 overtime record dropped to 0-5 when they fell 4-3 to the New Jersey Devils in an action-packed Sunday afternoon game in Newark.
Here are your highlights:
Tons of talking points came out of this one. Where to begin?
Let's start with the positives. Chris Higgins is on a two-game scoring streak after he gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead off a headsy spin-and-shoot move just 2:20 into the game.
Radim Vrbata led the team with six shots on goal but is now back in a five-game goalless drought and has been pointless and minus-1 in each of his past three games. He had some chances on Sunday, but simply can't find the back of the net. Vrbata's also now a team-worst minus-8 on the year.
Yannick Weber had 11 shot attempts on Sunday and a season-high four shots on goal, but came up empty once again. For all the talk of his offensive prowess, Weber has just one assist in nine games played, his minus-6 is the worst of all the Canucks defensemen, and he was on the ice AGAIN for the OT-winning goal.
Weber's supposed power-play magic is also failing. The Canucks have now gone four straight games without a power-play goal. They were 0-for-6 on Sunday, including a goose-egg on a five-minute power play that could have given the team the lead in the third period. They also gave up a shorthanded goal to Adam Henrique thanks to a misguided Alex Edler drop pass, which I believe was intended for Weber.
I realize, with Luca Sbisa and Chris Tanev injured, now's probably not the time to implore Willie to get Weber out of the lineup—but can we please get Weber out of the lineup?
Alex Biega was a plus-2 in 18:06 of ice time on Sunday, so he did just fine. I'd rather see him stick around.
A couple of quick updates on the injuries:
Ben Kuzma reported on Sunday that "Luca Sbisa is out indefinitely with a foot fracture," so that's probably six weeks-ish, similar to what Higgins just went through.
As for Tanev:
I spy Chris Tanev with a bandage on one of his fingers. Not sure if that is the reason for Biega call up. #Canucks
Officially, Tanev is listed as day-to-day. He has missed time with hand injuries before—in 2013-14, he missed seven games with a broken thumb and another 11 games with a broken finger.
Hopefully he'll be back soon!
That major penalty I mentioned came when Adam Larsson was ejected from the game after a late hit on Jared McCann, which briefly knocked the rookie out of the game.
The penalty was called as interference. Mike Halford of NBC Sports reports that there will be no supplemental discipline for Larsson arising from the play.
Despite leaving the game for a bit after being hit, McCann did return and finished the night with 12:31 of ice time, including 2:26 on the power play. He also had an excellent shift during 3-on-3, something I'd been wanting to see.
Jake Virtanen also looked like he might be out of the game when he came up rubbling his knuckles after his first NHL fight.
The fight happened immediately after Baertschi tied the game 3-3 and was clearly an attempt by New Jersey's Bobby Farnham to spark his team. Not an ideal situation for Virtanen and perhaps one for which he wasn't exactly prepared.
From back in Vancouver, injured Brandon Prust was able to do what he would have done if he'd been on the road trip—stick up for his teammate:
Wow bobby Farnham ur so tough acting like that after fighting a 19 year old. Go back to the A
FYI, if you're wondering about Farnham, he seems to have come over to the Devils as part of a package deal with their new coach and GM. When Ray Shero was running the ship in Pittsburgh, Hynes was the coach of Pittsburgh's AHL farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton—where Farnham played for three seasons before being claimed off waivers by the Devils on October 26. He put up big penalty numbers in the AHL even though he's listed at just 5'10" and 190 pounds.
A 26-year-old with just 18 games of NHL experience, Farnham's old coach did him a solid and now he's trying to prove that he has what it takes to contribute at the big-league level. He really crossed the line, I think, with his post-fight celebration, trying to jack up the crowd.
For his part, Virtanen was one coach's challenge from collecting his first career Gordie Howe Hat Trick on Sunday—which would have made the fight totally worthwhile if his goal had counted.
Originally ruled a good goal on the ice, video review showed that Alex Burrows did impede Keith Kinkaid from getting over to make the save on a play that would have made the game 2-2.
Virtanen goal is overturned after coach's challenge for goalie interference. NJ still up 2-1 pic.twitter.com/wqvMtaAk31
More signs that the new rules are not going to break the Canucks way—and that Alex Burrows is never going to get a break.
Burrows is also the subject of headlines today, after Jordin Tootoo accused him of crossing the line with personal jabs while the two were both in the penalty box for separate infractions during the game's first period.
Tootoo: “Burrows when we were in the penalty box, he said some personal remarks regarding my family and it's just unacceptable.”
I read Tootoo's memoir last year. His life story is pretty harrowing and it's impressive that he still has an NHL job. We don't know what, if anything, Burrows actually said, but it was enough for Tootoo to try to go after him in the second period, only to have Derek Dorsett intervene on Burrows' behalf.
The Hockey News is running the incident as the lead story on its website today:
Jordin Tootoo says Alexandre Burrows made remarks about family, calls him ‘classless’ https://t.co/kci0MXMQXH
We'll have to wait and see whether or not Burrows faces any kind of investigation.
When I think of Canucks/Devils games, my mind wanders back to the biggest snoozer I ever saw. On January 30, 1998, the Canucks managed just 14 shots on goal on their way to a 3-1 win over New Jersey at what was then GM Place—with Brian Noonan scoring the game winner.
I'm amazed that we saw so much drama yesterday. And the Canucks and Devils will meet again in just two weeks' time—on the back half of a back-to-back weekend following a visit from the Chicago Blackhawks on November 22.
I was expecting the drama to fly tomorrow, when the Canucks face off against the winless-at-home Columbus Blue Jackets. But for now, everybody's making nice.
Daniel and Henrik Sedin came to the rink on a day off to say hello to Tortorella. He says that's a relationship he treasures. #Canucks
I'm hoping this weekend will turn out to be the last time for awhile that we see Ryan Miller starting in back-to-back games. Miller has given up 15 goals in his last five games: I think he needs a rest.
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