Thursday November 12 - Ottawa Senators 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks finally broke their power-play drought, but they lost the special teams battle once again as they fell 3-2 to the Ottawa Senators in the nation's capital on Thursday.
Here are your highlights:
Considering they were far from home, the Canucks had some solid support in the stands at the Canadian Tire Centre last night.
Canada's new Minister of National Defense represents the riding of Vancouver South:
In the end, the cheering section ended up being 450 fans strong, according to Jason Botchford in The Provies.
They arrived on several buses, and took over the Canadian Tire Centre, chanting “B-Hutt, B-Hutt” throughout, while holding up their adoring signs.
They shared stories too about their hero. Lots of them.
Greg Williams, who claims to be Hutton’s first coach, said he watched Hutton score 50 goals for him one season.
“He’s a legend,” Williams said.
“I’m telling you, he’s a small town kid who we’ve all been involved with.
“I never expected this. The town never did. We never did. But if any kid should make the NHL, this is the kid who is the epitome of someone who has done it for all the right reasons.”
What a cool moment for Hutton:
“It’s awesome. I come from a small town and to be idolized, is special,” Hutton said. “I saw some young kids I worked with at hockey camp during warm up.
“They were just jumping up and down.
“It makes you feel good.”
What about when they were chanting “Bee-Hutt, Bee-Hutt.”
“I was trying to stay as focused as possible but when they started chanting Bee-Hutt, I wanted to peak up and see who was up there.
“It was cool hearing my name like that.”
Statistically, Hutton had a quiet night, finishing with one shot and one hit in 17:46 of ice time.
Other positives from the game?
It seemed like a very good sign that Radim Vrbata and Sven Baertschi were able to combine for a rather flukey goal to open the scoring at the 7:48 mark of the first period.
If the hockey gods were smiling on those two, surely good things had to happen. Right? Well, not so much...
Also positive: the Canucks finally picked up their first power-play goal in 19 tries—but it was a 6-on-4 goal with the Canucks two goals down, and came with just 24 seconds left in the third period. It was enough to continue the season-long trend of losing games by just a single goal, but not enough to salvage a point. They also gave up two power-play goals to Ottawa, which means the penalty kill has given up seven goals in Vancouver's last 17 shorthanded situations—a kill rate of just 58.8 percent.
But, here's one more positive. The Canucks did a good job of manufacturing chances against a rather loose Ottawa defense, especially when they outshot the Sens 19-8 in the second period. But B.C.'s Andrew Hammond played a strong game, stepping in after a rough seven-goal outing by starter Craig Anderson one game earlier in Nashville.
Could this be a template for the Canucks when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday? Their lone win so far on this road trip came with Jacob Markstrom in net, and Ryan Miller is now 0-3-1 in his last four games—with at least three goals against in each of those starts.
Earlier in the week, our poll showed that you were reasonably accepting when Miller critiqued his teammates' third-period play in the late loss to Buffalo. But the goalie knew that he had no one to blame but himself for what turned out to be the game winner on Thursday—a point shot from 25-year-old rookie defenseman Chris Wideman that even Miller knew he should have had.
"I let the guys down on that last one, pretty critical error on my part. Not a good goal" - Miller #Canucks
The normally durable Brandon Sutter is absent, with no word yet on the nature of his injury. The Canucks have just announced that Alex Biega has been reassigned to the Utica Comets.
If #Canucks Biega is headed back to Utica, he could be busy... #Comets in Springfield tonight and in Syracuse tomorrow #TSN1040
Botchford is reporting that Luca Sbisa's injury is a sprained ankle, and that he could be well enough to join the team as early as the final game of the road trip, next Wednesday against Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette is reporting that Brandon Prust is also about a week away from returning from his ankle injury.
He will travel Saturday from the West Coast to Toronto to join the Canucks, practise there on Sunday for the first time since he was injured, then fly into Montreal and take part in Monday’s game-day morning skate. He hopes to be ready to play next Saturday at home vs. Chicago.
Though he's disappointed that he won't be able to play at the Bell Centre, Prust will be hosting a group of underprivileged kids in a suite when the Canucks take on the league-leading Canadiens. A nice way to give back to the community that meant so much to him—the whole article is well worth a read.
And speaking of featured couples from Hockey Wives, last week we heard David Booth's wife Ashley fretting about the possibility of leaving Tennessee once again for another year in Canada.
I wonder if the camera crew is along for the ride?
And finally, what should be the final note on the Alex Burrows/Jordin Tootoo incident—at least until Tootoo and the Devils roll into Vancouver next weekend.
burrows will be talking to the league via phone call re: tootoo. not facing supplemental discipline for his on-ice comments
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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