Wednesday September 19 - Calgary Flames 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
For the second straight night, the Vancouver Canucks outshot their opponents, but came out on the losing end of the scoresheet.
With both teams icing mostly minor-league lineups, the Canucks dropped a 4-1 decision to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
We're no closer to answering the question of who will be the team's backup goaltender this season, after Thatcher Demko allowed three goals on 21 shots in two periods of action. It wasn't the kind of performance that puts additional pressure on incumbent Anders Nilsson.
In his postgame wrapup for The Athletic,
Jason Botchford reminds us that there's a new goaltending sheriff in town this season: coach Ian Clark.
As he puts it, "They are not making significant changes to (Demko's) style but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy transition."
“Obviously I’m trying to implement some of this stuff but it’s not an excuse," said Demko after the game. “I feel like I can play a lot better.”
Of course, Clark is also working with Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson, so the new input could also help to explain Nilsson's shaky performance on Tuesday.
Before coming back to Vancouver, Clark spent the last few years in Columbus, where he helped raise the game of Sergei Bobrovsky. Dan Cloutier is in town, helping to ease the transition, and Clark's work should eventually pay dividends. For now, though, things could be a bit bumpy. Can everything get worked out before the end of preseason?
Michael DiPietro saw his first NHL preseason action in the third period on Wednesday. He looked calm and poised and didn't need to rely on his acrobatic skills like we've seen in the past as he stopped all 10 shots he faced. The Windsor Spitfires' regular season kicks off tonight; I haven't seen an official transaction report yet but it sounds like he's leaving camp on a high note to return to his junior team:
For the second straight night, the Canucks also got plenty of opportunity to work on their special teams. The Flames took six penalties while Vancouver took just three, and Brandon Sutter also failed to convert when he was awarded a second-period penalty shot.
But unlike Tuesday's dazzling Elias Pettersson show, Wednesday night's power-play group had a hard time getting in sync. The only odd-man tally of the night was a shorthanded marker by Calgary's Andrew Mangiapane, midway through the second period.
The Canucks showed some life in the last half of the third, applying plenty of pressure after Brendan Leipsic finally got the team on the board with a nice individual effort during some 4-on-4 action.
Leipsic finished the night with five shots on goal, and Reid Boucher led the team on Wednesday with seven. That seems appropriate, since they've already established themselves as offense-oriented bubble guys, but I don't think either of them did enough to ensure that they'll stay in the conversation for an NHL roster spot.
Adam Gaudette had a busy night, leading all forwards with 22:30 of ice time and playing both special teams. He made things happen at times and had eight shot attempts, but missed the net six times, and finished the night with a team-high minus-three.
"Is he raw? Yes he is," said Travis Green about Gaudette, per Botchford. "But a lot of our young guys are raw. Rookies in the NHL have some stuff to learn. He’s a good player. He understands the game."
I have faith in Gaudette's work ethic. At this point, I'd guess that he won't be starting the season in Vancouver, but he'll get back here.
On the blue line, Derrick Pouliot squandered an opportunity to put his stamp on a roster spot, finishing the night with a minus-two and two pretty egregious giveaways.
With lots of depth on the left side, Green elected to start Pouliot on the right in a pairing with Olli Juolevi, and admitted after the game that the situation didn't do Pouliot any favours.
As for Juolevi, he kind of flew under the radar—which seems to fit his new narrative of being a calm, non-flashy player. I didn't even remember he was in the game until the second period. On the stat sheet, he finished with one shot attempt (blocked), and one block himself.
Remember when Chris Tanev started out? How it took about a year and a half before people began to notice how low-key efficient he was in his own zone? As a fifth-overall pick, I'm not sure Juolevi will ever be able to fly that far under the radar, but I want to see more. I'll be trying to pay closer attention to the little things in his game the next time he plays.
Elsewhere, I thought Zack MacEwen had a solid outing in his first-ever preseason game. Petrus Palmu has been such a pleasant surprise in all his previous appearances that I was a bit disappointed he wasn't a bigger factor, but he did seem to get better as the game went on. And Travis Green rewarded two of his longtime leaders from Utica, Carter Bancks and Wacey Hamilton, with an opportunity to skate for the big club on Wednesday. Hamilton didn't play in the third period, though, after leaving the game with an injury.
Thursday September 20 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 650
For their last preseason game of the year at Rogers Arena, the Canucks will be icing a much more NHL-ready group on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
Thursday will bring our first-ever Jay Beagle sighting, as well as the first games of the year for Darren Archibald, Brock Boeser and Guillaume Brisebois.
Travis Green is sticking with his Baertschi-Pettersson-Goldobin line after their strong outing on Tuesday. Jonathan Dahlen's getting a heckuva chance to make an impression, skating with Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser.
This is a pretty drool-worthy collection of forwards in the power-play mix, too.
It's a split-squad night for the Kings, who are icing this lineup tonight at Staples Center against Vegas:
The Kings are still carrying 52 players on the training camp roster, so they have more than enough bodies available to fill out two lineups.
For now, here's the best guess I can find on some of the players to expect in Vancouver tonight:
Once again, we have another national broadcast tonight on Sportsnet One. Should be fun—enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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