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Canucks try to make a game of it but are dominated by Jets to end homestand

November 20, 2018, 2:50 PM ET [275 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Monday November 19 - Winnipeg Jets 6 - Vancouver Canucks 3

I give them credit for making a game of it. Despite being overwhelmed in the first period, the Vancouver Canucks battled back to within a goal before falling 6-3 to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night at Rogers Arena.

Here are your highlights:



Two big ideas hit me over the head in this game: 'playing with pace' and 'score effects.'

The Jets started the game like they had collectively been shot out of a cannon. It's easy to blame Jacob Markstrom for his puck-handling gaffe that put the Canucks behind 1-0 just 73 seconds into the game, but the puck had already been up and down the ice four times in that span and Markstrom had already made saves on Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Chiarot in the Jets' earlier offensive sequence. The clearing attempt is a play that Markstrom makes successfully 99 times out of 100. Did the quick pace off the opening draw cause him to rush a little bit?

After Bryan Little made good on the gift from Markstrom, the Jets got the next eight shots in a row and forced Erik Gudbranson into a tripping penalty before Elias Pettersson tied the game when Vancouver had the man advantage.




Pettersson's 12th of the season, at 8:09, was the first shot by the Canucks since Chris Tanev fired a long-ranger at Connor Hellebuyck at 14 seconds—and was just the fourth shot attempt by a Canucks player in the game. A goalpost by Jake Virtanen at the 1:04 mark preceded the Jets' opening goal, and Ben Hutton had a point shot blocked by Blake Wheeler to start the power play before Pettersson scored.

Other than that, the Canucks barely touched the puck. And when there was a stoppage in play, the Jets were lining up quickly, pushing the pace by not giving Vancouver time to breathe or reset before the next draw. There's more to 'playing fast' than just how quickly players can skate.

Petey seemed like he'd worked another miracle by tying such a lopsided game—and once again, Hutton was able to get the puck to Pettersson on the power play. But the Jets kept the pressure on and were rewarded with goals 39 seconds apart by Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor, on the power play.

By the time I took a breath at the end of the opening frame, the shots were 23-7 for the Jets, but the Canucks had come thisclose to making the score 3-2...




Given that the Canucks scored just three goals in total in their three games against the Jets last season, it seemed like the game was all but over after just 20 minutes.

But even in the midst of what is now a six-game losing streak, this group deserves credit for its resilience. After such a dominant first period, the Jets may have taken their foot off the gas in the second—that's the 'score effects' part. Antoine Roussel also deserves a tip of the hat for stirring the pot by going after Brandon Tanev right off the draw, after Hutton took out Pettersson to give an unimpeded Patrik Laine an easy path to the net for the first of his three goals, midway through the period, making the score 4-1.




Winnipeg's Tanev brother had been playing a physical game up to that point, and had gotten into it a bit earlier with Jake Virtanen.



The crowd seemed a bit stunned by the force of Roussel's rage, but even though he got the extra penalty to leave the Canucks shorthanded, the fight did end up changing the momentum in a positive way when tenacious Tyler Motte surprised Hellebuyck on a shorthanded breakaway, for his second goal of the year.




That woke the crowd up. Cheers and chants and waves ensued, and Nikolay Goldobin pulled the Canucks within one when he tucked the puck past Hellebuyck's outstretched toe with 3:52 left to play in the second.

But the Canucks couldn't get any closer. Even with a power play, they managed just two shot attempts in the remainder of the second, and didn't muster much in the third before Laine eventually put the game away with the two goals to finish off his hat trick.

I know Tim Schaller is still looking for his first goal as a Canuck—and he has a special connection to Hockey Fights Cancer night, too, after having been a bone marrow donor for his brother a few years back. But damn—couldn't he have found a way to pass it to Petey when the pair broke in on a third-period two-on-one??

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know that I love to compare Bo Horvat's career evolution with Mark Scheifele, who is two years older than him. The two were matched up for much of the night on Monday—and all things considered, Bo did all right. Scheifele finished the night with an even-strength goal and a power-play assist, while Horvat picked up the assist on Motte's shorty. Even with all of Winnipeg's depth, Scheifele was still the high-minute forward for Winnipeg at 21:37, but Horvat just edged out Hutton as the top ice-time man on the whole Canucks team at 24:37.

Once again, Horvat took nearly half of Vancouver's draws in the game—33 of 68. He was a superb 23-10 overall: lost one draw to Blake Wheeler, split the difference at 9-for-18 against Scheifele and was perfect against everybody else Winnipeg threw at him, including 8-for-8 against Adam Lowry. Lowry couldn't beat Bo but he was a perfect 6-for-6 against Elias Pettersson. Go figure.

Despite the fact that the Canucks are now in the biggest swoon in the entire NHL, I think Travis Green is one head coach who is not worried about his job. The Western Conference bloodletting has continued, with Mike Yeo dismissed by St. Louis after the Blues' shutout loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night and Todd McLellan shown the door by the Oilers ahead of their game in San Jose on Tuesday.

Add in the offseason changes in Calgary and Dallas and the changes in L.A. and Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and Green has already been with Vancouver longer than seven other Western Conference coaches and 13 in across the league—just 105 games into his NHL career.

With Quenneville, McLellan, Stevens and Yeo all now available, I don't imagine the carousel has stopped spinning yet.

Was nice to see that Q didn't seem to be sweating his situation last weekend.




Tuesday's a travel day for the Canucks, who start their three-in-four spin through California in Anaheim on Wednesday. Here's the latest non-news on the injuries:


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