Saturday December 15 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - Philadelphia Flyers 1
The Philadelphia Flyers came out with some fire in their bellies but were undone early by their goaltending woes as the Vancouver Canucks cruised to an easy win to open their five-game homestand on Saturday night.
Here are your highlights:
Though Alex Lyon had initially been reported as the game's starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz ended up getting the nod for the second-straight game, but lasted just 8:14 before he was replaced by Lyon. Early on, the Flyers did a good job keeping the puck out of their own zone and attacking Vancouver physically, but when the Canucks did get possession, they burned Stolarz quickly for two goals on four shots.
Chris Tanev opened the scoring with a beautiful backhander as he cruised down Main St. to collect his first of the year.
Then Loui Eriksson followed up with his sixth of the year before Stolarz left the game.
When Lyon came in, the Flyers tried once again to protect him, but Josh Leivo made it 3-0 on the first shot that got through to Lyon, with 8:48 left in the first. Before the first period was over, Scott Laughton kept things interesting by capitalizing on a Derrick Pouliot turnover to make the game 3-1, but that was as close as the Flyers would get.
After a night off in Nashville on Thursday, Jacob Markstrom looked sharp in net, stopping 31 of 32 shots for Vancouver as he was named the game's first star. Brock Boeser added his 11th of the year in the second period, then Markus Granlund finished out the scoring with an empty-netter after Flyers coach Dave Hakstol went for broke, pulling his goalie with his team down by three and on the power play with 6:45 left to play. The goal didn't come until after Jay Beagle was out of the penalty box, so it doesn't add to the Canucks' high shorthanded-goal tally for this season.
In his first home game against a Metro Division opponent this season, Beagle was a physical force. It was clear that he has built up some emotion during his 26 career games against the Flyers—he led the Canucks with seven hits, went 8-for-13 in the faceoff circle and drew the second assist on Granlund's empty-netter as he played 15:53—the most ice time he has seen since coming back from injury six games ago.
On a back-to-back weekend, as the Canucks head into their third game in four nights, Travis Green was able to take advantage of his team's lead to ease the workload for some of his often-busiest forwards, essentially rolling four lines. Brock Boeser played just 13:24, Elias Pettersson played 14:46 and while Bo Horvat still led all forwards in ice time, he played just 17:29, only four seconds more than Granlund.
The Canucks are not taking a morning skate on Sunday, so we won't find out if there are any lineup changes until closer to gametime.
The mood certainly feels desperate around the Flyers, who now return home with yet another injured goalie in Stolarz and with just one point and 22 goals against in four games through Western Canada. I spent much of the third period thinking that Anders Nilsson should be a legitimate option for them at this point—he has already gone through his annual injury and would offer some short-term stability, on a relatively reasonable contract of $2.5 million this season. The Flyers do have cap space and while Michal Neuvirth should be back soon after the birth of his child, Brian Elliott's recovery from his groin injury suddenly seems much more nebulous than it did a few days ago.
The other trade rumour that surfaced during Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast: the Canucks are rumoured to be interested in Washington's Andre Burakovsky.
Given that Burakovsky has been a healthy scratch for Washington for the last three games, I can see how the Caps could be dangling him in an attempt to get some defensive help now that Christian Djoos is sidelined for awhile after surgery on his thigh. But a deal like this seems like the opposite of what the Canucks should be trying to do. Once Sven Baertschi and Brandon Sutter get healthy, Vancouver is already going to have a log-jam at forward. Bringing in another offense-minded winger seems redundant to me.
With just four days left before the holiday trade freeze begins, though, I think we will see some trade movement around the league between now and Wednesday.
While the game was enjoyable on Saturday, one of my favourite parts came later, when Elias Pettersson joined Scott Oake on After Hours. Pettersson did his best to stay open and honest during the two-segment interview, although it's clear that he doesn't like dissecting the minutiae of his game because he's afraid of giving away his trade secrets.
If you missed it, it's well worth watching:
Sportsnet's Brock Boeser feature is also now available to stream, if you missed it earlier this week:
Sunday December 16 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 35 GP, 15-16-4, 34 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Edmonton Oilers: 33 GP, 18-12-3, 39 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
With nine points in seven games this month, the Canucks tied their point total from 14 games in November with their win over Philadelphia on Saturday. Vancouver has a chance to return to the .500 mark for the first time since November 17 when hosting the surging Edmonton Oilers for the first time this season on Sunday.
In case you haven't heard—Edmonton has been on a hot streak since coach Ken Hitchcock took over. Since November 20, the Oilers have gone 9-2-2—the fourth-best record in the league during that stretch behind only Tampa Bay, Washington and Anaheim (!)
Not surprisingly, given Hitchcock's reputation, a big part of Edmonton's success has come on the defensive side of the puck, where they've given up just 31 goals in those 13 games—fourth-fewest over that timeframe. What is surprising is that the team that's right behind them on that list is....Vancouver! The Canucks have played one fewer game, but 32 goals against in 12 games (2.67 GAA per game) is also pretty solid, especially considering the Canucks were still mired in their losing streak for the first half of that stretch.
Hitch has mostly been riding Mikko Koskinen in goal, starting him in 9 of the 13 games, and Koskinen has delivered with a 7-1-1 record, a 1.77 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. In his four games, Cam Talbot has been a not-terrible 2-1-1 at 2.95 and .910.
By comparison, Jacob Markstrom has gone 5-2-1 with 2.39 and .919 over the same stretch, while Anders Nilsson is 0-3-1, .885 and 3.26.
The Oilers' last game was their 4-1 win over Philadelphia on Friday. They're dressing the same lineup against Vancouver, including Koskinen in net.
The Oilers do have a sudden hole on their blue line, where Oscar Klefbom and Kris Russell are both missing after suffering injuries earlier in the week.
Up front, Hitch has been leaning hard on Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, and it has been working for him. Florida's Aleksander Barkov (24:09) is the only forward who has averaged more ice time per game since Hitchcock took over than Draisaitl (23:49) and McDavid (23:16). By comparison, Bo Horvat ranks 12th at a relatively tame 21:19.
During that stretch Draisaitl is 4-15-19 and McDavid is 7-13-20. Horvat is 5-6-11 and Elias Pettersson is 4-11-15, in one fewer game played.
Petey vs. McDavid sounds like a pretty tasty matchup to me. Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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