Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Vancouver Canucks' young guns fuel their shootout win over the Kings

February 15, 2019, 3:09 PM ET [215 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thursday February 14 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Los Angeles Kings 3 (SO)

Playing their third game in four nights with two more players out of the lineup due to injury, the Vancouver Canucks' kids dug deep to fashion a third-period comeback and beat the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout on Thursday night at Staples Center.

Here are your highlights:



Before the game, Travis Green provided a lengthy update on the Canucks' latest roster news:




Given his injury history, I wasn't surprised to hear that Chris Tanev had returned to Vancouver. He plays through a lot, but was clearly in trouble after getting tangled up with Ryan Getzlaf in the third period in Anaheim.

I was more surprised to learn that Jake Virtanen was also sidelined. He was one of just three Canucks players to have appeared in every game so far this season, along with Bo Horvat and Loui Eriksson. Broadly speaking, Jake seems to have a tough constitution that has allowed him to play a physical game without wearing down, and has rarely been injured during his NHL career.

Virtanen did return to action against the Ducks after taking that centre-ice hit from Getzlaf, but played limited minutes. I guess the good news is that he is staying with the team through the conclusion of this road trip on San Jose, and the word is that he doesn't have a concussion. Maybe he'll be well enough to get back into the lineup on Saturday.

Tanev's absence meant that Guillaume Brisebois finally drew into the lineup after having been recalled on February 5. He slotted in with Erik Gudbranson and played 9:24, all at even strength. He was on the ice for the Kings' second and third-period goals but also finished the night with two hits and a blocked shot. Other than bee-lining to the bench for a change when he lost his helmet because he didn't know that the AHL rule didn't apply at the NHL level, I thought Brisebois did just fine, and Travis Green seemed to concur:




Brisebois also dropped a hint that yes, Tanev already wasn't 100 percent going into Wednesday's game in Anaheim.




Like Sutter, Tanev went straight on IR when he came out of the lineup. And Michael DiPietro was officially re-assigned to the Ottawa 67s on Wednesday,

So, with one roster spot available, the Canucks called up NHL veteran Luke Schenn on Friday. He's 1-4-5 in seven games in Utica since he was acquired in exchange for Michael Del Zotto last month.




For now, the Canucks go with size and experience over 'playing the kids.' Evan McEneny, Ashton Sautner and Jalen Chatfield have all recently returned to the Comets lineup after missing significant chunks of time with injury.

McEneny has 8-19-27 in 50 games this season. Sautner has 3-5-8 in 29 games and Chatfield has just two assists in 20 games. Schenn, McEneny and Sautner are all lefties; Chatfield is a right shot.

This week, the kids from Utica are, as they say, alright. Brisebois passed his audition, Zack MacEwen has been holding his own as a big-bodied power forward and Adam Gaudette has come back strong after going 3-4-7 in his most recent 10-game stint down on the farm.

In just 10:02 of ice time, Gaudette picked up two points, including the game-tying goal that forced overtime with just 1:38 left to play in regulation.




Pretty great to see Elias Pettersson make the pass that sets up that goal while being hounded by a Norris Trophy winner and a two-time Selke Trophy winner. Also great to see Pettersson open the scoring on the power play in the first period, with another one of his pinpoint shots.




Traditionally, it's believed that players with ridiculously high shooting percentages will eventually regress to the mean, but I kind of feel like Petey might be able to keep this up. Now with 26 goals on 108 shots, he's clicking at a rate of 24.5 percent. The only player in the NHL who's higher and has scored more than three goals this season is Winnipeg's Brendan Lemieux at 26.5 percent. He has nine goals on 34 shots.

Now with 11 points in 10 games since returning to the lineup after his knee injury, Pettersson has extended his lead in the rookie scoring race to 22 points over Rasmus Dahlin and Andreas Johnsson. At this point, Petey's strongest challengers for the trophy are probably the two goalies: Carter Hart of Philadelphia and Jordan Binnington of St. Louis.

There was some concern in Pavel Bure's rookie season in 1991-92 that he wasn't deserving of the Calder because he'd missed the first month of the season and played only 65 games, but he did edge out Nick Lidstrom and Tony Amonte in the end. Amonte actually led all rookies in scoring that year with 69 points in 79 games, while Lidstrom matched Bure's 60 points, but in 80 games, and laid down a plus-36 in his first year in the NHL—behind only his Red Wings teammates Paul Ysebaert and Brad McCrimmon. The voting was pretty close: Bure earned 26 first-place votes, Lidstrom got 23 and Amonte received 18.

Binnington joined the Blues on December 11 and played his first game of the year on December 16, and Hart didn't make his debut with the Flyers until December 18. I suspect some will say that their sample sizes aren't big enough for a first-place vote this year—especially when Pettersson has done the near-impossible and quickly become nationally known despite playing out here on the west coast.

Now with 29 goals and 53 points, Petey is starting to approach Bure's rookie records of 34 goals and 60 points. The countdown is on.

Brock Boeser's late-season injury ended his run at Bure's rookie record last season, but he grabbed a share of another accolade last night with his 20th goal of the year.




Boeser made it look easy with his shootout winner, too.




To wrap up today: the latest edition of Troy Stecher ice-time-watch:




I daresay Troy from Richmond is loving every minute of this challenge.




Elsewhere in the Western Conference playoff race, the Blues moved into third place in the Central with their win over the Coyotes on Thursday while the Avs and Blackhawks also won. With their two points, the Canucks hold steady in ninth place—level with Minnesota, though the Wild have two games in hand, and two points ahead of Colorado and Chicago.

After it looked like their energy had flagged at times against the Kings, I was impressed to see the team with enough fuel in their reserve tank to earn that late tie, and eventually the win. How much gas will they have on Saturday at the Shark Tank as they try to avenge Monday's 7-2 loss?
Join the Discussion: » 215 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Carol Schram
» Winning Canucks send down Podkolzin, Rathbone as homestand begins
» Power-play fuels big win in Vegas as Canucks look to sweep 3-game road trip
» The Canucks' position at U.S. Thanksgiving, following a big win in Denver
» Trade winds blow as the Canucks kick off road trip against the Avalanche
» Podkolzin returns as Canucks host Vegas amidst Horvat, Myers trade rumours