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Markstrom earns 3rd career shutout vs Ducks after Canucks trade Gudbranson |
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Monday February 25 – Vancouver Canucks 4 – Anaheim Ducks 0
After all the trade-deadline dust settled, the Vancouver Canucks went about their business in impressive style with a 4-0 shutout of the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
There’s a lot to like about any Canucks game where the three stars are Jacob Markstrom, Bo Horvat and Elias Pettersson. One game after the Canucks were shut out themselves for the eighth time this season, the team responded by recording its own first shutout of the year—and just the third of his NHL career for Markstrom, who finished with 29 saves.
Bo Horvat’s two goals now give him 23 on the season, a new career high, and put 30 within reach by the end of the year. Horvat’s first of the night came on a good-looking second-period power play after new Anaheim acquisition Brendan Guhle was sent to the penalty box for boarding Tyler Motte — Vancouver’s first goal in four games with the man advantage.
Horvat’s tallies came after Nikolay Goldobin and Alex Biega got the Canucks on the board in the first period. After Goldobin was scratched when Vancouver was shut out by Anaheim goaltender Kevin Boyle on February 13 at Honda Center, it was nice to see him get the Canucks on the board early. He seemed particularly relieved not to have been a deadline-day move.
Biega’s point shot bounced in front of the net, making it difficult for Boyle to read, and is just the 21st by a Vancouver defenseman this year—although that now matches the blueline output from all of last season.
With the win, the Canucks kept the Ducks at bay in the Western Conference standings, as well as leapfrogging the Chicago Blackhawks to move into 11th place, four points behind eighth-place Minnesota. It’s an understatement to say that the Ducks looked listless and disinterested—and their defensive depth has certainly been gutted now that Brandon Montour has been traded. But #LoseForHughes is on the back burner again for the moment as the Canucks will have the opportunity to go directly after the teams that are right in front of them as they kick off their road trip this week in Colorado on Wednesday, followed by Arizona on Thursday.
Is it a coincidence that the Canucks’ most locked-down defensive effort of the season came immediately after Jim Benning dealt Erik Gudbranson to the Pittsburgh Penguins? Perhaps not.
In Gudbranson’s place, Luke Schenn had a perfectly acceptable night against the team he’d signed with as a free agent last summer, logging six shot attempts and a team-high four hits.
His partner, Ashton Sautner, also looked comfortable and confident with three shot attempts, three hits, and a little bit of mucking in the corners despite the full shield he’s still wearing to protect his face after suffering a fractured cheekbone earlier this season in Utica.
I said this last year when he was up and I’ll say it again: I like Sautner.
The announcement of both the Canucks’ trades seemed to come out of nowhere—like many deals, announced well after Monday’s noon deadline.
Unlike last year, there was really no meaningful chatter about dealing Gudbranson at the deadline, so it came as a bit of a shock to see he’d been swapped for Penguins’ winger Tanner Pearson.
Pearson had been acquired by Pittsburgh back in November but never really found a home in their forward group; he had nine goals and 14 points in 44 games with the Penguins this year. Though he won a Stanley Cup with Los Angeles in 2014 and was a member of That 70s Line, my recollection of Pearson is that he wasn’t drafted in his first year of eligibility because his skating was a question mark.
Pearson’s another roll of the dice on the wing, in the same ballpark as Ryan Spooner. So far, the man to beat in that role is Josh Leivo, who continues to make contributions in nearly every game I see him play.
As for Gudbranson, I’m really curious to see if Penguins’ assistant coach Sergei Gonchar can bring out the best in the big blueliner in a new setting. I assume the main reason why Jim Rutherford went after Gudbranson is because both Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin were injured last Saturday in the Stadium Series game against Philadelphia. Olli Maatta was already sidelined, so that left the Pens crazy short on bodies at the back end, especially at this time of year.
The Pens can’t just be biding their time and thinking about playoffs, either; they’ve been caught by Carolina in the Metro Division standings and are currently sitting in ninth place.
The Canucks’ other deadline move saw Jim Benning deal minor-league forward Jonathan Dahlen to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for 19-year-old Swedish centre Linus Karlsson. Some chatter started to bubble up late last week that the organization had soured on Dahlen, who was considered a prize prospect when he was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Alex Burrows at the deadline two years ago.
Dahlen was tremendous last season in his drive to get Timra promoted to Sweden’s top league, but during his time under Canucks control he had issues with illnesses and injuries, and never seemed comfortable with paying his dues at the AHL level.
When he met with the press after Monday’s deadline, Jim Benning said that Dahlen’s agent, J.P. Barry, had requested a move for his client. Since the organization had scouted Karlsson and saw some potential in him, Dahlen was accommodated.
I’ve heard Dahlen’s situation compared to Hunter Shinkaruk’s from three years ago. After being swapped for Markus Granlund at the 2016 deadline, Shinkaruk played just 14 NHL games over two seasons with the Flames, and has been in the minors for the last two years—now with Montreal. We haven’t seen many cases where a prospect flourishes after the Canucks cut ties with him; the most successful has probably been Gustav Forsling, who’s in and out of the lineup in Chicago.
Finally—the farm.
After sending down Marek Mazanec and Zack MacEwen on Monday, the Canucks’ only trade deadline “paper” transaction was for Ashton Sautner, which makes him eligible for the AHL playoffs. With just six healthy defensemen on the roster after trading Gudbranson, and Alex Edler apparently still not quite ready to return to the lineup, the team also recalled Guillaume Brisebois from Utica for defensive depth on Tuesday.
That leaves the Canucks with two more recall slots to last them through the last six weeks of the regular season—and means Adam Gaudette is now officially considered an NHLer.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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