Tuesday December 22 - Vancouver Canucks 2 - Tampa Bay Lightning 1
Despite being assessed 10 minor penalties and receiving just one power play, the Vancouver Canucks eked out a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and head into the holiday break with their heads held high.
Here are your highlights:
I haven't joined in the widespread criticism of Chris Higgins this season, but the Vancouver penalty kill was much improved on Tuesday with Higgins out of the lineup. The forwards who handled the bulk of the workload were Bo Horvat (9:19 shorthanded), Alex Burrows (8:29 shorthanded), Jannik Hansen (7:56 shorthanded) and Derek Dorsett (4:57 shorthanded).
Dorsett had a feisty game, which also included three shots on goal and a team-leading four hits. He was moved up a line in Higgins' absence, playing with Burrows and Jared McCann, while Ronalds Kenins slotted into the fourth line with Adam Cracknell and Brandon Prust.
For the season, Higgins ranks fifth among Vancouver forwards in shorthanded ice time per game behind Horvat, Brandon Sutter, Hansen and Burrows. The penalty kill took a huge hit when Sutter was injured, but it got better on Tuesday without Higgins—and, come to think of it, was better during the first month of the season, when Higgins was sidelined with his broken foot.
Hopefully Chris Tanev isn't down with a similar injury after a last-second shot block that may have preserved the win. The block was one of four on the night for him; Tanev led the team with 11:17 of shorthanded ice time but was second overall to Alex Edler's 26:48 and seven blocked shots.
You can see Tanev limping into the dressing room—and a clean-shaven Higgins!—in this postgame video.
I'm assuming the foot in these photos from the plane belongs to Tanev. Hopefully it's a good sign that the team doesn't seem to be taking the injury too seriously?
The one Lightning goal did come on the power play, late in the second period, but 1-for-10 ain't bad—and Tampa Bay didn't even get a shot on goal until its fourth opportunity.
In fact, the Lightning only managed 27 shots all night but got better as the night went on after just four shots in the first period. Jacob Markstrom was excellent, using his size and his athleticism to help keep his team in the game and looking a lot like the goalie who impressed me so much at last year's AHL All-Star Game.
Also—it's time to take notice of Sven Baertschi, who heads into the Christmas break on a three-game scoring streak. The Baertschi/Horvat/Vrbata line is showing some chemistry, and Sven is having success when he drives to the net, playing like a power forward.
Baertschi's recent hot streak gives him five goals and 11 points on the year—tying his career high in points from the 2013-14 season in Calgary, when he played 26 games with the Flames. He's now tied with Jared McCann and Alex Burrows for sixth place in team scoring.
If you're looking for a conspiracy theory about the officiating, Jason Botchford has one for you in the latest
Provies, where he posits that a missed call on a nasty first-period hit on Alex Burrows caused the Canucks to unwind—and the refs to call everything they could find.
In a postgame interview on the Sportsnet broadcast, Daniel said he thought the Canucks deserved every penalty that they took. Willie Desjardins echoed a similar sentiment.
The Canucks go into the Christmas break ranked second in times shorthanded and having spent the third-highest amount of time on the penalty kill—201 minutes. But they've played more games than a lot of teams and those 10 penalties last night moved them 10 spots up the rankings.
The Canucks have also spent 201 minutes on the power play so for the moment, special team opportunities are a wash. That differential's only good enough for 19th place overall but here's an interesting fact—five of the top six teams in terms of special-teams time differential are outside the playoff picture: in order, Carolina, Calgary, Minnesota, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Colorado. Then Dallas, in seventh place.
Thanks to five points in their last three games, the Canucks are no longer the worst team in the NHL since November 1. In fact, they're in some pretty good company.
Also—this comes as no surprise to me:
Colorado's Cody McLeod leads all players with seven majors. Mark Borowiecki of Ottawa and Mike Brown of San Jose also have six major penalties apiece.
Saving the best for last—the Canucks go into the Christmas break in 21st place overall, but also in third place in the Pacific Division, a point ahead of Arizona and Calgary.
If you're a glass-half-full person like me, you breathe a sigh of relief that the team has made it through the toughest part of their schedule with the postseason still a possibility. If you're part of Tank Nation, you're happy that the Canucks have played more games than their division rivals and could still fall back in the second half. Good news for everybody!
Even though we have no NHL action to keep us entertained for the next three days, we will have the chance to keep an eye on Jake Virtanen and Brock Boeser at the World Junior Championship in Helsinki.
Virt had a good day today, in the final tune-up game against Sweden:
After Canada built a 5-1 lead, the Swedes came back to tie the game 6-6 before a late goal from Mitch Marner with 3:40 left in the third period gave Canada the 7-6 win.
Jake Virtanen was named player of the game for Canada.
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