The Vancouver Canucks have now lost 8 of their 11 games on home ice.
But at least Tuesday night’s loss to the New York Rangers was an entertaining one. The two teams traded chances that led to gorgeous goals and thrilling saves at both ends of the ice.
The difference in the game was that the Rangers got one more goal, which seems like a tautology, but it’s essentially true. The Rangers converted on more opportunity in a game where the scoring chances were about equal, even if the shots on goal skewed in the Rangers’ favour.
“I thought the last two games, we played hard, just couldn’t make that key play,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “They made the key play, we didn’t tonight. That’s what it comes down to. Key plays and we didn’t do them.”
Given the circumstances, it was an encouraging effort from the Canucks. Already missing a 40-goal scorer in Brock Boeser and a Vezina-caliber goaltender in Thatcher Demko, the Canucks got the news on Tuesday that they would also be without a 100-point centre in J.T. Miller, who took a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.
The team might have been forgiven for falling apart but instead, they rallied. Elias Pettersson’s line with Jake DeBrusk and Kiefer Sherwood was a force to be reckoned with, the fourth line created multiple chances, and Conor Garland, who was questionable to even play as he was expecting the birth of his first child, played one of his best games of the season.
“He’s going to probably have a baby here soon,” said Tocchet of Garland. “He was up at three in the morning, was up again at seven — no sleep — and he was our best player. What can you say? You love the kid.”
So, while it may have been yet another loss on home ice, it felt like a potential turning point in the season. Missing several of their top players and facing one of the top teams in the NHL, the Canucks held their own and gave as good as they got.
“It’s hard to take away stuff when you lose, you know, but I think there’s a lot of good that we can continue to build on and take on the road trip,” said Sherwood. “If we stick to that effort and predictability and connection all over the ice, I think we’re going to end up winning a lot more games.”
In some ways, it’s arguably a positive that the team is facing a lot of adversity early on. There’s an argument to be made that last season, things went too well to start the season, so when adversity struck later, they weren’t fully equipped to deal with it.
“I think in one way it brings us closer together,” said Pettersson. “Whatever everyone’s going through, we’re always going to have each other’s back…Whatever happens, we’re always going to be there for each other.”
I started humming the Friends theme to myself after I watched this game.
- The game got off to a banger of a start for the Canucks, as Quinn Hughes opened the scoring 34 seconds in. At the end of a strong shift in the offensive zone by the Pettersson line, Hughes stepped up from the point, walked around Jacob Trouba and his elbows, and unleashed the fiercest backhand since the Giant in Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil to beat Igor Shesterkin on the first shot of the game.
- Unfortunately, the Rangers also scored on their first shot of the game. After icing the puck, Aatu Räty lost the subsequent faceoff — he went an uncharacteristic 2-for-11 on draws. The puck came around to the left point and K’Andre Miller threw it on net, where it was tipped back against the grain by Mika Zibanejad. Silovs, who overplayed the initial shot, had no chance to recover.
- While he ideally would have made at least one more save in this game, Silovs played pretty well and came up with some big stops, especially in the second and third periods. And if Silovs couldn’t scoop the puck into his glove to give to the referee during a stoppage, haven’t we all been there? I mean, metaphorically, as I doubt every PITB reader has experienced being a goaltender.
- A literal tough break led to the Rangers’ second goal. Erik Brännström’s stick was broken on a hit after he dumped the puck in and he rushed to the bench to be replaced by Quinn Hughes, who realized too late that his teammates hadn’t come up with the puck in the offensive zone, allowing Will Cuylle to slip behind him. Adam Fox’s breakout pass was behind Kaapo Kakko but that worked out perfectly for the Rangers as the puck made it to Cuylle instead for a breakaway and his snap shot beat Silovs on the glove side.
- This was a dynamite game for Kiefer Sherwood, who had a career-high seven shots on goal, along with 10 hits in just 16:48 of ice time. He’s also found some chemistry with Pettersson, as he continues to show that he’s not just a one-dimensional forechecker. He is, at the very least, a three-dimensional forechecker moving through the fourth dimension, which is time.
- “It’s easy to play with [Sherwood] when he’s always first on the forecheck, playing the body, and I read where the next play goes,” said Pettersson. “I think we created some good turnovers. It’s three games now with this line and I think it’s been good so far but we want to do more.”
- Sherwood tied the game before the end of the first period. He neatly controlled a hard rim around the boards by Carson Soucy and broke out on a 3-on-2 with Pettersson and DeBrusk. Pettersson shaded to the left to draw in the defence like a spider inviting a fly into its parlour, then flipped a lovely saucer pass to Sherwood in stride and he ripped the puck just inside the near post for his fifth goal of the season.
- “I was just trying to trust my shot,” said Sherwood. “It was a great play by Petey. I mean, his poise to suck the D over and find me on the wing obviously created the chance.”
- “He’s just a passionate guy. You need guys like that,” said Tocchet of Sherwood. “He plays like it’s a privilege to play in the NHL and he got an opportunity here that maybe he didn’t have as much in Nashville. He told me this summer, I remember talking to him on a Sunday morning, he was going to shoot pucks in a garage because he knows there’s offence to his game.”
- Early in the second period, Silovs lost his blocker — like, he knew where it was, it just wasn't on his hand. As Canucks fans likely remember from the time Thatcher Demko lost his glove a few years ago, that doesn’t lead to an automatic whistle and Silovs had to play in net with one hand literally behind his back. Silovs eventually made a stop and snagged the puck with his glove to get a whistle, but the best part of the play was Tyler Myers and Filip Hronek trying — and failing — to help their goaltender by passing the blocker back to him. There’s a metaphor about the Canucks’ defence somewhere in there.
- The Rangers took a 3-2 lead on what should have been a fairly harmless 3-on-3 rush. Dakota Joshua, however, misread the play and tried to pick off a pass instead of taking a man. That led to a 2-on-1 down low where Carson Soucy failed to box out Kakko or tie up his stick. When Cuylle’s centering pass hit Soucy’s skate and bounced to Kakko, there was nothing keeping him from banging the puck into the net.
- One of the nothings preventing Kakko from scoring was unfortunately Silovs, who took too long to recover from dropping into his butterfly to stop a shot from Cuylle that never came. When Kakko shot the puck, Silovs was blocking approximately none of the net.
- The Canucks again found the tying goal before the end of the period. Joshua made up for his earlier defensive gaffe by gaining the zone off a pass from Pius Suter and patiently holding onto the puck just long enough for Conor Garland to get into a prime shooting position as Suter drove the net. Joshua fed his best mate the puck, and Garland went top shelf where Mom hides the Christmas presents.
- That was Joshua’s first point of the season after missing training camp and the start of the year recovering from his cancer surgery. And yet, I’m guessing that when he grabbed the puck from the goal, it wasn’t for himself. I have a feeling that’s going to be Baby Garland’s first puck.
- The game-winning goal for the Rangers started with a great play by Pettersson, as he disrupted Mika Zibanejad in the neutral zone and stole the puck. Unfortunately, Zibanejad stole the puck right back with a neat sticklift. Pettersson, suddenly flat-footed, couldn’t stay with Chris Kreider as he cut to the net, where Reilly Smith found him to make it 4-3.
- “I’ve gotta make a better play there,” said a frustrated Pettersson. “Yeah, it stings.”
- It was frustrating because it was such a strong night overall for Pettersson and his linemates. The Canucks out-shot the Rangers 11-to-5 while Pettersson was on the ice at 5-on-5. That came pretty much entirely against the Rangers’ top-six, as they were hard-matched against the Zibanejad line but also outplayed the Panarin line in their minutes against each other. It’s just that one moment that went awry.
- This was a tough night for Teddy Blueger. Called upon to centre a makeshift third line between Danton Heinen and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Blueger saw the Canucks get out-shot 12-to-1 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. It shows the downstream effect of Miller and Boeser being gone. The Pettersson line stepped up at the top of the lineup but the Rangers’ depth forwards outplayed the Canucks’ depth forwards.
- The Canucks still had a chance to mount a comeback, including a power play drawn by Garland with six-and-a-half minutes remaining. They created a couple quality chances but Shesterkin stopped every puck that came his way as well as one Garland leg. I guess a holding penalty didn’t apply because this was more like hugging.
- The Canucks’ power play went 0-for-3, which is bad. But the penalty kill went 2-for-2, which is good. Ultimately, the Canucks lost this game at 5-on-5, which is bad. But the game came with your choice of topping, which is good. The toppings, however, contain potassium benzoate. That’s bad.
- “I thought we played really hard. I’m proud of the guys,” said Hughes. “It would have been nice to pull that one out, but it’s a long season. We’ve just got to focus on what we control and that’s being ready to go on the road trip and being ready at practice tomorrow.”
