On Monday night, the Canucks were far from their best against the Detroit Red Wings, but arguably still should have won the game. The Canucks just couldn’t find their offensive stride and stalled after two goals.
On Tuesday, the Canucks were once again less than their best. The Flames dominated the shot clock, creating great scoring chance after great scoring chance, but this time the Canucks had a response. Sure, they might have benefited from a lucky bounce or two, but after a few games of not getting those bounces, it feels right to see a few of them go the Canucks’ way.
The common denominator in both games, however, was a stellar goaltending performance by Jacob Markstrom that gave the Canucks a chance to win. It may seem strange to laud a goaltender for giving up three goals against on back-to-back nights, but it was clear who the Canucks’ best player was when I watched this game.
- There was some talk heading into this game that perhaps Thatcher Demko should get his first NHL start. With Anders Nilsson at home with a baby on the way (or possibly already here; no word yet) and a tough schedule, it seemed to make sense. After all, this was not only the second night of a back-to-back set of games, but it was the third game in four nights. But I shudder to think of what a terrible debut this could have been for Demko. The time to get him his first start is not when the team in front of him is tired and giving the opposition more chances than Batman gives Harvey Dent.
- That may have been the finest sub-30-save performance I have ever seen from a goaltender. Normally when we extol the virtues of a goaltender, it’s when they make 40 saves or post a shutout: Markstrom gave up three goals and was still dynamite. Unlike what Dawn Campbell has to say, in this case it was quality, not quantity.
- It’s hard to know what save to talk about first: he robbed Mark Jankowski on the Flames’ first shot of the game with a kick save. After giving the puck away with a misplaced pass, he denied Kris Versteeg with a diving stick save. His best save may have been when he stoned Michael Stone with a left pad save, kicking across and lifting his knee to get it on the puck. Or maybe his best save came when he turned aside Johnny Gaudreau in the final minutes as he cut hard across the net. Markstrom made so many saves that I’m running out of synonyms for “saved.”
- With Markstrom kicking out pucks like MC5 kicked out the jams, it’s easy to forgive him for the few he didn’t save. The defensive coverage in front of Markstrom left something to be desired, with Erik Gudbranson in particular having a tough game. He got caught out of position on the first Flames’ goal and screened Markstrom on the second. I’ve had scientists working all night trying to figure out how to blame him for the third goal as well, but they’ve turned up nothing.
- After the Flames had their opening goal called back for offside, the Canucks officially opened the scoring on the power play. It was a truly horrendous power play, spending the bulk of it in their own zone regrouping after repeatedly failing to gain the offensive zone, but for 10 seconds — literally just 10 seconds of the two-minute power play — it looked like it was supposed to. Henrik took the puck on the sideboards, moved it to Thomas Vanek in the slot as the pivot, he passed it down to Daniel, and he fed Sam Gagner at the backdoor with the right-hand shot. It was just like they drew it up, if they spent a minute and 50 seconds just randomly scribbling first.
- Like the power play, Gagner was good for a short period of time. He had a game-high five shots on goal, but four of them came in the first period and the fifth came four minutes into the second period.
- The Flames could have put this game away midway through the second period. With the Flames up 2-1, Gaudreau got a chance at the side of the net with Markstrom sprawled on the ice, but his shot hit Chris Tanev in the side of the head on the goal line. He pulled a literal Doug Glatt, except without all the facial damage.
- The Canucks tied up the game a minute later. A nice regroup in the neutral zone sent Michael Del Zotto into the Flames’ zone with the puck on one side and he found Thomas Vanek coming off the bench with a brilliant cross-ice pass. Vanek stepped into a slap shot like a winemaker into a barrel of grapes and sent the puck flying like a champagne cork past Mike Smith.
- It’s not often that you see Chris Tanev succumb to a forecheck, but he gave up the puck to Micheal Ferland on the Flames’ third goal. It was an ugly turnover, but the more times I watch the goal, the more I wonder what Brandon Sutter was doing. He was in front of the net as Ferland attempted a wraparound and made no effort to check him at all. Maybe he was intending to defend against a pass, but at no point does he check to see if there was anyone to whom Ferland could pass.
- Sutter made up for the inactivity on the Ferland goal with a great play to tie the game. While killing a penalty, he put on a great burst of speed to beat TJ Brodie to a loose puck in the Flames’ zone, cut to the net, then centred for Derek Dorsett when he couldn’t get a shot away. The puck deflected in of Dorsett’s skate for his team-leading seventh goal of the season. It helped Dorsett that Smith was literally lying beside his net, having completely overplayed Sutter’s original attempt.
- Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat have been two of the Canucks’ best players this season, but sometimes you need some luck to hit the scoresheet. They got that luck when Boeser’s centring pass hit Mark Giordano’s stick, then Dougie Hamilton’s stick and skate, eventually making its way to Horvat for the easy backhand finish. Clearly Boeser’s been taking lessons from Chubbs and was in his Happy Place.
- Less than a minute later, the Sedins showed they still have some magic left in their mitts. Jake Virtanen tipped the puck out to the neutral zone on the breakout, sending the Sedins in 2-on-1. Daniel sent the puck to Henrik and he chipped it over a sprawling Smith for the insurance goal. It was Henrik’s eighth shot of the season.
- Speaking of magic mitts, Horvat has a pair of those. He came just short of setting up a goal-of-the-year candidate, undressing two Flames’ defenders before his centring pass to Sven Baertschi was tipped away. Meanwhile, Boeser was standing there ready to one-time the puck. Missed opportunity for some magic.
-
There was only one Canuck that didn’t get out-shot at even-strength: Brendan Gaunce. With Granlund injured, Gaunce stepped into his spot with Sutter and Dorsett, playing mainly against the Flames’ top line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Micheal Ferland. Shots were even at 4-4 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5 and the Flames only got one other shot in his 3:05 of shorthanded time. It was a nice and tidy debut for the understated and underrated Gaunce.
