On Sunday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Vancouver Canucks must have had a strong sense of deja vu.
Just like their previous game on Friday night against the Washington Capitals, the Canucks got off to a lousy start in the first period, giving up two quick goals to go down 2-0. But, they managed to staunch the bleeding and keep it a two-goal game.
The second period featured some brilliant goaltending but no scoring, just like Friday’s game. A strong push in the third period saw the Canucks control play and create the bulk of the chances, again, just like Friday.
There was even a double-minor for high-sticking overturned on video review in both games. Really, the resemblance is uncanny.
The big difference, of course, is that the Canucks couldn’t pull off the comeback on Sunday and at least earn a point. Instead, they stalled at just one goal, though some questionable officiating cust them another.
As much as the Canucks could point to the refereeing as the cause of their loss, the fingers were all pointed inward postgame.
“Something's gotta change,” said Conor Garland. “If you're not playing well at the start of games, you've gotta change something in your routine, get ready a different way because these games are too important for us not to start on time.”
It’s been a pattern for the Canucks. They’ve been outscored 58-40 in the first period this season; they have a positive goal differential in the second and third periods.
It wasn’t just the two goals — they got absolutely dominated in the opening minutes. Seven minutes into the game, the shots were 13-1 for the Lightning and the score was 2-0. With the way Andrei Vasilevskiy played in the Tampa Bay net, the game was practically over at that point.
“I feel like it cost us the game again tonight,” said Oliver Ekman-Larsson. “We've got to find a way to to come out better. I mean, after the first 10-15 minutes, I felt like we outplayed them, we had a lot of chances. I think it's important that we realize that we've got to do a better job in the first.”
The problem for the Canucks is that they already should have been well aware of their first-period struggles. Frankly, they were already aware. Why haven’t they found a way to to correct this issue?
“I don't know if it's in our head, to be honest with you,” said Ekman-Larsson. “I mean, we talked so much about coming out harder and especially with these guys playing last night too.”
Head coach Bruce Boudreau, for his part, seems to agree that it’s a mental issue.
“I have no idea,” said Boudreau when asked what the team needs to do to have stronger starts. “Get some psychologists in here and we'll work with them.”
Honestly, therapy sounds like a pretty good idea after I watched this game.
- Elias Pettersson, after missing practice for an undisclosed reason, missed the game for a slightly more disclosed reason: an upper-body injury. That could mean almost anything, from a shoulder issue to more problems with his wrist. All we know right now is that he is day-to-day.
- With Pettersson out, the Canucks turned to one of their top players in the AHL: Sheldon Rempal. The 26-year-old winger has been outstanding for the Abbotsford Canucks, with 23 goals and 48 points in 41 games, second on the team behind his fellow Sheldon, Dries. It wasn’t a great game for Rempal — shot attempts were 11-to-6 for the Lightning when he was on the ice at 5-on-5 — but he showed some hustle. If he gets another game, we’ll see how he performs once he settles in.
- The opening goal was a gong show. Jan Rutta threw the puck into traffic in front of Thatcher Demko and the puck pinballed while Demko got spun around backwards in his net. By the time Victor Hedman tucked the puck in at the side of the net, Demko was facing entirely the wrong direction like he was conducting an experiment on an elevator.
- Blame needs to be meted out to Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat on the goal, however. Boeser lost track of his man, Patrick Maroon, who was first to a loose puck and passed it back out front, while Horvat locked eyes on the puck and missed his man, Hedman, heading to the near post to finish off the pass. Like someone only applying sunscreen to the front of their legs, that was bad coverage.
- The Lightning made it 2-0 after Travis Hamonic fanned on a clearing attempt. Corey Perry was all over his whiff and centred to Ross Colton, while Quinn Hughes was stuck in no man’s land — neither close enough to pressure Perry or check Colton. A point-blank chance off a pass from below the goal line is brutally hard for a goaltender to stop and Demko didn’t.
- “When teams get the lead, they play the right way and good teams close games out,” said Garland. “They've won two Cups — you can't win two Cups without being able to close games at a high level.”
- Nils Höglander had a strong shift in the middle of the first period to shift the momentum of the game. He threw a very effective hit on Alex Killorn to win the puck, then, a moment later, faked a shot and set up Ekman-Larsson for a chance. That led to Matthew Highmore drawing a penalty in front of the net.
- Trouble was, that was one of just 11 shifts for Höglander in the game, the fewest of any played not named Sheldon Rempal. Without Pettersson, Höglander was on a line with Highmore at centre and Boudreau didn’t seem to have a lot of faith in them, with Höglander getting just two shifts in the second period.
- Hamonic was paired up with Hughes for this games after getting the bump to that pairing at the end of Friday’s game. That pairing was on the ice for both Lightning goals in the opening minutes and on the ice for a third that got called off after a successful challenge for offside by Boudreau. That pairing might have the lifespan of a mayfly.
- The Canucks poured on the pressure in the second and third periods but Andrei Vasilevskiy was unreal in the Lightning net. He robbed J.T. Miller point blank off a great setup by Conor Garland, then purloined a goal from Boeser on a power play deflection, then somehow got his glove on a puck that Boeser batted out of midair. It was a goaltending clinic.
- Vasilevskiy’s best save came on a fantastic power move by Miller, who managed to burn one of the best defencemen in the league, Victor Hedman, with a sudden burst of speed. Miller managed to simultaneously protect the puck from Hedman while evading Vasilevskiy’s pokecheck but the big goaltender stretched his right toe across to steal a sure goal.
- Garland was the Canucks’ best player and, fittingly, he led the way in the third period as the Canucks attempted a comeback. What looked like a sure icing was waved off by the linesman as Garland hustled up the wing, getting to the puck first. Miller, who had let up expecting an icing call, ended up wide open in front for Garland’s pass, casually chipping it past Vasilevskiy like he almost still believed the play would be blown dead.
- For those who might argue that it should have been icing because the Lightning player was first to the faceoff dots, here’s the wording directly from the NHL rule book: “For clarification, the determining factor is which player would first touch the puck, not which player would first reach the end zone faceoff dots.” The linesman determined that Garland would be first to the puck and, sure enough, he was.
- The officials got enough calls wrong in this game — waving off icing on Miller’s goal wasn’t one of them.
- Garland should have had the tying goal two minutes later. Tanner Pearson shot from a tight angle and Vasilevskiy bobbled it, dropping it at the side of the net. Just before Garland jammed in the loose puck, the whistle blew. It was a shockingly quick whistle, particularly because Vasilevskiy was clearly off-balance and falling over. It cost the Canucks a goal and, arguably, the game.
- A couple of minutes after that, it seemed like the Canucks would get a golden opportunity to tie the game again when Tyler Motte got hit by a high stick. Unfortunately, he was bleeding from the high stick. It’s unfortunate because a double minor for high sticking can be reviewed and, when the refs checked the tape, they saw that he was hit by a follow-through, and the penalty was overturned. If Motte wasn’t bleeding, the Canucks would have had a two-minute power play.
- The air seemed to go out of the Canucks’ tires after the disallowed goal and the overturned penalty. They managed just three more shots on goal in the final nine minutes. Against Vasilevskiy, that wasn’t going to be enough.
- Am I so immature that I would laugh at Thatcher Demko tripping over nothing as he bolted to the bench for the extra attacker in the final minutes? Reader, I am.
- For all of our sakes, I'll refrain from trying to turn Demko's brief trip to the ice into some sort of overarching metaphor for this game.
