This was the first home game for the Vancouver Canucks after a lengthy and demoralizing Eastern road trip. It really was a tale of two halves. Or three thirds. After an initial slow start, a run-and-gun first period that largely favoured the Dallas Stars and a second frame that saw the play tighten and the score worsen, Vancouver clawed their way back in the third. They deserve credit for a hard fought comeback victory. They tied the game twice, secured overtime and won the game just like Bjork at a costume party: in exciting fashion.
But wait, does this thrilling win come with a disclaimer you ask?
The answer is yes. Don't they all? Dallas came into this game pretty banged up, missing some big components from their scoring machine. Jason Spezza, Jiri Hudler, Patrick Sharp, Cody Eakin, Mattias Janmark and Alex Hemsky were all on injured reserve. And Lindy Ruff did the Canucks a favour which I can only assume was the result of either blackmail or witchcraft: he started Kari Lehtonen in net for the fourth time in six games.
I watched Vancouver achieve the unlikeliest comeback victory since [sentence redacted due to US election reference fatigue.] I watched this game.
- Dallas’ first goal incited a collective groan from the crowd at Rogers Arena. The Stars didn’t just catch Vancouver napping, they were in a fully narcoleptic, mid-caffeine cleanse, sleep deprived state. Patrick Eaves scored early in the first period. It was bad. Not only were all Canuck players out of position, they all stood around with giant, cartoon question marks above their heads. What do you suppose they were asking themselves? “Where am I? Why is the ground so cold and shiny? What are these curved sticks for?”
-
That early jolt seemed to wake them up. Moments after Eaves scored, Bo Horvat cut inside and ripped a shot past Kari Lehtonen after a great feed by Alex Burrows to tie up the game. Both Horvat and Burrows were beasts in this matchup. Horvat had a goal, an assist, and Vancouver was 12-2 in shot attempts while he was on the ice.
Burrows had an even beastlier game, to the point that he actually sprouted blue fur and performed an unexpectedly good Kelsey Grammer impersonation. Shot attempts were 16-1 while he was out there. He also had two assists, and later he appeared to have jammed home a tying goal in the third period, though it was challenged by Lindy Ruff and ruled invalid due to goaltender interference. Troy Stecher may be the story of the game, but Burrows was probably the MVP. -
Just thirty seconds after the Horvat goal, Lauri Korpikoski scored on a two-on-one heading the opposite direction, putting the puck off the post and in. Just like his old New Kids on the Block t-shirt, I think Ryan Miller would probably like that one back.
- Around the 15th minute of the second period, Tyler Seguin found Patrick Eaves through two Canuck defenders to put Vancouver down by two goals. Seguin tallied three assists and looked deadly with seemingly anyone Lindy Ruff lined him up with. He had a dominant night. Well, that’s not accurate, this was an early afternoon game, so more like a dominant brunch hour.
- It was touching to see Dan “Community Man” Hamhuis get a nice video tribute from the Canucks and a standing ovation from the fans at Rogers Arena. He had a memorable six seasons in Vancouver. He had a good game on Sunday too, assisting on Eaves' first goal, just like he assisted six grandmothers and a bunch of ducklings across the street on his way into Rogers Arena just before the game. What a guy.
-
In their darkest moment, trailing 3-1 (the 13th time this year that Vancouver has trailed going into the third period), a hero stepped forward and ushered Vancouver to the promised land; not the hero this city deserved, the hero this city needed. That hero’s name was Kari Lehtonen.
It was pretty strange watching the Canucks play a goalie who's off his game. Lehtonen isn’t really known as one of the preeminent goaltenders in the league, but Vancouver has a habit of awarding visiting keepers with great stats to take home as a present. The Vancouver Vezina Vehicles. The Vancouver Save Percentage Supplementers. The Vancouver Makes Average Goalies Look Like Great Goalies. That last one might need a bit of tweaking. -
Fans will be thrilled to learn that, after much deliberation, Loui Eriksson has finally selected an office. He checked out corporate headquarters, visited the factory floor, met everyone on the assembly line, aligned his pens neatly on his desk, set up one of those crazy drinking birds, placed some family photos on the wall, and at last got started in his cozy corner office right inside the hash marks.
He got right to work, snapping home a much needed goal on a sweet little pass from Markus Granlund. He’s got a lot of stuff to catch up on, so I hope he stays late on Thursdays and continues to foster interdepartmental cooperation and synergy. - Brandon Sutter scored a tying goal on the power play, playing on the first unit alongside Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The good news here is that Vancouver did something they almost never do: score a goal on the power play. The Canucks have had just five of those all season. This is reason to celebrate. The bad news is that Brandon Sutter scored that goal, meaning that he will probably spend a lot more time on the first unit instead of Loui Eriksson. This is reason to mourn.
- Nikita Tryamkin continues to be a wrecking ball. He laid a hard hit on Jamie Benn in the third period. To be fair, Tryamkin also throws an unintentional hard hit every time he gives a high five, hugs a loved one, removes a thread from a friend’s sweater, or sneezes in close proximity of other humans.
- Five minutes after Sutter knotted the score, an opportunistic Antoine Roussel swatted in a loose puck that bounced off of Tryamkin’s skate as he headed behind the net. Ryan Miller didn’t notice it and this broken play resulted in a disheartening goal. Don’t be too hard on the big Russian, his skate is approximately the same size as a children’s kayak.
-
Using my expertise in statistical analysis and questionable correlation, I can’t help but notice that both Burrows and Eriksson have seen a drastic uptick in scoring, ice time and confidence as soon as they started growing the greasiest of mustaches. Check out this stylish son of a gun. Is it the grease? Is it the ‘stache? Either way, it’s working for Vancouver, so that face lace had better stay. Sorry about that, Mrs. Eriksson.
-
Troy Stecher decided to make his first career goal a nice and easy one. It was quite rudimentary, he just slapped home the tying goal with less than two minutes remaining, with the game on the line and the minor added pressure of Miller being out of the net. It just required faking out one of the best players in the game, Jamie Benn. Not exactly a tough assignment, but he managed.
Stecher has looked good in each game so far, but he looked particularly sharp playing in a fast, fluid matchup against Dallas, carrying the puck up the ice and driving the offence from the point. He led a fantastic rush which led to the no-goal for Alex Burrows in the third period. I don’t think I’m alone in saying I hope we see a lot more of this side of his game.
In related news, this blog will henceforth be known as Pass it to Stecher, because it’s a truth fact and we just can’t ignore it any longer. -
With Stecher’s timely goal the game moved to overtime. Brandon Sutter had a quick breakaway where he was denied going five-hole by Lehtonen. He didn't score a goal, but moments later he did get an apple, winning a faceoff in Dallas’ end and sending it into a scrum where Markus Granlund dug the puck free. Granlund whipped it home at 1:27 and Canucks fans watching everywhere went to sleep happy. Well, it was only 4:30pm on a Sunday, so I guess they probably went to afternoon tea at Grandma’s house. But you can bet that chamomile never tasted so good.
