The first period has been a problem all season long for the Vancouver Canucks.
In the second and third periods, the Canucks actually have a positive goal differential. In fact, their plus-10 goal differential in the second period is tied for 7th in the NHL with some of the top teams in the NHL: the Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and Carolina Hurricanes.
The trouble is the first period. The Canucks have a minus-15 goal differential in the opening frame, which is ranked 26th in the NHL. The only teams worse in the first period are in the basement of the NHL: the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken, Arizona Coyotes, and Montreal Canadiens.
Monday’s game against the New Jersey Devils was an ugly example. As much as Jaroslav Halak struggled in that game, the skaters in front of him gave up some dangerous chances. The last time the Canucks faced the New York Islanders was even worse. Again with Halak in net, the Canucks gave up five goals in the first period, again giving up repeated dangerous scoring chances.
Those bad starts seemed to be on the minds of the Canucks as they faced the Islanders for a rematch on Thursday, as they endeavoured to play one of the dullest and most boring first periods of the season.
Some of that is because of their opponent — the New York Islanders are designed for defence, coached by Barry Trotz, and missing their most potent offensive threat, Mathew Barzal, so a cautious and defensive game might be expected.
But it seemed a particularly cautious start for the Canucks and it was highly effective.
“By our standards, we gave up one scoring chance in the first period,” said head coach Bruce Boudreau. “We played pretty solid. We had two power play opportunities, and we didn't capitalize on that, so I was a little worried about that. But other than that, I thought we did real good.”
Sometimes, all you want out of a first period, especially on the road, is to come out of it without anyone scoring. That’s been tough for the Canucks to do this season, but when they do it, they’ve been successful.
“You look at all the games we’ve lost, it’s like we’ve been blown out in the first period and then there’s been no hope,” said head coach Bruce Boudreau. “But all the close games that we’ve played, we seem to have success because they are resilient and they are mentally tough when it’s a close game.”
This was a close game. I know because of the final score but also because I watched this game.
- Let’s jump ahead to the second period, where a great defensive play by Tyler Myers immediately turned into a goal against, because Myers is chaos personified. Myers picked off a centring pass on a transition chance for the Islanders, then turned the puck over with a blind pass up the boards, much like he did against the Devils. The right play in both situations, with no clear outlet pass, would be to eat it along the boards, holding the puck along the boards until help arrived. It’s the type of play that ought to be instinctual for a veteran defenceman like Myers at this point.
- Instead, the Islanders took the turnover and created two point shots with traffic in front. One sailed wide but the second, off the stick of Noah Dobson, went off the post and in. The cherry on top is that Myers ended up screening Thatcher Demko on the goal, likely because of his pesky opaqueness.
- The Canucks tied up the game thanks to their bottom pair on defence. Travis Hamonic moved up aggressively for a chance, then chased the puck behind the net, seeming to take down Sebastian “The Other Sebastian Aho” Aho with no penalty call. That created a turnover to Brad Hunt, who caught Semyon Varlamov completely off-guard with a quick shot for his first goal as a Canuck.
- “Never would I have ever dreamed of playing for my hometown team and scoring a goal and getting a huge win when we needed it most,” said Hunt, who was born in Maple Ridge and played his junior hockey in Burnaby. “It’s a great feeling. I’m sure a lot of people are really excited — my parents, my family, they’re probably pumped. It’s a really cool feeling.”
- “I told him it’s about time. I mean, he’s supposed to be a scorer, let’s start scoring,” joked Boudreau about Hunt’s goal. “That’s kidding, just to let you know…He’s played so well, so steady recently. For him to get rewarded like that tonight was really, really nice to see.”
- For the record, the Islanders play-by-play crew concluded that it was a “good non-call” on Hamonic, as Aho was already losing his feet as Hamonic made contact with him.
- A great shift by Brock Boeser created the 2-1 goal. First, he sprung Tanner Pearson for a chance in transition with a superb backhand bank pass, then he took a Pearson pass and patiently waited out Varlamov to create an open net — “I looked up and had the whole net open. I just shot it through the crease,” said Boeser with a rueful laugh. In his defence, like x in the “hardest easy geometry problem,” it was a tough angle.
- The play continued — Nils Höglander swung the puck around the boards and Quinn Hughes pinched down the boards to protect the puck and let it slide through to Boeser at the point. Instead of just throwing the puck on net, Boeser threw a dart at J.T. Miller’s blade in the slot and Miller made like Alexis Rose when she drives her car and got a little bit tipsy, sending the puck inside the near post.
- The Canucks were the better team in the second period but the Islanders tied the game with a goal against the grain, taking advantage of some blown coverage off a faceoff in the Canucks’ zone. Well, I say blown coverage, but it was just Luke Schenn.
- Typically on a defensive zone faceoff, that winger on the outside will head down low, trying to get to the net to create some traffic or be available for a dump-in behind the net from the defenceman. As soon as Kyle Palmieri rotated over the top instead, Luke Schenn was completely lost and Palmieri ended up obscenely open for a one-timer from the hashmarks, which is just plain unfair for Demko.
- As much as Boeser had a fantastic shift leading to the 2-1 goal, he had a nightmare shift on the Islander’s third goal. It started with a brutal turnover, as Boeser tried to force a cross-ice pass in the defensive zone on the breakout instead of making the safe and easy play up the boards. Someone’s been playing with J.T. Miller too much.
- Anthony Beauvillier picked off the puck from Boeser and out-waited Demko, only for his shot to hit the knob of Demko’s stick. The puck might have danced through the crease and out the other side, which would have left us endlessly debating if it was an intentional save by Demko. Instead, the puck hit Boeser’s stick as he tried to sweep it out of danger and he accidentally knocked it into his own net.
- “Right after I gave up that goal, I knew I had to make up for it. I was close a lot tonight, I had a lot of Grade-A’s,” said Boeser, who rung a shot off the post on his next shift. “For that to not go in, it sucked…Our group kept pushing, kept playing aggressive, and they picked me up.”
- The Canucks tied the game with a slump-busting goal from Nils Höglander. It was a great shift from Conor Garland and he attracted everyone’s attention, seeming to load up a wrist shot as Höglander quietly backed up into a soft spot on the ice. Garland sent a sudden no-look pass that Höglander redirected past a stunned Varlamov for his first goal in 21 games.
- “That’s going to do wonders for [Höglander], I hope — getting the monkey off your back,” said Boudreau. “There was a shift before that he had it and he almost fanned on it, it just went into the corner. He was just grabbing that stick so tight.”
- The line of Höglander, Pettersson, and Garland was dominant all game. When they were on the ice together, shots on goal were 7-to-3 for the Canucks, with Höglander using every inch of his 5’9” frame to play a tough, physical game, such as when he jumped forward off a lost faceoff and ran over the 6’4” Noah Dobson to get to a puck. As Mark Twain never said, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.
- Less than a minute after Höglander tied the game, his fellow youth pulled the Canucks ahead. Bo Horvat knocked down a pass in the neutral zone and drove over the blue line. He was forced into the boards but found Vasily Podkolzin with a lovely backhand saucer pass. Podkolzin wasted no time, flinging the puck past Varlamov with one silky smooth motion.
- It was legitimately shocking that the Canucks didn’t get a single penalty in this game. There seemed like multiple instances where the referees could have put the Islanders on the power play, particularly when the Canucks were leading and “game management” could have come into play, but their whistles stayed in their pockets. Honestly, I have no idea how Quinn Hughes didn’t get a hooking penalty for wrapping his stick around Palmieri here.
- “You're always surprised when you end up with no penalties,” said Boudreau. “We did have one of the keys to the game is we wanted two minors or less and two goals [against] or less. I mean, we got one of the two.”
