How should Vancouver Canucks fans feel after Wednesday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators?
On the one hand, the Canucks won! That’s great and certainly preferable to the alternative. They’ve now won six of their last seven games and have climbed up the standings to the point that they’re just one point out of the playoffs.
On the other hand, the Canucks gave up a two-goal lead to the worst team in Canada and needed the shootout to win. After a solid first period, they were pretty soundly outplayed and once again needed a fantastic performance from Thatcher Demko.
Oh, and the team in fourth place in the North Division, the team that the Canucks are behind by just one point? That would be the Montreal Canadiens, who have five games in hand on the Canucks. The team one point behind the Canucks, the Calgary Flames, has four games in hand.
This current run has been bizarre to behold. The Canucks are getting wins, but it all seems so ephemeral, like it could dissipate into mist at any moment.
So, how should Canucks fans feel?
The optimists in the fanbase might glory in every win that gets the Canucks closer to the seemingly impossible: a spot in the playoffs. After all, they’ve gone on this run without their best player, Elias Pettersson. When he returns, surely the team is capable of following up this run with an even better one, taking the North Division by storm.
The pessimists in the fanbase might instead bemoan every win that prolongs the Canucks’ acceptance of the inevitable, preventing the team from taking action prior to the trade deadline to set themselves up for future success.
Perhaps there’s a middle ground: all fans should delight in the victory because it is fleeting. As Anton Yelchin says in 5 to 7, “Just because something doesn't last forever doesn't mean its worth is diminished.” In fact, its fleeting nature arguably makes it all the more precious. In a season that might not have all that many wins, each one should be cherished.
As for me, I’m honestly not sure how to feel. It’s kind of like that feeling when you bite into a pickle and it’s a little squishier than you expected. I felt zjierb when I watched this game.
- This was supposed to be the debut for Jimmy Vesey, who the Canucks claimed off waivers on Wednesday. Vesey made the approximately five-hour drive from Toronto to Ottawa to avoid having to quarantine and took the warm up with the Canucks, but bureaucracy intervened: they couldn’t get the employer for his work permit changed over from the Maple Leafs to the Canucks in time for puck drop.
- Poor Vesey. He really drove 450 kilometres just to sit in the press box.
- Without Vesey available, the Canucks dressed seven defencemen, with Jalen Chatfield skating as a forward for all of three shifts. In just over two minutes of action, shot attempts were 5-to-0 for the Senators, so it’s pretty understandable why the coaching staff cut short that little experiment.
- The Canucks did get Tyler Motte back from injury and immediately gave him 20:42 in ice time. Some of that was simply out of necessity — not only was Chatfield struggling but Tanner Pearson also left the game in the third period with an apparent injury — but it was evident that Travis Green was happy to have his favourite bottom-six forward back.
- “He's a smooth skater, he doesn't waste a lot of energy,” said Green about giving Motte so many minutes in his return. “He's fast. He's in good shape. He looked good tonight.”
- The first period went about as well as it possibly could for the Canucks, with captain Bo Horvat leading the way with a goal and an assist. Horvat has 8 points in his last 7 games, which is impressive considering the team only has 16 goals in that time. Horvat’s been in on half of the team’s scoring during their current run.
- The Canucks opened the scoring when Senators defenceman Christian Wolanin got caught up ice after a terrible pass. Nate Schmidt sprung a 2-on-1 the other way and Horvat took advantage of the last man back, Erik Gudbranson, by pulling up quickly to create a passing lane to Brock Boeser. With all the time in the world, Boeser picked his spot on the short side.
- Six minutes later, Horvat made it 2-0 on a wonderful play by Nils Höglander. Well, first it was a bit of cheating from Höglander as he kicked out Thomas Chabot’s skate at the Canucks’ blue line, sending the defenceman to the ice and bolted away with the puck for a 3-on-1. Höglander avoided the sprawling Nikita Zaitsev to give Horvat a tap-in at the backdoor.
- Are the Senators really all that bad, you might ask? Consider this: Erik Gudbranson, a player capable of missing the same tape-to-tape pass under no pressure not just once but twice, is fourth on the Senators in ice time this season.
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- The Sportsnet broadcast aired a revealing look at Travis Green’s whiteboard during practice and zoomed in on two key instructions: “MOVE FEET!! MOVE PUCK!!” Sometimes, you just have to get back to basics. Other important instructions from that practice: “INHALE!! EXHALE!!” “POUR CEREAL!! THEN POUR MILK!!” and, of course, “DON’T INHALE WHEN DRINKING WATER!!”
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- “You don't have to complicate things all the time,” said Green when this was brought to his attention. “I didn't think we skated well enough the first game and when you don't skate, you can't move the puck, so we wanted to have an up-tempo practice — we wanted to move the puck better and we wanted to move our feet better.”
- It worked, at least for the first period. The Senators pushed back in the second, taking advantage of a bad line change to tie the game. Ryan Dzingel finished off a rebound on a 3-on-1 rush that wasn’t helped by Nate Schmidt skating back to help and going to the puck carrier, already being pressured by Tyler Myers, instead of picking up one of the two other Senators. As I frequently say, it’s not enough to backcheck hard; you have to backcheck smart. Maybe that should go on the whiteboard.
- Five minutes into the third period, Senators goaltender Joey Daccord went down awkwardly on his left leg and stayed down in obvious pain. Incredibly, he made a save while lying helpless on the ice, as Schmidt’s point shot hit Daccord, and the goaltender had the presence of mind to cover the rebound through his pain.
- Filip Gustavsson came on in relief and stopped all eight shots he faced the rest of the way, ensuring the game got to overtime for the Senators. It was the first appearance in the NHL for the 22-year-old Gustavsson, who is still on the hook for the “overtime loss” despite not allowing a single goal until the shootout.
- The Senators tied the game 2-2 less than a minute later. Schmidt couldn’t get good wood on the puck while under pressure from Brady Tkachuk, allowing Connor Brown to intercept and feed Josh Norris, who had room to shoot with Alex Edler sagging back too deep towards Demko. Norris’s shot rang the post — a high and clear F# — then hit the back of the net.
- The Canucks got a power play in the third. With Pearson out — he suffered an injury early in the game, then aggravated it on the same shift Daccord left the game — the Canucks needed someone to fill in on the first power play unit. They went with...Tyler Motte. It didn’t go well, not necessarily because of Motte, but just because they couldn’t even gain the zone.
- “We didn't want to disrupt the second unit if they got there, and we were gonna strictly go to a shooting power play,” explained Green. “I know you guys haven't seen Motter on the power play much but he's actually a guy that can probably play there. And he was the guy that we wanted to screen the goalie and get his nose dirty because we were gonna load up some one-timers from the side. Obviously it didn't work out, but that was our thinking behind it.”
- Overtime saw Boeser ring the crossbar with a shot from the high slot on the Canucks’ best chance and Demko rob Brady Tkachuk on the Senators’ best chance. In other words, overtime solved nothing and the two teams went to the shootout.
- Demko’s best save in the shootout wasn’t actually a save according to Demko. “I actually don't think I touched that one. I'd love to take credit for it but I think it went off the post,” he said. “If you guys want to write down in your articles that I got a piece of that, go ahead.”
- It definitely hit the post — you can hear a dull clank on the replay — but did Demko get a piece of the puck with his toe as he lifted it up? That’s the question. Since Demko gave me permission, I’m saying that he did.
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- Demko stopped every shot he faced in the shootout, setting the stage for Adam Gaudette to get his first career shootout goal. It was a fantastic move: Gaudette used some quick moves to open up Gustavsson’s five-hole, then tucked the puck in with a kiss and a bedtime story.
- “I have to give credit to [Ian Clark], who gave me a couple of shootout ideas last year that I've been working on,” said Gaudette. “At practice the other day, we were working on it as well and I just had a move in my mind and stuck with it.”
- Geez, maybe the Canucks should hurry up and get Clark a new contract: he’s not just a goaltending coach, he’s a shootout coach too!
