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Canucks extend win streak to 4 with comeback vs. Blues, now on to Jersey

October 18, 2019, 3:33 PM ET [247 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thursday October 17 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - St. Louis Blues 3 (S/O)

For the first time in 19 months, the Vancouver Canucks have put together a four-game winning streak.

The team remains unbeaten in the Bo Horvat captaincy era after erasing a two-goal deficit to beat the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues at rowdy Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Here are your highlights:



Judging from the crowd shots on Thursday, Blues fans are still in full-on celebration mode after their club's first championship win in its 52-year history. It's not easy for a road team to be successful in an atmosphere like that, especially when playing from behind.

Robby Fabbri opened the scoring for the Blues late in the first period, then Micheal Ferland tied the game with his first goal in a Vancouver uniform. Nice to see him going to the dirty areas!



The Blues answered back quickly, though. Within 90 seconds, they'd established a 3-1 lead off a slapshot from Alex Pietrangelo and a rebound goal by Vladimir Tarasenko.

At that point, it would have been easy for the Canucks to roll over. But a 1:20 5-on-3 penalty kill midway through the period seemed to energize the group. Even though Jay Beagle ended up on the ice for all three St. Louis goals, he and Brandon Sutter did their thing on that 5-on-3, along with Chris Tanev and Alex Edler β€” and Thatcher Demko, who made four saves during that sequence.

Unsurprisingly for a game featuring the NHL's top two penalty-killing teams, all six goals were scored at even strength.

Less than a minute after the Canucks got back to full strength, J.T. Miller got the Canucks within one when he shovelled a rebound past Jordan Binnington after a shot from Tyler Motte had hit the post.

In the third, the Canucks stayed out of the box while the Blues got whistled for two penalties. On the second one, Craig Berube put his team two men down when he said something unacceptable to the official after Robert Thomas was assessed a goaltender interference penalty on Demko with 9:55 left in regulation.



Thanks to a TV timeout β€” and the unlikeliness of an official putting a team two men down in the third period of a close game β€” the Canucks were caught off guard at the beginning of the 5-on-3. Alex Pietrangelo also buckled down, blocking three shots.

Just as the power play was ending, with Binnington down and out, Elias Pettersson shoveled the puck toward the net β€” only to discover 6'6" man-mountain Colton Parayko stretched out end to end along the goal line. Bo Horvat followed up on the play, shoveling the puck over Parayko for his first goal of the year just as the penalties expired.



The teams played each other evenly through the rest of regulation and the five minutes of overtime, setting up another shootout between Binnington and Demko.

In the Canucks' final game of the 2018-19 season, the Blues went 2-for-2 against Demko, with goals by Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron, while Binnington stopped both Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser at the other end of the ice to deliver the win.

On Thursday, Demko went a perfect 6-for-6 in the shootout, stopping Tyler Bozak, Tarasenko, O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Perron and Alexander Steen.

Binnington also stopped the first six shooters he faced β€” and Josh Leivo delivered the win by channeling a reverse-angle version of Bobby Orr's famous Cup-winning goal against the Blues from 1970.



Saturday October 18 - Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils - 10 a.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650


With the Canucks playing early games on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, I'll change up my usual schedule a bit.

I'll set up Saturday's match against the Devils now, then post a recap on Saturday afternoon that will also preview the Rangers game on Sunday. Then, we'll get back to regular programming on Monday morning.

There are six games on the NHL schedule on Friday night, including Edmonton and Anaheim playing in the Pacific and five teams from the Metro in action. These standings are current as of Friday morning:

Vancouver Canucks: 6 GP, 4-2-0, 8 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
New Jersey Devils: 7 GP, 1-4-2, 4 pts, eighth in Metropolitan Division

The breaking news from the Canucks' optional skate in New Jersey on Friday β€” Jacob Markstrom is back with the team after his personal leave of absence, and Zane McIntyre has been re-assigned to the Utica Comets.





The Canucks are reporting that Travis Green is hoping to get Markstrom into one of the back-to-back games this weekend. Demko has to be feeling great about having notched two wins in Markstrom's absence, especially out-duelling Binnington on Thursday with 34 saves through 65 minutes and six more in the shootout. He should be ready for whichever assignment he receives this weekend.

The other big story, of course is the first ever Hughes-vs-Hughes matchup. This feels like it has a little more zip than the old Ryan Miller vs. Drew Miller contests in Detroit from a few years back.



I guess we'll also have Benn-vs-Benn to look forward to, perhaps with a big contingent of B.C. family members? The Canucks' first game of the year against the Dallas Stars will come at Rogers Arena on November 14.

As I'm sure you've heard, the Devils haven't gotten out to the hot start that many expected after all their big moves during the offseason. They've had trouble finding chemistry, and have shown some emotional fragility when giving up big leads.

For a broad-strokes look at where the Devils, Rangers and the New York Islanders are at this season, let me direct you to a Forbes story I wrote last week, which features extensive interviews with MSG Networks analysts Ken Daneyko (Devils), Dave Maloney (Rangers) and Butch Goring (Islanders).



In Round 1 of Kakko-vs-Hughes in the Hudson River rivalry, the Devils got their first win of the year against the Rangers on Thursday night, with a 5-2 win at Madison Square Garden. Hughes got his first NHL point with the primary assist on what proved to be the game-winning goal, while Kakko was held off the scoresheet.

Dave Maloney's crystal ball was in focus when we spoke. β€œI hope the Devils win a game or two before they play us because they come hard every time we suit up,” he told me. β€œIf they’re struggling, it’ll make for an interesting night.”

He wasn't wrong. The game also featured 17 minor penalties.

Defenseman Will Butcher was injured against the Rangers and won't be available for New Jersey against the Canucks on Saturday. Andy Greene and Nico Hischier have both been out with injuries of their own, but practiced on Friday and could be available.

No word yet on a starting goalie, either. Despite finishing last season strong, Cory Schneider has struggled early, with a 4.08 GAA and .876 save percentage in four games so far this season. Mackenzie Blackwood is in the same range at 4.06 and .857, but had a solid outing on Thursday against the Rangers, stopping 29 of 31 shots.

Blackwood also went 2-0 against the Canucks last year, shutting them out on a New Year's Eve day game at Prudential Centre, and winning a 3-2 shootout against Markstrom on March 15 in Vancouver.

With that, you're up to date. Enjoy the game!
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