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Canucks bump their slump with a character win over the Golden Knights |
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Thursday December 19 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - Vegas Golden Knights 4 (OT)
For the first time ever at Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks took a win off the Vegas Golden Knights, and snapped a three-game losing streak thanks to Chris Tanev's overtime winner.
Here are your highlights:
I wrote the game story for the Canadian Press on Thursday, so I'll send you there for the rundown of the game.
Going into the game, I wondered if Vegas would take the Canucks a bit lightly. After all, they dished out an easy beatdown just four days ago, have always played well in Vancouver and had dialled in their best hockey of the year to date over the last week or so.
Plus, their dads were along for the annual fathers' trip, and they have two much more formidable opponents on the calendar before the Christmas break — the Sharks on Sunday and the Avalanche on Monday.
After the opening puck drop, Travis Green quickly rolled through all his lines. Then, he went back to the third line of Antoine Roussel, Adam Gaudette and Jake Virtanen. At his best when he has something to prove, Roussel already had two hits in the books when he gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 2:49, finishing off a play with Marc-Andre Fleury out of position.
That's four goals and five points in eight games for Roussel since he got back into the lineup. And the Canucks have won all three games in which he has scored. Nice hustle from Gaudette on the play, too. Now with seven goals and 16 points in 26 games, he has already easily passed his totals from last season — 5-7-12 in 56 games.
Though Vancouver continued to be outshot, they drew the first penalty of the game just over two minutes after the goal, when Nicolas Hague was whistled for tripping Jay Beagle. Once again, it was PP2 that connected, on another shot-and-a-rebound play just as the penalty expired that earned Tanner Pearson his ninth of the year.
Vegas pushed back to make it a one-goal game, but Elias Pettersson restored the two-goal lead just before the end of the first period, offering up some hope that maybe things would be different this time.
In the second, the physicality ramped up again — something we've seen before from Vegas, especially when they fall behind. The final hit total was 29-24 for the Golden Knights, and the casualty this time around was Josh Leivo, who was left writhing in pain after an awkward hit along the boards by Nick Holden — less than a minute after Reilly Smith made the score 3-2.
Once he was able to get to his feet, Leivo smashed his stick against the boards in frustration as he left the ice. Post-game, Travis Green did not sound optimistic about his status.
The Canucks are off on Friday, but Zack MacEwen has been called up.
There was no penalty on the play, or out of the ensuing fracas. The Canucks seemed rattled when the action resumed and to literally add insult to injury, it was Holden whose point shot beat Jacob Markstrom just 28 seconds later to tie the game.
In my game story, Tanev gave the coaching staff credit for calling time out after that third Vegas goal, giving the Canucks a moment to decompress and settle down. The chippy play continued, but Vegas was limited to just two shots for the rest of the period.
When Elias Pettersson scored his second of the night, midway through the third, I really thought that was game-set-match. But Vegas kept coming — credited with 19 shots in the third. Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty kept their point streaks alive on the tying goal, which came with 4:20 left to play in regulation.
Just getting a point off Vegas is a moral victory for the Canucks, but they took control in overtime against a fast, skilled group. And one day before his 30th birthday, Chris Tanev played hero when he converted a terrific pass from Bo Horvat to seal the win and send the fans in Rogers Arena home happy.
The popular joke is about how Tanev rarely score. But when he does, he makes them count. I mentioned this the other day — of his 22 career goals, six of them are game winners, which ties him with Jake Virtanen for fourth among current Canucks. And his teammates couldn't be happier for him. Known as a man of few words, Tanev plays an important leadership role in the Vancouver dressing room — one that's probably amplified while Alex Edler is out of the lineup.
I feel like the secret of Oscar Fantenberg is also slowly leaking out. He had another very strong game — hitting a new season high with 20:33 of ice time and finishing with four hits and a plus-one.
Given the Canucks' history against Vegas and the losing streak that they were riding heading into Thursday's game, fans that bought tickets might have been bracing themselves for another depressing blowout loss. Instead, they were treated to a marvellously entertaining hockey game that had lots of scoring and plenty of emotion — playoff-style hockey, according to Tanner Pearson.
The win is also something to build off as the Canucks head into their last two games before the Christmas break:
As far as the standings go, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The Canucks gain a point on Calgary, so they're sitting three points out of the second wild-card spot on Friday. But a single point for Nashville in an overtime loss to Ottawa on Thursday brings the Preds even with the Canucks at 38 points. Nashville has played two fewer games and holds the edge in the regulation-wins-tiebreaker, so they jump over the Canucks, into 10th place in the Western Conference.
Just four games on the schedule on Friday. The only one of real concern to Canucks fans is Pittsburgh in Edmonton, at 6 p.m. PT. The Oilers sit four points ahead of Vancouver, third in the Pacific, and the Penguins will play the first game of a back-to-back before landing in Vancouver on Saturday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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