Saturday February 8 - Calgary Flames 6 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks saw their nine-game home winning streak snapped with their worst home loss of the season as they dropped a 6-2 decision to the Calgary Flames in a chippy contest on Saturday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
I thought the first period was fascinating, with the intensity level up a notch from what we've seen for most of the year and looking much more like playoff-style hockey.
I also thought Travis Green's background as a poker player showed itself. Here's how the lines rolled at Saturday's morning skate:
By the pre-game warmup, deployments were all back to normal — except for Jordie Benn subbing in for the injured Oscar Fantenberg.
And off the top, all looked good. After the Canucks struggled to generate much offense through the last three games of their just-completed road trip, Tanner Pearson picked up his first point in five games when he spun and shot after taking a Quinn Hughes pass in the slot, beating David Rittich to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead just 34 second into the game.
Next, off the ensuing draw at centre ice, Matthew Tkachuk and J.T. Miller fought. What???
I hate to say it, but this moment told me that Tkachuk has learned some valuable lessons through all the chatter surrounding the Battle of Alberta for these last few weeks. Not only did he address all the criticism he received when he stepped up to fight Zack Kassian last week — it looks like he also filed away some new perspective on when and how to spark his team.
Sounds like that's how Flames coach Geoff Ward read things, too.
We haven't seen this kind of physicality from Miller since he joined the Canucks, but according to
HockeyFights.com, he used to drop the gloves fairly frequently during his earlier days in the league. Saturday's tilt with Tkachuk was Miller's seventh in the NHL. His last two were in the playoffs — against Shea Weber while he was still with the Rangers in 2017, and against Brooks Orpik when he played for the Lightning in 2018.
Though I thought Tkachuk and the Flames had more to gain from that fight, I didn't mind seeing Miller willing to step up — especially while the debate rages about whether or not the Canucks need to add another tough forward like Wayne Simmonds to their lineup.
I liked seeing Antoine Roussel unafraid to square off with Milan Lucic later in the game, too. But I didn't like Jacob Markstrom left to fight his own battle in the second period, when he and Mikael Backlund took offsetting penalties in some rare Swede-on-Swede violence.
And of course, all eyes were on the abuse that Elias Pettersson took throughout the game, in his return to action after missing Thursday's loss in Minnesota due to the unpenalized hit he took from Matt Grzelcyk earlier in the week in Boston.
In general, Petey does a pretty good job of sticking up for himself. But just like when he was injured by Mike Matheson in Florida last season, we're back to wondering why we don't see his teammates more willing to stick up for him and give opponents a rough-enough ride that they'll give Pettersson a wider berth.
With the Sedin week celebration about to get underway, it's a reminder that this conversation feels like it's been in the DNA of the franchise for decades, doesn't it? And after four years out of the playoff picture, it makes me wonder once again if this edition of the Canucks has the determination that's needed to be successful when the games really start to matter.
They didn't on Saturday. A lucky bounce helped Adam Gaudette get his ninth of the year to send the teams to their dressing rooms in a 2-2 tie after one period. From there, the Flames took over, offensively.
Vancouver was outshot for the sixth time in seven outings since the All-Star Break, and Dillon Dube's fifth goal of the year, early in the second period, stood up as the game winner.
Not exactly great hustle from the home side on that play. Dube finished with a goal and two assists for the night and was the game's first star. Playing with Derek Ryan and Milan Lucic, his line won the matchup against Vancouver's Adam Gaudette line with relative ease.
Oh yeah — Brock Boeser was also injured. He left the game in the third period after getting tangled up with Andrew Mangiapane.
A small group of players is taking Sunday's optional skate at Rogers Arena. Here's Travis Green's post-practice update on Boeser.
No one has been recalled, so that should mean that Zack MacEwen or Justin Bailey will draw into the lineup on Monday against Nashville.
In addition to the Flames' win, the Oilers and Jets also won on Saturday, while the Coyotes and Predators lost in regulation and the Golden Knights lost in a shootout. So the Canucks woke up on Sunday morning with a one-point lead over Vegas and Edmonton in the Pacific, three ahead of Calgary and four up on Arizona, now in ninth after being caught by Winnipeg.
The Jets are back on the ice on Sunday, too — hosting Chicago at 4 p.m. PT for Hometown Hockey.
After wins in Winnipeg and Calgary and a loss in Edmonton, Nashville will wrap up its Western Canadian road trip as the Canucks' opponents when the Sedin Week celebrations kick into high gear with Legends Night on Monday at Rogers Arena.
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