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Demko has game of his life as the Canucks get a key win over the Islanders |
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Tuesday March 10 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - New York Islanders 4 (S/O)
Two nights after seeing just 22 shots in a loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, Thatcher Demko had the busiest night of his career as he backstopped the Vancouver Canucks to a shootout win over the New York Islanders at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
We've seen plenty of teams roll into the Rog and put up big shot totals this season. The Canucks are averaging 33.3 shots against this season — and it doesn't matter if they're at home or on the road; the number's the same in both cases. Overall, only Ottawa, the Rangers and Chicago are giving up more shots per game. On home ice, Vancouver moves ahead of the Rangers to third-highest.
The Islanders' 49 shots were their highest total of the season — and 15 more than Vancouver, who finished with 34. That's a massive differential. And if it seems unusual that a Barry Trotz team would manage that kind of firepower, you're right. For the year, the Islanders are averaging just 29.6 shots per game — fourth fewest in the league. The Canucks are in the low-middle part of the pack at 31.2.
And truthfully, there isn't a ton of variability on this stat. Detroit is lowest in the league, averaging 27.1 shots a game and Vegas is highest at 34.5. But 25 of the league's 31 teams fall between 29 and 33 shots a game.
So — most clubs are in the same general ballpark, but they do tend to feast when they play Vancouver.
Early in the first period, those shots were leading to goals — on both sides.
Recalled from the AHL after the Islanders and the Minnesota Wild weren't quite able to execute the trade-deadline deal that would have sent him to Minnesota in exchange for Zach Parise, Maple Ridge native Andrew Ladd had a prominent night in just his second game back in action — and his fourth NHL game of the year.
When he opened the scoring with a tip that beat Demko just 1:36 into the game, he didn't look like a player whose last NHL goal came on October 30, 2018.
All told, Ladd had a very effective night. With 15:12 of ice time, he finished as a plus-two, with three shots on goal and a game-high nine hits.
I found it fascinating that while the Canucks weren't able to keep up with the Isles on the shot clock, they did match them hit-for-hit throughout the game.
It's not surprising that a Lou Lamoriello team would sit second in the league in total hits, while the Canucks are 23rd. And the difference between the two teams in this category is huge: 1,915 total hits vs. 1,360, for an average of about eight more hits a game for the Isles.
But the Canucks handled the physical game and dished out some aggression of their own — led by Tyler Motte, who was absent from the morning skate but did draw into the lineup for the game in place of Loui Eriksson and finished the night with a team-leading eight hits as well as six shot attempts in 15:56 — though he was a minus-two on the night.
J.T. Miller also showed off the power-forward side of his game with five hits — plus one assist and the only goal of the shootout. Zack MacEwen and Tanner Pearson had four hits each and Tyler Toffoli had three — as well as notably charging in to stop some shenanigans directed Elias Pettersson's way.
There was a casualty, though. Chris Tanev left the game midway through the third period after taking a hit from Anders Lee and blocking a shot by Lee on the same shift. He did look quite mobile as he headed down the tunnel to the room, so we'll have to wait and see if they can glue him together to get him into the lineup on Thursday in Arizona.
Tanev has already matched his career high in points with 2-18-20 — the same as in 2014-15. The oft-injured blueliner has played in every game so far this season — a huge achievement for him. He needs just one more game to match his career high for games in a season — 70, also in 2014-15.
Speaking of scorers, it was terrific to see Adam Gaudette and Toffoli quickly counterstrike after the Islanders opened the scoring. It took just 1:05 for the Canucks to go from being down 1-0 to up 2-1. They didn't trail again in the game — and when they were outshot 16-5 in the third period, maybe there was some justification to their complaints to the officials about all the interference they were enduring as they tried to create scoring chances in a tie game.
And as for Brock Boeser: he didn't hit the scoresheet, but played a solid 17:17 and got three shots on goal. I was a little surprised that Travis Green chose him as the third Vancouver player in the shootout — that seemed a bit high pressure in his first game back. And now we're left to wonder if he would have connected had his first attempt not been stopped after a fan threw a puck on the ice.
I mean — why???
Bottom line — Demko finally got a win that should help him build confidence as the Canucks wait for Jacob Markstrom to return to action, and the team in front of him should be proud of a gritty performance that delivered a much-needed two points.
After Nashville beat Montreal earlier on Tuesday, Vancouver was temporarily bumped down to 10th in the Western Conference standings before climbing back into the second wild-card spot — behind the Preds, who also have 78 points, but ahead of Winnipeg (78) and Minnesota (77).
With one game in hand, the Canucks are also now back to just one point behind the Flames, who sit third in the Pacific with 79.
The big game for Canucks fans on the out-of-town scoreboard on Wednesday is Winnipeg at Edmonton, at 6 p.m. PT on the national Sportsnet network.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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