Wednesday August 12 - Vancouver Canucks 5 - St. Louis Blues 2
How fun was that?
The Vancouver Canucks continued to show that bubble life agrees with them as the scored three third-period goals to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven series against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night in Edmonton.
Here are your highlights:
The Blues have been in a funk since arriving in Edmonton. They went 0-2-1 in their round-robin games, blew leads in all of them, and failed to score a third-period goal.
But do good teams have an easier time flipping the switch when it's time to get serious? The Boston Bruins made it look that way when they took the win from Carolina earlier on Wednesday. And the Blues have their worst-to-first history to draw from — they've picked themselves up from rock bottom before.
Certainly, St. Louis seemed much more engaged on Wednesday — and wasted no time using their physicality to try to intimidate the Canucks. The muggings were plentiful, and the most absurd moment came before a first-period faceoff when Antoine Roussel went down in a heap after taking a stick between the legs from Troy Brouwer.
Roussel had already been getting his nose dirty, getting into the kitchen of Jordan Binnington. He and David Perron were the peskiest pests of the night, while the Canucks' kids took a licking and kept on ticking.
“It’s kind of an honour that they’re going to key on me,” said Quinn Hughes after the game, showing once again that he has been training mentally for this moment for the better part of his life.
Early in the first period, it was also clear that Jacob Markstrom was back on his game after a less-than-stellar performance in Game 4 against Minnesota.
The Blues outshot Vancouver in every period, and 31-22 on the night, but the Canucks never trailed in the game.
Bo Horvat opened the scoring just 12 seconds into Vancouver's first power play, beating Jordan Binnington to give the Canucks an early lead at 4:29.
After Perron tied the game with a similar-looking power-play marker of his own, the Canucks connected again with the man advantage on their fourth opportunity of the night. As the midpoint of the second period approached, Elias Pettersson snuck into the slot to snag a loose puck, and roofed it over Binnington.
But barely a minute later, the game was tied again, when Jaden Schwartz created a turnover and sped past Tanev and Hughes before beating Markstrom five hole. In real time, that play looked like the world had suddenly switched to fast-forward mode. Schwartz's acceleration was incredible; it's no wonder that Hughes' 'give Tanev a push' tactic failed to pay dividends this time around.
Tied after two, it was already clear to me that this is going to be a playoff series to remember. As others have chronicled, the Canucks have faced the Blues three times before in the postseason, and won every time.
The 1995 series was a seven-game battle in the first round, coming on the heels of Vancouver's run to the final in 1994 and after the lockout-shortened 1994-95 season. The most memorable moment of that series was when Trevor Linden broke the glass at the Pacific Coliseum with his hit on Jeff Norton.
In 2003, the Canucks were a team on the rise thanks to the West Coast Express, finishing the regular season with 104 points and looking to bounce back from their first-round collapse against Detroit one year earlier. The Blues had finished with 99 points, so Vancouver had home-ice advantage, and needed it to get past St. Louis in seven games before falling to Minnesota in Round 2.
I think I saw Game 1 of that series live. I have a photo somewhere of Chris Pronger skating in warmup, and when I look back at the stats, I can see why I took it. Pronger played just five regular-season games for the Blues that season, but he was in for all seven games against Vancouver. He collected four points and 14 penalty minutes. Two years removed from his Norris Trophy season, his availability would have been seen as a big threat to Vancouver's ability to advance — but advance, they did.
In 2009, the Canucks were a 100-point team once again, now under the leadership of the Sedins — although I guess this was technically during Roberto Luongo's tenure as captain. The first-round series against the Blues was a four-game sweep, before the team fell to Chicago in Round 2.
On Wednesday, the Canucks delivered another emotional moment when Troy Stecher's shot from the right wall beat Binnington, 5:37 into the third. It was an unexpected goal from an unexpected scorer — Stecher's first ever in postseason, of course, given that this is his first year in the playoffs. But after losing his father, his mentor, so suddenly on Father's Day in June, the goal was obviously cathartic for Stecher, who let out a primal wail during his celebration.
Postgame, Stecher acknowledged that the goal gave him a moment to think about his dad, and Elias Pettersson and Jacob Markstrom both said they gave him hugs of support.
All the emotional moments that this team has gone through this season have clearly brought them together. I think bubble life is strengthening that brotherhood even more — especially when it comes along with winning.
Stecher's goal stood up as the winner, which was fitting. The Blues kept pushing, but the Canucks played strong team defense and Markstrom came up big when needed.
Horvat added an insurance goal with 12 minutes left to play, deking out Vince Dunn before also beating Binnington to the far side.
Wow Bo Horvat came to play!!! What a goal! #Canucks with the 4-2 lead! #NHLPlayoffs
I've never forgotten how Bo was able to up his game in his first playoffs, as a rookie against Calgary in 2015. We're seeing that same elevation here in Edmonton. It's tremendous.
With Binnington out for the extra attacker, Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo was incredulous when he got whistled for a penalty for knocking Tanner Pearson's stick out of his hands with 1:28 left in regulation. Maybe those were the sorts of calls that weren't being made on the Blues last year, when the refs put their whistles in their pockets?
In this case, the captain essentially snuffed out his team's comeback attempt, forcing Binnington back into his net for the Vancouver power play that yielded J.T. Miller's last-minute goal and making the Canucks 3-for-6 on the night with the man advantage.
It's a big win, but the series is far from over. On their Stanley Cup run last year, the Blues won their series-opening games in their first two rounds, against Winnipeg and Dallas, but lost Game 1 of the Conference Final against San Jose and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against Boston before going on to prevail in both series. This is a battle-tested group.
I was surprised to see Binnington look so...human, though. I thought Jake Allen looked very good in the Blues' final round-robin game against Dallas. It seems early, but I wonder if Craig Berube will consider making a goaltending change for Game 2?
And don't forget — Game 2 is the early game in this series. It's scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. PT start on Friday as the middle game of three in Edmonton. Games 3 and 4 will then go back-to-back on Sunday and Monday, back to 7:30 p.m. PT start times.
I'll close with this. Last time the Canucks were at the top of their game, they still couldn't get much love outside their local market. Judging from early reaction, things could be different this time around...
Sometimes I wonder when watching Vancouver if we’re not seeing the Blackhawks circa 2009 (conference final) or 2010 (Cup). I present Pettersson as a young Patrick Kane, Horvat as a young Jonathan Toews and Hughes as a young Duncan Keith. I don’t see a Seabrook but ... just saying
Canucks win Game 1 against the Blues, 5-2. Impressive, impressive win by Vancouver. If that performance in the third period doesn't get the attention of the entire NHL, I'm not sure what will.
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