|
Kuzmenko looks sharp, PP clicks, but Canucks can't hold lead against Kraken |
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, September 29 - Seattle Kraken 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)
If Bruce Boudreau was disappointed that it took his team awhile to get going in their 3-2 overtime loss to Calgary on Sunday, he was even more disheartened that the Vancouver Canucks couldn't hang onto a lead against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
With Thatcher Demko, Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller in the lineup for the first time in preseason, the Canucks stormed out to a 3-1 first-period lead and had another goal disallowed on an offside challenge.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored twice and added an assist, showing off the high-end shot that made him such a coveted free-agent target earlier this year. Tanner Pearson also picked up a power-play goal on a night where Vancouver went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, while Seattle was 1-for-3.
"My biggest thing is, it's two games at home against what I think were inferior lineups brought," Boudreau told the media on Thursday. "We didn't we didn't do what we're supposed to do to get success."
Even the buzzing power play didn't bring a smile to his face. Instead, he lamented the lack of offense being created at even strength.
"I thought it was moving around pretty good," he said of his team's work with the man advantage. "We got a couple of goals from it, but you need more than the power play to win games. They scored five goals in three games. Five-on-five, the game has got to get better."
Defensively, the Canucks also faced some challenges.
The new pairing of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Quinn Hughes debuted with some promise, with Hughes picking up the primary assist on Kuzmenko's first goal early in the opening frame. But he finished the night as a minus-two — on the ice for all three of Vancouver's goals, and three of four from Seattle including Ryan Donato's overtime winner.
"He's always going to be really good," said Boudreau. "I thought there was definitely some rust on not only him, but a lot of guys on the accuracy. I think we had 70 shot attempts at the net or something, and we missed an awful lot of them, but that'll get better."
According to the NHL game sheet, the Canucks outshot the Kraken 36-29 in the game, and out-attempted them by a margin of 72-50. And yes, Seattle missed the net nine times in the game. Vancouver had 20 misses, led by four from Miller and three from Hughes.
Thursday's second defense pairing was Danny DeKeyser and Tucker Poolman — who didn't do much to change the minds of their many doubters. Their coverage was soft on Seattle's opening goal, where a scramble ensued after Shane Wright got the initial shot on goal.
On the third pairing, Jack Rathbone and Kyle Burroughs were steady. After getting into a career-high 42 NHL games last season, 27-year-old Burroughs is on the bubble again for the opening-night roster. His most noteworthy moment on Thursday was his first-period fight with new Kraken forward John Hayden.
Hayden dropped the gloves for a second time early in the second period — seeking revenge after Dakota Joshua laid a heavy-but-clean hit on the end boards on new Seattle defenseman Michal Kempny, who was knocked out of the game. It was a big-boy tilt, but without many punches thrown.
On Thursday, Joshua skated on Vancouver's third line with Nils Aman and Nils Hoglander. Lots of early penalties — and Joshua's fighting major — limited the trio's ice time together until the third period.
"I thought they did show good energy," Boudreau said. "Dakota did what he's supposed to do. Hoggy showed his energy. I thought Aman was good, too. They're capable players, all of them."
With the comeback win on Thursday, Seattle improves to 3-0 in preseason. And after Joey Daccord allowed the Canucks' three goals in his half-game of action, noted Canuck-killer Martin Jones of North Vancouver was perfect when he stepped in for the back half of the contest. Despite all the ups and downs in his career, the 32-year-old North Vancouver native is 10-3-1 in his career against Vancouver, with a .937 save percentage and 1.93 goals-against average. After spending a year in Philadelphia, it's not great news for the Canucks that he's now back in the Pacific Division again, where he has played most of his career.
At the other end of the ice, it was a solid opening outing for Thatcher Demko, who gave up just one power-play goal in his 40 minutes of action.
The Canucks and Kraken will square off for the second half of their home-and-home series this weekend, with a 6:30 p.m. PT puck drop on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena. The game will be broadcast on Sportsnet Pacific and Sportsnet One.
As the dressing room renovations continue at Rogers Arena, the club is practicing back out at UBC on Friday. This looks like it could be pretty close to the regular-season starting forward group.
I doubt that'll be reflective of the squad that plays Saturday in Seattle or Monday in Edmonton — especially since these two games might be the club's last opportunity to get a look at some of this year's farmhands before Abbotsford's training camp opens in Port Coquitlam next Wednesday.
No sign yet of injured Ilya Mikheyev, although reports from earlier in the week that he may have suffered a torn ACL were eventually shot down.
Also, it looks like Hughes and Ekman-Larsson have been split up for the first time this season.
No word yet on when the next round of roster cuts will be made.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»