|
Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Easing In, Flyers Await, Corrado Recalled |
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday December 29: Vancouver Canucks 2 Calgary Flames 0
The Vancouver Canucks got back to work on Sunday with a relatively easy 2-0 win over Calgary. Here are your highlights:
For a game in which Vancouver was never challenged on the score sheet, there was more than enough drama.
The anxiety begn during warmups, when Twitter started to hum with news that Henrik Sedin had been injured when he was hit in the head by an errant puck. Sure enough, the broadcast began with video of the captain getting beaned in the ear by a rebound from a Dale Weise shot and immediately leaving the ice.
Because he's Henrik, his ironman streak was never in jeopardy. His helmet was destroyed, but he said after the game that his ear looked worse than it was—it needed about five stitches. With a new helmet and handy plastic ear protector, he was good to go.
Henrik and Daniel "only" played about 20 minutes on Sunday, but that is likely due to the lack of special-teams opportunities and the fact that the team is in a back-to-back situation, facing Philadelphia tonight.
The captain certainly didn't look like he was having any issues when he floated a beautiful saucer pass from blue line to blue line to spring Jannik Hansen near the end of the first period. In what we'll hope is a sign that Hansen is finally starting to click with the twins, the Dane bobbled the puck on his breakaway, but managed to fire it past Reto Berra into the top corner for what turned out to be the winning goal.
So, Henrik's OK. Andrew Alberts, not so much.
With Tortorella making an effort to use all six defenseman, Alberts was playing his second shift of the game when Flames tough guy Brian McGrattan leveled him with an elbow to the head at the 2:43 mark of the first period. The big defender crumpled to the ice and left with a suspected concussion; Tom Sestito fought McGrattan to make him atone for an offense that will likely warrant a suspension.
The Canucks were awarded a five-minute power play, which didn't generate much momentum—and turned out to be Vancouver's only man-advantage of a relatively tame game. For their part, the Canucks were penalized just once, when Zac Dalpe took a holding-the-stick penalty late in the second period.
More troubling than the sputtering power play was the fact that, in a back-to-back situation, the Canucks were forced to play the remaining 57:17 of the game with just five defensemen. Tough to manage icetime in that situation! Dan Hamhuis finished with a game-high 29:22 and Yannick Weber was the low man with a decent 14:17, including 2:37 on the five-minute power play.
With blueliners Alex Edler and Ryan Stanton already sidelined, Alberts' injury has finally forced the recall of Frank Corrado from Utica. With the long travel from upstate New York, it'll be a stretch for him to make it to Vancouver in time for the Flyers game on Monday. If he doesn't get here—can Jeremy Welsh skate backwards?
The Flames returned from their own Christmas break with a 2-0 shutout of the Edmonton Oilers, but barely mounted a fight against Vancouver. Through two periods, the Canucks outshot Calgary 24-8, and while the Flames looked a little more interested with 10 shots in the third, a bored Eddie Lack stood tall when he was tested, recording his second win at the Saddledome and his second shutout of the season.
Mike Santorelli was the overtime hero when the Canucks faced Calgary earlier in the season. On Sunday, he added an insurance marker on a nice feed from Ryan Kesler late in the third to seal the win for Vancouver.
The win means two more much-needed points for Vancouver, who will hope to finish out the first half of the regular season on a positive note when they return to Rogers Arena to face the Flyers on Monday.
Monday December 30 - Philadelphia Flyers at Vancouver Canucks - 7:00 pm - Sportsnet Pacific, Comcast Sports Philadelphia
Vancouver Canucks 23-11-6 52 points fourth in Pacific Division
Philadelphia Flyers 18-16-4 40 points third in Metropolitan Division
Don't look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers are on a roll!
After an awful start to the season, the Flyers have won their last two games, are 5-3-2 in their last 10, and are tied with the Rangers and New Jersey with 40 points, with the stat advantage in their favour. That puts them third in the Metropolitan Division—right back in the playoff picture. After Peter Laviolette was fired early in the season, Craig Berube is starting to turn this team around.
Philadelphia's power play could put the Canucks' league-best penalty-killing to the test on Monday night. Four of the Flyers' last seven goals have come with the man advantage.
Wayne Simmonds is the man to watch—he has scored two goals in each of Philadelphia's last three games. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek have also been consistent offensive producers as the Flyers climb back to respectability.
No word yet on goaltenders for either team tonight, and the Canucks aren't skating this morning. After his relatively easy performance in Calgary on Sunday, I'll expect Lack to get the nod again for Vancouver. Steven Mason has started six of the Flyers' last seven games, going 5-0-1 in that stretch. I'd guess we'll see him between the pipes for Philadelphia.
I won't be at the game tonight due to other obligations, but will be back with a recap for you tomorrow.
Quick Hits:
- It'll be good to get our first look at Frankie Corrado this year. He impressed during a late-season callup in 2012-13, playing three regular-season and all four playoff games against the Sharks. The 20-year-old has yet to record his first NHL point, but averaged about 12 minutes a game during his postseason action and was a minus-1 over the four games.
So far this season in Utica, Corrado is 2-3-5 and a minus-2 through 29 games. Not exactly dazzling numbers—and Torts has certainly taken his time in bringing him up. Will Corrado impress again as the steady force we saw last season, or has he taken a step backwards in his development?
- It's another tough day for Canada at the World Junior Championships. Through two periods, they're trailing Slovakia 3-2. They've controlled much of the play but have been torched by the Slovak power play.
According to Twitter, Bo Horvat has seen limited action in the game. One fellow named Adam speculates that Bo may not be himself due to this hit suffered in the tournament-opener against Germany (with Vine video):
Something to keep an eye on. Much like the Canucks, Canada needs the points from this win. They face the tough U.S. squad on Tuesday in their final round-robin game to set up the positioning for the medal round.
- The holiday trade freeze is over! How long until we start to see some player movement?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»