Saturday March 8: Vancouver Canucks 2 - Calgary Flames 1
The Vancouver Canucks came from behind to pick up their first win in the month of March—a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday at Rogers Arena. Here are your highlights:
The final shots were 23-14 in favour of the Flames, but those numbers don't tell the story. Both teams finished the game with 32 blocked shots each, including 17-10 in favour of the Flames in the first period, where the shot totals were just 3-2 for Calgary.
The Flames' defensive effort perfectly illustrated why they've developed a reputation as a hard-working team that comes to play every night. Unlike the two games on their road trip earlier in the week, the Canucks also looked like they were putting their back into it.
The result was a closely-fought contest that was quite entertaining, giving the reasonably full house at Rogers Arena pretty good value for their dollars. The bad news is that the Canucks are now playing at a level where they can barely beat Calgary.
Eighth-place Dallas also won its Saturday night game, over Minnesota, so the Canucks remain four points back and their playoff odds hold steady at a dismal five percent.
Scouting Report:
After a poor outing against Dallas, it was a big relief to see Eddie Lack bounce back to get the win and be named first star. His situation looked sketchy when Brian McGrattan—of all people—scored the game's first goal on a softball from centre ice early in the second period. Jason Botchford
reported in his nightly "Provies" that Eddie realized he needed to step up his game from there:
I looked over at the bench and saw (a Torts face palm).
I thought ‘Oh no, Eddie, what have you done?’
Then I thought, ‘I better shut the door now.’
I have to admit, Shawn Matthias looked good, though he got killed in the face-off circle after a good run against Dallas on Thursday. He played 15:48, skated hard, put in some quality time on the penalty kill and drove well to the net on what became Yannick Weber's winning goal.
Nicklas Jensen was more of a work in progress, but was more noticeable than during this two-game stint with the Canucks last season. He actually played more minutes than Matthias—16:18—though he was dropped off the Kesler line pretty early on for some defensive issues. He had a couple of good offensive attempts, including a crossbar in the third period.
Ironically, it was Jensen's teammate from Utica, Darren Archibald, who got the Canucks on the board with his first NHL goal, manufactured from another scramble around the net.
Thanks goodness for secondary scoring: the Canucks' five points on this night were generated by Archibald, Jordan Schroeder, Weber, David Booth and Matthias.
Kevin Bieksa looked like he had a lot of frustration to work out of his system when he KO'ed Mark Giordano during a first period fight. Bieksa's not a guy who takes losing lightly, and he made it clear on "After Hours" that he won't be waiving his no-trade clause. Ever.
Setting the Stage for Next Season:
Also from CBC, Elliotte Friedman reported during the Hot Stove broadcast before the early game that the Canucks decided not to send out their season-ticket renewal packages last week as scheduled because they were worried about the response they'd get with the team in such a dramatic free fall.
Friedman says that ownership realizes it needs to make some sort of move to give their most important fans a glimmer of hope for the future that will make them want to stick with the team.
Playing the youngsters is likely part of that plan. The more excited we can get about Jensen, Archibald, Lack and company, the easier it is to suggest that things could be different next year.
But the talk that John Tortorella must go is getting louder and louder.
Gary Mason of
The Globe and Mail says the team lost respect for the coach after the Flames' dressing-room incident. It's a solid narrative, but I think they lost the plot a bit sooner—those losses to the Flyers and Lightning right around New Year's were the turning point for me.
Botchford also discusses this notion in the Provies, suggesting that Torts would be the sacrificial lamb needed for Mike Gillis to save his own job.
If Gillis’s job really is on the line, and he wants to keep it, who might he be blaming for this epic implosion?
Do you think he would suggest this could be on the coach, who just may have been the owner’s choice to begin with?
He goes on to talk about how Torts doesn't even run his game-day skates—just shows up to talk to the media, then goes home again.
Botchford reported that, on Saturday, Glen Gulutzan ran an extensive forechecking drill which, to say the least, should be second nature by now. The reaction from one unnamed player:
We’re at what? Game 66? And we’re NHL players going over how to forecheck because everyone has been out there doing their own thing. It’s embarrassing.
Habits like this could be where Torts has hung himself out to dry.
The $8 million left on his contract is small potatoes compared to the money the Aquilinis will make from that new high-rise condo they're in the midst of building next to the arena. Or, as Gary Mason says, they may have to look at the situation as spending money to make money.
What do you think will be Torts' fate?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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