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Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Fire Wagon Hockey |
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Sunday October 26 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Washington Capitals 2
Apparently Willie Desjardins' Vancouver Canucks do not come out flat when they get home from a road trip. It took awhile to score, but the team started the game with tremendous energy on its way to a 4-2 win on Sunday night.
Here are your highlights:
It was my first chance since preseason to see the Canucks live at Rogers Arena, and it was a ton of fun. The difference in pace really is like night and day compared to last year's team. For a group that's supposed to be lacking in footspeed, the Canucks were hustling all over the ice.
Where to begin?
Well, the Canucks are the first team this season to fire more than 30 shots on Barry Trotz's newly defense-minded Washington Capitals. Fourteen of those shots came in the first period—most in the first half of the frame, when Vancouver completely carried the play.
Washington goaltender Justin Peters stood strong and it was the Capitals who opened the scoring in the second, on a goal by Marcus Johansson.
Not long after, Karl Alzner took an interference penalty on Chris Higgins. The Canucks used the ensuing power play to get on the board and kick off a flurry of three goals in 1:47, essentially deciding the game.
And who scored the winner? Whipping boy Luca Sbisa, of all people. Just 25 seconds after Nick Bonino took a slick shot from the slot to give Vancouver the lead, the second line stayed out and Sbisa was able to wire a slapper from the left point over the glove of Justin Peters.
Sbisa got one of the biggest cheers of the night after his goal. I think the fans in the crowd were relieved to see him make his first positive contribution to his new team.
After picking up their second goal late in the period, the Capitals pressed for the equalizer in the third but Vancouver still held the edge in shots over their tired opponents, 10-7. Radim Vrbata iced the game with a long-range empty-netter while Washington pressed shorthanded, but with the goalie pulled. That sealed the game.
Alex Ovechkin was limited two two shots on goal and had two shots blocked. One of those shots was a point-blank opportunity in the third that was handled well by Ryan Miller, who played a solid game.
For all the talk of Washington's newfound defensive prowess, both the Bonino and Sbisa goals came off Capitals giveaways—by Joel Ward and rookie Andre Burakowsky, respectively.
The win moves the Canucks to 10th place overall in the NHL with a 5-3-0 record, but still leaves them in fifth place in the tough Pacific Division. That looks like a movie we saw in the early going last year, but some of the team's supporting numbers are starting to look quite impressive.
Vancouver is tied for fifth in the league in scoring with the explosive Tampa Bay Lightning—and has played one fewer game. The Canucks are tied for fourth overall with average offensive output of 3.25 goals per game. And after going two-for-five on the power play last night, they're back in the top half of the league with the man advantage—ranked 14th.
The Canucks also won the face-off battle last night, winning 51 percent of their draws. On this night, it was only Linden Vey who got pounded in the circle: he went two-for-10, while Brad Richardson rebounded from an awful outing in Colorado to go seven-for-10.
With the score 3-2 at the end of the second period, I wasn't sure if the Canucks were going to be able to hold their lead in such a wide-open game, but I sure did like the playing style.
Willie Desjardins seems to be deploying his line changes as five-man units whenever possible, which I think could be part of the reason why the team is getting caught on these too-many-men penalties—they were assessed another one last night.
I also caught a moment in the first period where the Sedin line was hemmed in the defensive zone for awhile by the Ovechkin line. When one Canucks winger managed to get off to change, Desjardins sent out Nick Bonino to lend a hand defensively. When the puck was finally cleared and Henrik came off, he switched for Alex Burrows.
The logic makes sense: first priority, prevent scoring chance by using fresh legs to get the puck out of the zone. But I can see how easy it could be for players to get their wires crossed in such situations.
But that's a small quibble, which I think should sort itself out as Desjardins' system becomes second nature. More importantly right now, the Canucks' top two lines are looking like a legitimate top six. The second line of Burrows, Bonino and Higgins was the most dynamic of the night and all three players were hustling hard.
All three members of the Sedin line are currently in the top 20 in NHL scoring, and the second line's not far behind. Nick Bonino has seven points, Chris Higgins has six and Alex Burrows has five—perfectly acceptable production so far.
I also thought Jannik Hansen, Derek Dorsett and Zack Kassian played with good emotion last night, though it was the Hansen-Vey-Dorsett line that was on the ice for both Washington goals. Shawn Matthias was virtually invisible to me in his 11:29 of ice time.
It's easy to imagine how this high-risk playing style could lead to up-and-down results all season but for now, I'll take it.
We'll see if the winless Carolina Hurricanes turn out to be an unlikely land mine tomorrow night.
One more quick note to wrap up for today:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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