Sunday November 2 - Nashville Predators 3 - Vancouver Canucks 1
The winning streak had to end sometime. A night of bad luck and bad bounces did in the Vancouver Canucks, who were outplayed by the rested Nashville Predators on Sunday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
On my way to the rink, I was surprised to hear that Willie Desjardins had decided to stick with his winning lineup from Saturday's game in Edmonton—except with Eddie Lack in goal instead of Ryan Miller. Bo Horvat was in the building and had been expected to play, according to Sportsnet:
Horvat did take the warmup, and will definitely make his debut on Tuesday against Colorado.
With his decision to stick with his winning lineup, I think we learned a little more about how Willie likes to treat his players. He also might not have been overly anxious to start the clock on Bo's nine-game NHL trial period.
I wonder how Sestito feels about the coach's faith in him now? On just his fifth shift of the game early in the second period, Sestito hobbled to the bench and didn't return.
It's a strange one. In the video, he seems fine—until he's not.
Reports seem to indicate that the injury is fairly serious:
The Canucks are heading to Denver today to start their four-game road trip tomorrow. Sestito won't be joining them.
The good news is that Kevin Bieksa will be making the trip after suffering a mysterious injury of his own in the first period: seemingly to his eye.
Here's a look at what happened to Bieksa:
It was reported after the game that he had left the arena right away to seek additional medical treatment, but it's great news to hear that he's well enough to fly. Perhaps after seeing what happened to Manny Malhotra and Matthias Ohlund here in Vancouver, we're a bit quick to worry when it comes to eye injuries:
With all those details out of the way—what about the game?
It was a strange one.
As has become the norm, there were empty seats scattered throughout Rogers Arena, but the attendance seemed reasonable for a Nashville game at the end of a four-game homestand. Still, the rink was very quiet for most of the game, with limited spontaneous chanting and cheering. A brief wave did break out during the second period.
From a hockey point of view, the highlight was Filip Forsberg. The 20-year-old finished the night with two goals and assist—though one was an own-goal by Dan Hamhuis. Playing on Nashville's top line with Mike Ribeiro and James Neal, Forsberg led all skaters with eight shots on goal and was dangerous all night long. He looks like he's going to develop into quite a player.
The Canucks showed signs of life. Luca Sbisa's crushing hit on Taylor Beck in the first period was a thing of beauty—and riled up Shea Weber enough that he tried to fight Sbisa. Weber took the extra penalty, which set up the Canucks' lone goal: a power-play marker by Alex Edler.
The twins also had some moments, moving the puck smoothly and trying some pretty plays. Daniel Sedin ended the night with six shots on goal.
After Bieksa was injured, the defense was a bit muddled for the rest of the night. The second half of a back-to-back isn't an ideal situation to suddenly be switching up defense pairings and asking players for extra minutes.
In situations like this, I think Dan Hamhuis takes too much responsibility on himself, which leads to mistakes like the own-goal. Can't fault a guy too much for trying.
One other positive slice of news: the Canucks were 54 percent in the faceoff circle.
It's another tough loss for Eddie Lack, whose record now drops to 0-3 on the year. Lack didn't play a bad game; it was just one of those nights where the bounces didn't go his way.
As well as Ryan Miller is playing, I'd like to see Eddie get a couple of more favourable starts so that he can find that great groove he was displaying in preseason and get his confidence back on track.
I can only assume that Olli Jokinen now has a side gig as frontman for a Finnish metal band with the
big mullet and bad attitude that he was rockin' last night.
Of course, Sunday's loss puts an end to the Canucks' winning streak—though it happened on a night when Chicago fell to Winnipeg, the Kings lost to Carolina and Detroit was beaten by Buffalo. Even with the loss, the Canucks are still fifth in the entire NHL and fourth in goals.
I think if anyone would have told us that before the season started, we would have been more than satisfied.
The tests get tougher this week with the big road trip but so far, our boys appear to be headed in the right direction.
One other housekeeping note for today: Andrew Ference was suspended for three games for his head hit on Zack Kassian on Saturday. That seems reasonable enough, under the circumstances.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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