Saturday September 26 - Calgary Flames 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)
The Vancouver Canucks showed plenty of positive signs on Saturday night, but ended up on the wrong side of the score sheet for the second straight night against the Calgary Flames.
Here are your highlights from the 4-3 overtime loss:
The good news—a number of the young players who are still in camp showed very well.
Brendan Gaunce, Bo Horvat and Alex Friesen were the goal scorers. Jared McCann chipped in with a pair of assists and defenseman Ben Hutton is getting better every day—his pinpoint passing earned him assists on all three Canucks goals.
It's hard not to be excited for the future when watching a gorgeous scoring play like this:
The game got a little sleepy at times but the Canucks did a good job of generating offense against Calgary's "B" lineup, outshooting the Flames 43-26, including a 16-4 edge in the second period.
The win could have belonged to the Canucks, I think, if not for the goaltending—and Ryan Miller sounds like he agrees.
Miller played the full game and looked solid at times, but the goals he did surrender were pretty deflating for both the team and the roughly half-full house at Rogers Arena.
Miller wasn't looking for excuses on the bad goals when he spoke to reporters after the game, but is taking a big picture approach about getting himself ready for opening night:
And let's face it—Miller's not alone in looking like a vet whose game is not all there yet.
I was thinking a lot last night about how the coverage of preseason games has changed over the years. Working for Stats, I remember when I had to cross my fingers for radio coverage and maybe get one game on TV. Now we have television for every game and last night, Sportsnet showed a coast-to-coast double header.
So—it's easy to forget that in this first week of exhibition play, the veterans aren't geared up to 100 percent. They've only been on the ice with the team for a little more than a week—and I do think it's important for them to pace themselves a bit with a long season ahead.
So far, the gift of playing with the Sedins has been a curse for the young players who have slotted in with them. Ronalds Kenins did next to nothing on Tuesday against the Sharks and last night, Alex Grenier was one of the less prominent young guns. He finished the night with a solid 19:48 of ice time and generated three shots on goal, but wasn't really in the heart of the action.
The Sedins had some nice give-and-go moments among themselves over the course of the night, but seemed to be getting knocked off the puck with unfortunate regularity.
On the bright side, Henrik was a solid 12-8 in the faceoff circle on Saturday and the Canucks held the overall edge in draws by a margin of 33-17. Cole Cassels wasn't especially prominent in the overall game but he was an impressive 7-2 on the dot, while Bo Horvat went 10-5.
With the Utica Comets charter for Lyon, France, leaving on Monday, more roster cuts are expected today. The Canucks also play back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday, though, so they want to keep enough bodies around to ensure that the regulars aren't overtaxed during the meaningless exhibition schedule.
The roster is already down to 10 defensemen so Ben Hutton, Alex Biega and Taylor Fedun should be sticking around for the immediate future.
Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Blair Jones and Alex Friesen have been placed on waivers today:
With those two names off the list, the forward ranks are down to 20, according to
Canucks.com.
I broke down everybody's odds of sticking with the big club in
this piece for Canucks Army before this weekend's games. For the most part, I'm still pretty comfortable with my assertions.
Ben Hutton and Jared McCann certainly increased their stock after last night's game, but Hutton's going to have a tough time bumping out a defenseman who needs to clear waivers for a roster spot. At this point, though, I wonder if McCann has inched ahead of Jake Virtanen as the player who's more likely to stay with the club for that nine-game trial before being sent back to junior?
Virtanen's body is more NHL-ready, but McCann's playmaking and his on-ice determination look a lot more valuable in terms of what the Canucks need in the mix right now.
I figure there are two roster spots open, and I think Brendan Gaunce is almost a lock to be Chris Higgins' injury replacement.
I've been assuming that the Canucks would start the season with 14 forwards and seven defenseman, but now I'm starting to wonder if it'll be 13-8 with Ben Hutton sticking around.
Do one or both of the 19-year-olds get a chance?
survey solutions
No practice today. Sunday's a full team day off in between two sets of back-to-back games. The action will get rolling again on Monday with a home game against the Arizona Coyotes.
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