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Vancouver Canucks Game Review / Game Day: Loss in Washington on to Carolina |
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Thursday January 14 - Washington Capitals 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
The good thing about back-to-backs is that I'd much rather look forward at the game coming up than back at what just happened.
On Thursday, the Washington Capitals won their 11th straight home game when they cruised to an easy 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Here are your highlights:
The Canucks actually hung in pretty decently for the first half of the game, winning the faceoff battle in a fast-paced, low-emotion game.
The turning point came at the 6:12 mark of the first period, when Alex Edler someone managed to transform a breakaway opportunity out of the penalty box into a giveaway that handed Evgeny Kuznetsov the Caps' first goal of the game.
Once Washington had the lead, the home team took control. Vancouver's only offense came when Radim Vrbata tapped in his 11th of the year on a 5-on-3 power play to make the score 3-1 midway through the third. Kuznetsov eventually added an empty-netter for his second of the night.
I thought the score made the game look closer than it was. Though I was rooting for the Canucks to squeeze out a second power-play goal to draw within one after Vrbata scored, the overriding feeling was that the Capitals were in complete control and if they needed to score more goals, they would.
Can't say we saw any chemistry in the twins-with-Dorsett experiment, though Willie stuck with his combination right until he pulled Ryan Miller for the extra attacker late in the game. He did shuffle Vrbata—but it was down to the fourth line, moving Jake Virtanen up to play with Horvat and Baertschi.
The Canucks' special teams were successful again—scoring one power-play goal and perfect on the penalty kill. But that meant some nasty plus-minus numbers by the end of the game.
Edler had a rough night but Matt Bartkowski was even worse—on the ice for all four Washington goals. Horvat, Baertschi and Vrbata were each minus-two—and that now makes Bo minus-22 for the season—dead last in the entire NHL.
Although Horvat's point streak has now stretched to five consecutive games, Brandon Sutter cannot get back into the lineup quickly enough!
(By the way, Nick Bonino's now on the shelf for "at least a month" after suffering a hand injury while blocking a shot on Tuesday night in Carolina)
Other bright spots? Ryan Miller looked fine in his return to action—and there's no great shame in losing to Washington these days. The Caps are one good hockey team.
Onwards....
Friday January 15 - Vancouver Canucks at Carolina Hurricanes - 4:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific - TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 44 GP, 17-17-10, 44 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Carolina Hurricanes: 45 GP, 20-18-7, 47 pts, fourth in Metropolitan Division
A funny thing has happened since the Canucks beat Eddie Lack and the Hurricanes nine days ago at Rogers Arena—the 'Canes have gone out and won four straight games.
Granted, two of them were against the cellar-dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets, but Carolina looked like the real deal on Thursday night with a 4-1 road win over the St. Louis Blues.
So—both teams are coming into tonight's game on the second half of a back-to-back, with travel. No excuses there.
Lack stopped 23 shots on Thursday for the win, so Cam Ward will get the start in net tonight for Carolina.
As expected, the Canucks will go back to Jacob Markstrom, who earned the win last week against the Hurricanes.
With Edler and Bartkowski as the current whipping boys on defense, it actually sounds as if Yannick Weber might be scratched tonight.
No real word on what's happening up front. I would expect Jared McCann to draw back in, and my guess is that it's more likely Jannik Hansen *won't* play than that he will.
All we have to go on so far is this:
For their part, the Hurricanes have activated forward Nathan Gerbe from injured reserve. He has missed 25 games with an ankle injury.
The Hurricanes' winning streak notwithstanding, I expect a much more evenly-played game tonight. One thing that would really help the Canucks would be to score the first goal. They haven't done so since before Christmas—their December 22 win in Tampa Bay.
For the last eight games, the Canucks have had to try to come from behind. It's actually rather impressive that they've cobbled together a 4-3-1 record through that kind of adversity.
It's another early 4:00 start today from the PNC Arena in Raleigh.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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