Saturday December 10 - Florida Panthers 4 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks fought back to within a goal, but their record on their current road trip dropped to 1-2-0 after a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers on Saturday in Sunrise.
Here are your highlights:
Vancouver got in an early hole when Aleksander Barkov put the Panthers on the scoreboard after a nice setup from recent waiver pickup Seth Griffith. The 23-year-old had been drafted and developed by Boston, but was picked up on waivers by Toronto at the beginning of this season. He got into just three games for the Leafs before being put back on the waiver wire in mid-November, this time landing in Florida.
Griffith is now 0-2-2 in 10 games with the Panthers. Saturday's game was his first on the team's top line with Barkov and Jaromir Jagr and he made the most of it, finishing the night plus-two with three shots on goal in a season-high 17:21 of ice time.
Just two days after his 21st birthday, Thatcher Demko sat on the bench as an NHL backup for the first time in the regular season. On the ice, Jacob Markstrom was kept busy—as was Roberto Luongo. Final shots on goal were 42-39 in favour of Florida, with Derek MacKenzie and Aaron Ekblad beating Markstrom to put Florida up 3-0 before Jack Skille got the Canucks on the board, scoring in his second straight game, at the 8:06 mark of the third.
Daniel Sedin made it interesting, tipping a Troy Stecher point shot on the power play with 8:15 to play and squeezing a goal out of a strong Panthers' penalty-killing unit. After that, Vancouver got just one more shot through to Roberto Luongo before pulling Markstrom with 1:36 to play.
At 6-on-5, Vancouver generated good pressure. Luongo made four saves in a span of 19 seconds before freezing the puck for a faceoff—won by Vincent Trocheck, who sealed the game for Florida 10 seconds later with an empty netter.
Jon Abbott of TSN Radio reported before the game that the Canucks haven't managed to win both games of their season series in Florida since 2002, so perhaps this outcome was predestined even before the opening puck drop?
It was a rough night defensively for the Horvat / Baertschi / Burrows line, with all three players ending up minus-three. They were matched primarily against the Barkov line but were also on the ice for the Derek MacKenzie goal in the second period.
Troy Stecher also finished the night at minus-three, but he recorded an eye-popping eight shots on goal!
It was an emotional night for Erik Gudbranson, returning for the first time to the rink where he played his first five NHL seasons. There's still a lot of love for him in the Sunshine State.
Gudbranson was one of just three Canucks to end the night on the positive side of the plus-minus ledger. He was a plus-one in 19:23 of ice time.
Now, it's a quick turnaround before Vancouver's seventh back-to-back of the season. Puck drop in Washington is only a few hours away!
Sunday December 11 - Vancouver Canucks at Washington Capitals - 2 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 28 GP, 12-14-2, 26 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Washington Capitals: 26 GP, 16-7-3, 35 pts, fifth in Metropolitan Division
After Saturday's loss, the Canucks sit in 28th place in the league—but remain just four points out of the Western Conference wild card. Hot streaks by the Flames, Sharks and Kings have tightened up the standings at the top of the Pacific Division, where just one point separates first from fourth.
Washington's another team that has been on a bit of a tear. Last year's Presidents' Trophy winners currently sit in the second wild-card spot in the hard-charging Eastern Conference, but come into Sunday's game riding a three-game winning streak thanks to two wins over the Sabres and one over the Bruins earlier this week.
Philipp Grubauer picked up the win in the Caps' last game, Friday in Buffalo. You might remember him as the goaltender of record when Washington beat Vancouver 5-2 at Rogers Arena back in late October. That was also the second game of a back-to-back, but those games were both at Rogers Arena—this time, there's travel as well!
The good news? Jannik Hansen is expected back in the lineup after practicing with the team yesterday, and he should start the night on the right side with the Sedins. Understandably, there's no morning skate today, so we'll have to wait till game time to see who takes a seat in the press box to make room for Hansen.
Tonight's goaltending situation also remains murky. Jon Abbott reports that Ryan Miller did hit the ice today. Miller's "lower-body tightness" has now morphed into an "injured ankle," so it's unclear whether or not he'll be able to play—or even to back up.
Jacob Markstrom was busy last night, facing 42 shots. He's probably the safe bet to get the start.
Willie Dejardins on the starting goalie for tomorrow against the Capitals "it'll be Miller or Markstrom." #Canucks
Imagine if Willie Desjardins rolled the dice? It'd certainly be dramatic to throw Thatcher Demko to the wolves behind the team's patchwork defense against Alexander Ovechkin and company.
The Caps aren't the same the run-and-gun juggernaut we saw last season—they're ranked 13th offensively this season, averaging 2.65 goals per game. But you never would have known it if you'd watched them blow five past Markstrom back in October—led by a three-point night from Marcus Johansson.
As for Washington, expect to see Braden Holtby in net tonight. The Caps are basically healthy, though Matt Niskanen has been undergoing concussion protocol after taking a heavy hit from Patrice Bergeron earlier this week. It sounds like he'll play. T.J. Oshie has also rejoined the team this week after missing seven games with an upper-body injury.
Note the early start time—2 p.m. PT this afternoon, on Sportsnet. And I'll end with a positive—Jon Abbott says the Canucks are 3-3-0 in the second half of back-to-backs so far this season. So I'm sayin' there's a chance...
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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