Tuesday October 17 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Ottawa Senators 0
Erik Karlsson's 2017-18 debut was the story going in, but it was a trio of new Canucks—and Brock Boeser, of course—who stole the show in Vancouver's 3-0 shutout of the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.
Here are your highlights:
After seeing a steady regression in Jacob Markstrom's play through the first week of the season, Travis Green tapped newcomer Anders Nilsson to make his first regular-season start as a Canuck—and the move was a masterstroke.
A confident Ottawa team outshot Vancouver 17-4 in a fast-moving opening period, but it was the Canucks that went to the dressing room with a 1-0 lead—thanks to a power-play goal!
The heavy workload may have actually helped Nilsson to find his rhythm. He hasn't played since the Canucks' 3-1 preseason win over Calgary back on September 28, but he looked confident against Ottawa, squaring up well to shots and unfazed by traffic around the net.
Nilsson kept his team in the game early, then the skaters took over.
The newly formed Boeser-Burmistrov-Baertschi line was on the ice when Ottawa got whistled for a bad change with 5:21 to play in the first. After the TV timeout, Green left the trio out as his new power-play unit, with Michael Del Zotto and Derrick Pouliot on the points—and all was right with the world.
The group moved the puck with speed and precision and after Del Zotto got the puck on the net from the left point, Boeser picked up the puck out of the ensuing scramble and fired it over Craig Anderson for his second of the year.
The play was challenged for goaltender interference, but it was ruled a good goal.
The Canucks had better control of the game play in the second period, outshooting Ottawa 12-7, and the new Killer B's line (?) connected again when Burmistrov tipped a Boeser shot past Anderson to put the Canucks up by two with 3:31 left in the second.
My only complaint so far about Burmistrov and Baertschi playing together is that it's hard to tell 42 and 47 apart on the ice, especially when they're cycling like vintage Sedins like they did on that goal!
Given Ottawa's hot start to the season and the fact that they erased a third-period deficit to beat Vancouver last week, I was biting my nails down the stretch, fearful of a collapse.
Maybe if Erik Karlsson hadn't been playing his first game of the season, he would have scored instead of ringing the puck off the crossbar on that fast break with 4:55 to play in the third.
Instead, Karlsson's play happened so quickly that Thomas Vanek had barely entered the defensive zone when the puck bounced back the other way. He was able to work up a head of steam, outskate Johnny Oduya and rifle a slapper past Anderson to seal the win for the Canucks.
What a goal!
In the end, Nilsson stopped all 32 shots he faced, becoming the third goalie in Canuck history to record a shutout in his first game with the team.
That part must sting a little for Markstrom, who's still looking for the first shutout of his NHL career and is nearing a record for futility.
Markstrom's now at 113 NHL games played without a shutout. According to Greg Balloch, Pokey Reddick holds the record at 132 games, so Markstrom's 29 games behind.
The win also means the Canucks boast a perfect road record, for the moment. And the group will probably be having a lot more fun in Boston today—a day off before Thursday's game.
I am curious now to see who Travis Green will start in net against the Bruins on Thursday. I'd figured Nilsson would get the second half of the back-to-back against his old team in Buffalo on Friday. Will Green stick with the hot hand instead in hopes of trying to build a two-game winning streak against Boston?
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The three stars last night were Boeser, Nilsson and Burmistrov—in that order. That's a good list for Jim Benning, especially when Vanek also scored and Del Zotto was a monster with 25:31 of ice time, three hits and three blocked shots to go along with his three shots and his power-play assist. I'd even say Sam Gagner played his best game so far as a Canuck with four shot attempts. He started with Horvat and Vanek, then got moved to the Sedin line as the game went on.
In closing today, despite the big win, today's a sad day for hockey. RIP Gord Downie.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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