Monday November 6 - Detroit Red Wings 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
Thankfully, we don't have to think about this game for too long. The Vancouver Canucks nearly salvaged a lackluster outing with a third-period comeback but ultimately dropped a 3-2 decision to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
One hallmark of this year's Canucks team is that it tends to get better as the game wears on. Jacob Markstrom's penchant for giving up early goals means the team is often playing from behind, and I thought they might be able to complete a comeback against a tired Red Wings team that was finishing up a back-to-back.
But the game wasn't especially taxing through the first 40 minutes. Detroit took an early lead off Darren Helm's third of the season at 4:02 of the first period, then was gifted its second goal on the power play thanks to an unlikely assist from Chris Tanev.
I saw some talk that the angle of Tanev's stick might have been impacted by Anthony Mantha coming in from behind him, but I'm not so sure. I think it was just an epic—and rare—brain fart.
At least he didn't celebrate like in this classic from 2004...
In the press box during the second intermission, we debated whether or not Tanev's gaffe was worse than Loui Eriksson's infamous own-goal from last year.
In Eriksson's favour—the empty net came as a surprise, and the Canucks ended up winning that game 2-1 in a shootout. Working against him—the fact that it was his first game in a Canucks uniform, on a massive 6x6 contract, and that it generated this eternal meme.
Tanev's long, solid body of work earns him some latitude and, true to form, he managed to get through the incident without an awkward facial expression or a memorable quote.
I was hoping he might get to redeem himself by scoring a shootout winner or something equally fanciful after the Canucks fought back to tie in the third period.
As I expected, the Sedins and Jake Virtanen were much more prominent on Monday, and Daniel scored career point number 992 to start the comeback with 12:44 left to play.
This is the point where I raise my eyebrow at the game presentation crew. I talked with DJ MDZ last week about his personal goal song and, not surprisingly, he had carefully chosen something that he thought would pump up the crowd and would make him feel good as he enjoyed his celebration.
But the goal songs have been very hit-and-miss this year. The game presentation team is leading off with Locksley's "The Whip" after every goal, then sometimes throwing in the personal songs. Brock Boeser got one round of "Let's Go Crazy" at the first stoppage after his opening goal on Saturday night, for instance.
But Del Zotto was deprived of his awesome musical moment for his first-ever goal as a Canuck. Then, to add insult to injury, the game presentation crew busted out Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in the dying minutes.
That the #Canucks play Journey when DET is in town and a tie game is criminal.
I'm still mad about one time years ago when the Arizona Coyotes scored a game winner when the crew played the Coyotes' goal song, "Howlin' For You" by the Black Keys, in the dying minutes of a tie game. For me, this is the same deal.
It didn't help that Tomas Tatar tripped up Ben Hutton to get open for the winning goal, but the vibe coulda been different! Alas, it was not meant to be.
The Canucks took the loss and gave up three goals for the first time since the beatdown in Boston back on October 19. And an enthusiastic Thatcher Demko got to watch his first regular-season game from an NHL bench as Anders Nilsson's baby-watch kicked into full gear about an hour before gametime.
Demko got the call he was backing up at 6:14. He was at his hotel. It’s 6:34. He’s on the ice. “I ran. Never suited up so fast!!”
I don't think I'm alone in hoping that maybe Demko will get his first career NHL start tonight in Calgary?
Tuesday November 7 - Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames - 6 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 14 GP, 7-5-2, 16 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Calgary Flames: 14 GP, 8-6-0, 16 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
It may be the second game of a back-to-back, but tonight's game against the Flames is already a crucial early-season divisional matchup. Calgary and Vancouver have played the same number of games and have the same number of points.
Vancouver earns the higher ranking in the standings on the basis of one extra regulation/overtime win—and the Canucks have a plus-three overall goal differential, while the Flames are minus-three. But the Flames dished out Vancouver's worst home loss of the season when they beat the Canucks 5-2 back on October 14—the game where the Canucks were a brutal 0-for-7 on the power play.
The Flames are coming off a 5-4 home shootout win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday but for the most part, they've had a surprising amount of trouble scoring. The Canucks are currently ranked 24th in the league with an average of 2.64 goals per game but Calgary is 30th at 2.36. The Flames' power play is also struggling—26th at a 14.3 percent conversion rate while the Canucks are one spot behind at 13.8 percent.
Jaromir Jagr has been sidelined for the last two weeks with a lower-body injury but is expected to get back into the Calgary lineup tonight—most likely, playing with Sam Bennett (age 21) and Mark Jankowski ( age 23), whose combined ages come out to one year less than Jagr's 45. Defenseman Travis Hamonic is expected to be out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
Fascinated to see if 93-77-68 line can break through: - Bennett, 0 points this year - Jankowski, 0 career points - Jagr, 1,916 career points
Expect to see Mike Smith back in net for the Flames. He's 8-5-0 so far this season, with an impressive .931 save percentage and 2.32 goals-against average. Eddie Lack has made just two appearances. He's 0-1-0 with a 4.17 GAA and .853 save percentage.
The Canucks might just be carrying Boucher tonight for insurance/salary cap purposes—don't forget, Brendan Gaunce is back with the team as well. Maybe we'll find out at game time that Travis Green is swapping some players due to minor injuries or the back-to-back situation.
Whatever the reason, the Canucks are managing their roster and cap space much more intricately this season than we've seen for the past couple of years. That gets a thumbs-up from me.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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