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Bo Horvat missed as Vancouver Canucks fall to Flyers, Jordan Subban traded |
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Thursday November 7 - Philadelphia Flyers 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
Life without Bo Horvat got off to an uninspired start as the Vancouver Canucks dropped a 4-1 decision to the suddenly surging Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
With the Flyers, including Brian Elliott, on a back-to-back and the Canucks having easily picked up the two points a couple of weeks ago back in Philly, it seemed like a win was there for the taking, even without Horvat.
The Canucks got off to a good start. Back in the lineup for the first time in four games, Alex Burmistrov put his team on the power play when he drew a slashing penalty on his first shift of the game, helping the Canucks jump out to an early 9-0 advantage on the shot clock, but they weren't able to beat Elliott.
Horvat is central on both Canucks special teams and that showed up in spades last night. They were 0-for-2 with the man advantage and 4-for-6 on the penalty kill—only the fifth time all season that they've given up two or more power-play goals in a game.
The Flyers are playing with renewed confidence now that they've snapped their winless streak. Michael Raffl scored the winning goal in all three games of the Western road trip, Jake Voracek's three apples now have him leading the entire NHL with 30 assists and Claude Giroux took a page out of Brock Boeser's book with his second period power-play snipe.
Boeser did pick up his 14th of the year with 20 seconds left to play in the middle frame. The greasiest goal we've seen from him to date?
Brock finished the night with eight shot attempts and got seven of them on goal, leading the team and setting a new personal career high. Not a great night for his shooting percentage, but he was able to keep generating chances without Horvat.
Burmistrov's night was not as auspicious. He was a respectable 50 percent in the faceoff circle but managed just one shot attempt on the night. Markus Granlund took Bo's spot on the first power-play unit and got two early shots, but couldn't convert. And Sam Gagner went an impressive 9-for-10 in the faceoff circle but his most memorable moment came in the third period when he got open near the right circle, took his time to set up—and shot about three feet wide.
The final shot total was 37-26 in favour of the Canucks, but Elliott didn't face a whole lot of pressure.
Finally, on the game—there was concern for Chris Tanev in the third period.
Tanev didn't play the last 3:55 of the game—and his final shift is listed as being just three seconds long. He finished below 20 minutes of total ice time for the first time since returning from his thumb injury seven games ago—not a good sign. Tanev has been more inconsistent than usual during that stretch but he has had his moments. He was a plus-three against Nashville last week and masterfully broke up a textbook two-on-one by the Flyers in the third period last night.
The Canucks are practicing at Rogers Arena this morning before heading off for road games on Saturday in Calgary and Monday in Winnipeg. Tanev being Tanev, he trudges on. But where's Vanek?
Under the cover of late night—and fog—Jim Benning stealthily shipped out Jordan Subban after Thursday's game.
Drafted in the fourth round in 2013, the final year of the Mike Gillis era, the speedy but undersized Subban teased potential and was named to the AHL All-Star Game last season, but came under fire for his defensive game. After posting 16 goals and 36 points in 65 games with Utica last season, Subban had just five assists in 16 games this year and had been healthy scratched a few times before being dealt. He'd missed Utica's last two games due to injury.
In Nic Dowd, I believe the Canucks have acquired the team's first-ever Alabama-born player. The 27-year-old, from Huntsville, was drafted in the seventh round by the Kings in 2009. He played college hockey at St. Cloud State, where he was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as a senior in 2013-14—he lost to Johnny Gaudreau.
Moving on to the pros, Dowd was part of that powerhouse Manchester Monarchs team that beat Travis Green's Utica Comets in the 2015 Calder Cup Final. He went on to play five NHL games with the Kings the following season, then established himself as a full-time NHLer in 2016-17, collecting 22 points and 25 penalty minutes in 70 games.
This season, the 6'2", 196-pound center has one assist in 16 games. He has averaged less than eight minutes a game when he has been in the lineup for the Kings and has been healthy scratched for 14 games.
Sounds like the Canucks are hoping they'll get that 2015 playoffs version of Dowd:
One other housekeeping item before I wrap up for today: the Canucks announced this morning that they've returned Thatcher Demko to the Utica Comets after his one-day call-up.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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