Sunday March 25 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Dallas Stars 1
I'll get to Sunday's game in a minute but first, the big news of the day!
There was very little reason for concern that the Canucks wouldn't get their man to put pen to paper but I have to admit, I was a little concerned when I woke up this morning to the news that Jordan Greenway had signed with Minnesota, then Casey Mittelstadt had signed with Buffalo...
But the deal is done. And there's no messing around with the minors. Like Brock Boeser last year, Gaudette will be joining the Canucks for these final games of the regular season.
Looks like he'll be the new Nikita Tryamkin!
Here's the expected timeline:
Following up on yesterday's discussion about his eligibility to play in Utica, here's the relevant detail:
The Canucks have six games left—five at home. Gaudette's arrival offers up some home for the future and gives him a chance to get a taste of life at the NHL level.
If he does debut on Thursday against the Oilers, he'll have a front-row seat for peak Connor McDavid, too. Edmonton's on a late-season surge: 7-2-2 in their last 11 games, dating back to early March. McDavid has been dialled in since mid-February, with 16-17-33 in his last 20 games. He just earned First Star honours for his play last week, which included nine points in Edmonton's last three games to vault him four points ahead of Nikita Kucherov in the Art Ross Trophy race.
If McDavid repeats as the Art Ross winner, he'll be the first player to do so since Jaromir Jagr won four straight between 1998 and 2001.
If you're not buying a ticket to see Gaudette play in Vancouver on Thursday, I think it's safe to say that McDavid should also be worth the price of admission!
I've seen some concern that Vancouver's win in Dallas on Sunday impedes the #TeamTank goals and puts the team at risk of losing a crack at 31st place overall. I have to admit, I kind of respect the Oilers for putting that thought process aside and playing some good hockey down the stretch—although maybe that's the kind of cockiness that comes from the insane draft lottery luck they've been able to conjure up over the years?
Edmonton's 6-2-2 record over its last 10 games matches the performance of Nashville, Boston, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Colorado. Not long ago, the Oilers were only a couple of points ahead of the Canucks in the standings; now, they've got an 11-point cushion and have risen to 23rd place overall.
As for Vancouver, they're still 29th after Sunday's win, but have opened up a five-point cushion of their own over last-place Buffalo. The Sabres have lost four straight but have one game in hand on the Canucks. Their next game is Monday night in Toronto against the Leafs.
On that note, let's look back at last night's win. The Canucks did give up the first goal—though it wasn't until late in the first period, while they were on the power play. But they got it back before intermission, then took control the rest of the way to beat Dallas 4-1 and outscore them 10-1 at the American Airlines Center this year.
Here are your highlights:
The Stars have been swooning and are now almost certain to miss the playoffs, so they had plenty of motivation. And they had some chances—Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov finished the night with four shots each, and Jacob Markstrom came out on top early against a Seguin-Benn 2-on-1.
When Benn, Seguin and Radulov seemed to barely leave the ice during the Stars' 2-1 overtime win over the Canucks at Rogers Arena back in October, I wondered if the team would run out of gas later in the year. Ken Hitchcock's top players are still producing but the team's slide reminds me a bit of what happened to the Canucks during the Torts year—although with a lot less peripheral drama.
I heard speculation at the trade deadline that Dallas GM Jim Nill didn't make any moves at that time because while his team was in playoff position, he didn't think the group could make a serious run this year. I wonder if the players internalized that lack of confidence, leading to this dropoff? At the deadline, they were 36-23-4. Since then, they've gone 2-7-4.
As for the Canucks: I'm impressed that they finished off a long stretch away from home with an energetic effort, capped off by goals from unlikely sources: Reid Boucher's third of the year (all of which have come against Dallas), Nic Dowd's third, Jake Virtanen's ninth and Tyler Motte's fourth—his first as a Canuck—into the empty net.
Chances are, one of those guys will come out of the lineup to make room for Gaudette. Extra motivation? I wonder if Green will insert Gaudette at centre or give him a chance to get his feet wet on the wing, first?
Other positives from Sunday's game: the power play went 2-for-6, the penalty kill was perfect for a fourth straight game, and the Canucks scored more than two goals for the third time in their last five games.
Also, with a 30-save performance for a .968 save percentage on the night, Jacob Markstrom earns another 'Quality Start' to bump up his QS% by nine basis points to .509. If he can finish the season strong, he has a real chance of hitting that .530 league average. That'd be a very solid accomplishment in his first year as a full-time starter. And even though he's now 28, he looks to me like he's still finding ways to improve, especially on the mental side.
Finally, the Gaudette news has overshadowed another NHL debut, from defenseman Ashton Sautner.
The 23-year-old played 12:54 on Sunday on a third pairing with Alex Biega, all at even strength. He had two hits and two blocks, and made a good impression on Travis Green.
Here's the coach on Sautner, from
The Provies, courtesy of Jason Botchford:
“I thought he was really good.
“I liked his skating.
“I liked his poise with the puck. He didn’t panic even when he was in some tough spots.
“He skated himself to safety.
“For his first game, was good.”
He’s not big but he’s …. (Green Jumped my Question!) hard to play against.
“He sure was.
“It was nice to see.
“I thought he battled hard. He played really physical. That’s the biggest change we’ve seen this year, his confidence to engage physically.
“He’s strong enough to win puck battles and that’s so important.
“He wasn’t backing down. He played with confidence.”
Of course, Green knows exactly what Sautner can do, having coached him for two years in Utica. I'll be interested to see if he can keep up the intensity in front of the home crowd this week at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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