|
Brock Boeser scores second game-winner of the year as Canucks down Penguins |
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday October 16 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Pittsburgh Penguins 2 (OT)
Brock Boeser stayed hot against Pittsburgh with his first career overtime goal and sixth in three career games against the Pittsburgh Penguins as the Vancouver Canucks extended their road winning streak to three games.
Here are your highlights:
Maybe I'm projecting, but the Canucks seemed determined to put the drama of the last few days behind them when the puck dropped in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. With hot goalie Anders Nilsson making his third straight start in net, Vancouver came out of the gate hot.
The Canucks got up to 6-0 before Pittsburgh recorded its first shot at 6:24 of the opening frame. Jake Guentzel opened the scoring when he shot rather than passing to Sidney Crosby on a 2-on-1, squeezing the puck under Nilsson's arm and probably taking advantage of this year's new smaller upper-body protection for goaltenders.
Undeterred, the Canucks pressed on. Two and a half minutes later, Ben Hutton tied the score with the first goal by a Vancouver defenseman this year—and his first tally since March 16, 2017.
The goal came on a shift by the Canucks' new-look fourth line, as a result of some tenacious forechecking by Tim Schaller, Markus Granlund and Tyler Motte. Schaller got the primary assist—his first point in a Canucks uniform—then followed up with a dish from behind the net to Brandon Sutter 10 minutes later, giving Vancouver a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Boeser, Carl Hagelin and Sutter were named the official three stars after the game according to the local media in Pittsburgh, but the Sportsnet crew gave top honours to Schaller after his high-hustle game. In addition to his two assists, he finished the night with a team-high seven hits and one takeaway in 15:34 of ice time.
The Canucks did a good job of protecting their lead for the better part of two periods, but Jake Virtanen and Ben Hutton got crossed up in the dying minutes, leading into a rocket-speed 2-on-1 the other way. Erik Gudbranson couldn't prevent the pass from Phil Kessel to Carl Hagelin, and the Penguins tied the game with 3:14 left to play in regulation.
Once again, the Canucks didn't wilt. Although they'd been outshot 9-3 in the third period when the tying goal was scored, they outshot the Penguins 3-1 in the final 3:14, setting up Penguin-killer Brock Boeser for his overtime goal.
Boeser recognized that he had some time and space when Sidney Crosby went for a change early in overtime. My favourite part of this goal is how he zig-zagged over to the left side of the ice—to his favourite shooting spot, and also the side where forward Jake Guentzel was skating backwards, trying to defend.
My second-favourite part was the way he took his time before his release, all while using Guentzel as a screen.
Boeser's two goals in the last three contests have have both been game winners. All of a sudden, our boy is finding — dare I say it? —his flow.
With the Canucks now 3-2 on this very tough road trip, Travis Green was as effusive as we've heard him about his team's effort on Tuesday night.
Now, it's on to Winnipeg to face the big bad Jets on Thursday before returning home for games against Boston and Washington.
If you missed it, Iain MacIntyre has offered up a cautiously optimistic update on the health of Elias Pettersson, so all is about as rosy as it can be in Canuck-land today, especially after such an angsty weekend:
That being said, the recent Canucks have had a tendency to look pretty decent through the early part of the season, even if the wheels fall off the wagon later.
Here's a look at the team's records in the month of October, compared to the rest of the season, since Alain Vigneault was dismissed. The lone outlier was Willie's first year, in 2014-15:
2017-18: 6-3-2 in October, 25-37-9 the rest of the way
2016-17: 4-4-1 in October, 26-39-8 the rest of the way
2015-16: 5-2-4 in October, 26-36-9 the rest of the way
2014-15: 7-3-0 in October, 41-26-5 the rest of the way
2013-14: 9-5-1 in October, 27-30-10 the rest of the way
Vancouver's schedule doesn't get any easier anytime soon. Once they get home on Saturday, they'll play six of eight games at Rogers Arena the next two weeks before embarking on another six-game Eastern swing through the first two weeks of November.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»