Thursday November 8 - Vancouver Canucks 8 - Boston Bruins 5
Well, that was bonkers.
Less than a week after their wild home win over the Colorado Avalanche, the Vancouver Canucks came out on the right side of another 13-goal game as they swept their season series against the Boston Bruins.
Bo Horvat led the way with four points and Loui Eriksson had three in the win. Here are your highlights:
The game started normally enough: 1-1 after 20 minutes with the shots 8-5 for the Canucks. For the fourth time in the last five games, Vancouver opened the scoring.
Both of Horvat's goals on Thursday were unassisted efforts. The first came when he took advantage of a giveaway by Danton Heinen, 2:54 into the game.
Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk evened things up just over 10 minutes later, with a slapper from the top of the zone. That startled me, after I confidently declared that no one scores on slapshots anymore in today's NHL when Elias Pettersson did it in Detroit on Tuesday. It's something I'll be paying more attention to now, going forward.
All hell broke loose in the second. Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at the 36-second mark but by the time the period had ended, the Canucks were up 6-4 thanks to Eriksson's two goals plus singles from Ben Hutton, Antoine Roussel and Erik Gudbranson. Vancouver also chased Jaroslav Halak after lighting up the goalie with the best numbers in the NHL this season for five goals on 19 shots.
Horvat's second goal of the game, in the third period, was the back-breaker for Boston. Down two goals, the Bruins got a five-on-three when Ben Hutton joined Horvat in the penalty box but when Bo broke free, he chased after a clear out of the Vancouver zone and pounced on the puck when Tuukka Rask tried to send it back to his skaters. It was an aggressive, high-hustle knockout blow.
Pettersson got his only point of the night on the second assist for Shotgun Jake's sixth of the year, which closed out the scoring for Vancouver. Tyler Motte also put the puck in the net with 2:35 left to play, but it was ruled no goal because the play had been blown dead. And Darren Archibald finished off the game with an easy decision in a scrap with Torey Krug, who was assessed an instigator penalty and a game misconduct.
Now with 17 goals in their last three games, the Canucks currently rank second in the league in total goals for, behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning. They've still played more games than most other teams—only Anaheim has also played 17—so they drop to 12th when you look at goals per game. But the raw number is now 3.29 goals per game. That's a mind-bending improvement from 2.66, where they finished last year.
Carrying the heavy defensive load since Brandon Sutter was injured against Minnesota on October 29, Bo Horvat had just one assist in his previous three games before Thursday. He has been taking about half the team's faceoffs and been the go-to guy in the defensive zone, and has been skating miles. He played 25:01 against Colorado last Friday.
Thanks in no small part to three minor penalties, his icetime dropped to 19:03 on Thursday. But his four points now give him nine goals and 15 points in 17 games, which puts him on pace for 43 goals and 72 points this season if he can keep it up and stay healthy.
Bo's up to 0.88 points per game this season, continuing the trend where he has improved in this department every year that he has been in the NHL:
2014-15: 0.37
2015-16: 0.49
2016-17: 0.64
2017-18: 0.69
2018-19: 0.88
I've said this before: Horvat's career arc reminds me of Mark Scheifele, who has dramatically surpassed what was expected of him when he was drafted. Like Scheifele, who's in the third year of an eight-year contract that pays him a very reasonable $6.125 million a season, Horvat is earning every penny of his $5.5 million-a-year salary. If he keeps this up, he is going to get paid in a huge way on his next deal, which will come when he's a 28-year-old unrestricted free agent with nine years of NHL experience.
One other fun fact from Thursday: Boston's big line of Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak was held to just two points and was a collective minus-eight for the night.
Saturday November 10 - Vancouver Canucks at Buffalo Sabres - 10 a.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 17 GP, 10-6-1, 21 pts, first in Pacific Division
Buffalo Sabres: 16 GP, 8-6-2, 18 pts, fifth in Atlantic Division
Since Game 3 of the Canucks' road trip is an early one on Saturday, I'll set it up for you now.
Safe to say that this jaunt is unfolding a bit differently from the last six-gamer in October, weather-wise:
Thursday's win, plus losses for the Sharks and Flames in their last games, gives the Canucks sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division for the moment. That could change Friday night, depending on what happens when San Jose visits St. Louis.
Meanwhile, after a 6-5 overtime win in Montreal on Thursday, the Canucks' expansion cousins in Buffalo are also currently sitting in a playoff position, holding down the second wild-card spot in the ever-changing East despite being in fifth place in the Atlantic.
The "other" Rasmus, Ristolainen, got the OT-winner in Thursday's game. On a slap shot.
The top storyline on Saturday will be the first-ever NHL matchup between Sweden's young guns, former World Junior teammates Elias Pettersson and Rasmus Dahlin.
Dahlin has a relatively quiet five points in his first 16 NHL games but he has been taking on a fair amount of responsibility, averaging 18:07 per game including 2:41 on the power play.
The Sabres finished dead last in offense last season but have moved up to 20th this year, averaging 3.06 goals per game. New captain Jack Eichel leads the way with 19 points in 16 games and impending free agent Jeff Skinner is setting himself up for a tidy new contract next season—his 11 goals are one off the NHL lead.
Injuries to note for Buffalo: forward Scott Wilson has a fractured ankle and defenseman Matt Hunwick is out with an upper-body injury. After clearing waivers for the second-straight year, veteran forward Matt Moulson has been loaned once again to the AHL's Ontario Reign, where he had 46 points in 49 games last season and has 11 in 10 games this year. The 35-year-old is now in the final season of a five-year deal he signed with Buffalo that's paying him $5 million a season.
Updates from the Canucks' Friday practice in Buffalo:
I'd assume that Markstrom is just getting a break after starting nine of Vancouver's last 10 games over a three-week stretch—especially with the early start on Saturday.
Set your alarm, and enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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