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Canucks crushed by Vegas; waiting on Quinn Hughes & Will Lockwood decisions |
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Saturday March 9 - Vegas Golden Knights 6 - Vancouver Canucks 2
If you weren't convinced by Vegas' dominance of Vancouver last Sunday at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights once again demonstrated how much better they are than the Canucks with a smothering five-goal first period on their way to an easy win on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
The early part of the first period felt almost like the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals. The Golden Knights had the puck on a string, camped out in the Canucks' zone. When Vancouver did get a stick on a clearing attempt, the puck invariably went right back to another Vegas player, keeping the pressure alive.
Poor Jacob Markstrom got the hook for the first time this year after giving up five goals in just 14:17—but Vegas already had 16 shots on goal! After dealing with 48 shots against in the Canucks' 3-0 loss at T-Mobile last week, Markstrom might have been just as happy to get the heck outta there.
The timing was a bit unfortunate, as Markstrom was scheduled to be Scott Oake's second guest on After Hours, following Mark Stone. I was impressed to see him honour his commitment—especially since, as Oake said, he'd been given the option to bow out after his rough night.
Known to have a fiery temper at times, Markstrom was the picture of poise during his interview, and talked a lot about how he has matured and what it means to be a professional.
I would assume that more even keel is part of the package that has brought him so much success in net this season.
Scott Oake dropped one juicy tidbit, saying that Swedish National Team coach Rikard Gronborg suggested that Markstrom was his first choice in net for the World Championship this year—even above Henrik Lundqvist, should he be available.
That's a big deal. Lundqvist, of course, is "The King," an icon in Sweden. And he delivered a gold medal for Gronborg and Team Sweden in 2017.
Markstrom split duties with Jhonas Enroth when Sweden won gold at the 2013 Worlds—the year the Sedins and Loui Eriksson made such a big impact—but it was Enroth who played in the gold-medal game. Markstrom played in six of eight games when he shared duties with Viktor Fasth in the 2016 Worlds, but Sweden was crushed 6-0 by Canada that year in the quarterfinal.
Markstrom and Lundqvist were a tandem later that fall, at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Markstrom got into just one tournament game, delivering a win over Russia, and Sweden ultimately fell in overtime to Team Europe in the tournament semifinal.
Despite the big minutes that Markstrom has played this year, I could see him being very interested in taking a run at gold with Sweden in Slovakia this spring.
As it turned out, I think it was also good for Thatcher Demko to get an unexpected 45 minutes of action on Saturday. By the time he came in, the Golden Knights had definitely taken their collective foot off the gas, but Demko delivered a solid night's work, giving up just one goal on 17 shots the rest of the way. With the season he's had, I feel like it might have been good for him mentally to be thrust into action without having spent the whole day building the game up in his head.
I thought the other bright spot for the Canucks was Bo Horvat, who snapped his five-game pointless streak with his 24th goal of the season. He has now surpassed his previous career high of 22 goals and his 49 points are just three shy of his old high of 52, set two seasons ago.
Horvat was also 10-for-16 in the faceoff circle on Saturday and played some tenacious defense. He recorded four blocked shots and escaped the night with an even plus-minus, which is pretty impressive when all six Vegas goals came at even strength. The players who got burned the worst were Troy Stecher, Tanner Pearson and Adam Gaudette, who all finished with minus-three.
It's no wonder Mark Stone was smiling so much in his post-game interview. Not only did he ink his massive contract extension on Friday and score his first goal in a Vegas uniform to kick things off on Saturday — the Golden Knights are now 6-0-0 since he joined the team and have outscored their opponents 24-9 during that stretch. They're tracking extremely well for another playoff run—and will have a big test on Sunday as they visit the Flames in Calgary. As things stand today, that could be a preview of the 2-vs-3 playoff matchup in the Pacific Division, although the Flames sit just one point behind first-place San Jose.
The loss was largely inconsequential to the Canucks' position in the standings. They remain 13th in Western Conference, nine points out of the second wild-card spot with 13 games left to go, and in 26th place overall. After an 8-2 win over Montreal on Friday, Anaheim has now won three of its last four games. The Ducks could match the Canucks' 65 points if they pick up a win over L.A. on Sunday.
The Canucks are now off until Wednesday, when they'll host Lundqvist and the Rangers. They held a later-than-usual practice at Rogers Arena on Sunday as Daylight Savings Time kicks in for the year.
Sven Baertschi and Ryan Spooner did hit the ice ahead of the main practice.
Finally—Quinn Hughes. If you missed it, Hughes suited up for Michigan on Saturday despite suffering a foot injury when he blocked a shot during the third period of the Wolverines' 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota on Friday. On Saturday, the Gophers advanced to the Big Ten semifinal with a 4-1 win over Michigan, ending the NCAA season for Canucks' prospects Hughes and Will Lockwood.
On Hockey Night in Canada, the panel reported that Hughes is expected to sign with the Canucks imminently, but that the team will be cognizant of keeping his games-played low enough to preserve his exemption from the Seattle expansion draft in 2021. Because Quinn turns 20 in October, he'll burn a year of his entry-level contract as soon as he plays his first NHL game—something that's desirable for him and his representatives, and that they'd want to happen this season if at all possible.
It's not clear yet how Quinn's injury status will factor into his timeline. Word on Saturday was that he was headed back to his family home in Ann Arbor to convene with his parents and his reps. This is the most recent update I've seen:
As for Will Lockwood...
Shouldn't be too long before we get more concrete news on both players.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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