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Elias Pettersson delivers the sizzle but Canucks fall in shootout to Devils |
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Friday March 15 - New Jersey Devils 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2 (S/O)
Let's start with the good stuff. Elias Pettersson added a couple more clips to his rookie-season sizzle reel and the Vancouver Canucks extended their point streak to two games—no small feat, these days.
And if we're all about draft position at this stage of the season, it's not the worst thing in the world that the New Jersey Devils picked up two points. But it was disappointing to see the Canucks let a two-goal lead evaporate in the third period before falling to the Devils in the shootout.
Here are your highlights:
Of course, if there had been no blown lead, we wouldn't have been treated to this dazzler from Petey:
That goal alone basically redeemed a night that was extremely short on entertainment value.
While doing stats, I was basically underwater in the first period as I tried to navigate the Devils' mile-long roster list. It wasn't until the end of the the first period, when I went through and moved all the scratches to the 'inactive' section, that I realized New Jersey's injury issues went waaaay deeper than just Taylor Hall.
Here's who else was missing from their lineup:
• Nico Hischier - upper body
• Mirco Mueller - shoulder
• Pavel Zacha - upper body
• Miles Wood - fractured ankle
• Sami Vatanen - illness
• Jesper Bratt - lower body
• Nathan Bastian - upper body
• Egor Yakovlev - upper body
With only Hall officially on injured reserve, the Devils went into Friday night's game with 30 players on their roster.
On the ice on Friday, they were led by one-time first-round draft pick Stefan Noesen, who they claimed off waivers from Anaheim back in 2017—and who has played just 32 games himself this year and recently returned to action after missing two months with a lower-body injury.
Taking full advantage of his top-line deployment by coach John Hynes, Noesen alone had five shots in a scoreless first period where the Canucks as a team managed just six. He eventually went on to score the game-tying goal with 6:26 left to play in the third period.
But the big news in the first was Chris Tanev's latest injury. In just his second game back after dealing with an ankle issue, Tanev crumbled to the ice after blocking a shot from Kyle Palmieri on the penalty kill.
After hobbling to the dressing room, he did return to the ice to briefly test his leg before leaving for the night. It wasn't a good sign that he anchored his hands on each side of the entrance to the bench to hoist himself up as he left the playing surface—and sure enough, the post-game prognosis was grim.
Yes, it's another chapter in the now massive book of Tanev's injuries.
Well, we'll always have that magnificent 5-on-3 penalty kill from Wednesday against the Rangers...
Losing Tanev less than eight minutes into the game left the Vancouver coaching staff juggling five defensemen for the rest of the game. They also lost Ashton Sautner for part of the first.
With that in mind, it's not terribly surprising that the Devils were able to exploit some breakdowns in the third period. Here's how the final ice time shook out on the blue line:
Chris Tanev: 4 shifts, 3:07
Alex Edler: 34 shifts, 29:44, minus-2
Ashton Sautner: 21 shifts, 14:47
Troy Stecher: 36 shifts, 29:38, minus-1
Alex Biega: 34 shifts, 25:37
Guillaume Brisebois: 19 shifts, 12:58, plus-1
It's barely noteworthy anymore to see Troy Stecher playing half the game, but full marks to Alex Biega for his big-minute night—a season high for him. He also led the Canucks in the game with four shots on goal on a night when they struggled to create opportunities.
Still signed for another year at $825,000, Biega is once again ably fulfilling his role as a late-season go-to guy when Vancouver's injuries start piling up.
With every passing game, I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of having Sautner or Brisebois on the left side going forward, rather than Derrick Pouliot.
As well as his shootout dazzler, Elias Pettersson also picked up his 27th goal of the season on a second-period power play.
That gives him 59 points in 60 games played this season, moving him within one of the rookie franchise record with 11 games left to play.
Tanner Pearson gave the Canucks the 2-0 lead early in the third period—a rare misplay by Mackenzie Blackwood, who was solid in net against Vancouver once again.
With the single point, the Canucks are currently 26th in the league standings, one point back of Edmonton, Buffalo and the Rangers. They could still move up before the end of the season but there's also a chance that they could still fall: they're just one point ahead of Anaheim and, now, five up on the Devils.
A couple of quick notes from the NCAA to finish us off today:
Continuing his propensity to score big goals, Tyler Madden opened the scoring as Northeastern defeated Maine 2-1 in overtime to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three Hockey East playoff on Friday.
And Jack Rathbone picked up an assist as Harvard took a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three ECAC playoff against Dartmouth with a 3-1 win. Like Madden, Rathbone is playing a big role on his team as a freshman—he has worked his way up to the top defense pairing, playing with highly touted Adam Fox, and it seems like he has already bulked up significantly.
Listed at 5'10" and 177 pounds when he attended his first Canucks development camp in 2017, Rathbone is now listed at 5'11" and 190 on the Harvard roster page. The fourth-round draft pick, chosen 95th overall, turns 20 in May and looks like he's developing into a promising prospect.
Northeastern and Harvard can both advance in their respective playoffs with wins on Saturday.
I'll leave it there for now. The Canucks hit the road this weekend for back-to-back games in Dallas on Sunday and Chicago on Monday before returning to Rogers Arena for seven-straight games, which will close out their home schedule for the year.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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