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Tim Schaller scores twice as Canucks top Stars; face Blackhawks on Monday |
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Sunday March 17 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Dallas Stars 2 (S/O)
Rewarding Travis Green for his faith, Tim Schaller provided an early lead with his first two goals of the season, then the Vancouver Canucks picked up the win off of Josh Leivo's fourth-round shootout winner on Sunday in Dallas against the Stars.
Here are your highlights:
After getting into the lineup for a sick Jay Beagle on Friday against New Jersey, Schaller earned another game in favour of Nikolay Goldobin on Sunday. He took full advantage of his opportunity, named the game's first star after scoring on both his shots in the game.
The first goal, 52 seconds in, came off some nice hustle on the forecheck.
On the second, at 10:53, he was the triggerman in the slot after some solid work down low by Pettersson and Boeser—making me wonder if he'd suddenly gotten a major promotion out of the bottom six.
In truth, Schaller had just come on for Leivo to start a line change, but the fantasy was kind of fun while it lasted.
Schaller ended up logging 12:19 of ice time on Sunday, nearly double his 6:53 against the Devils, mostly skating with Jay Beagle and Tyler Motte. And for all his offensive heroics, he changed juuuuuust before Jamie Benn got the Stars on the scoreboard with 22 seconds left to play in the second period, and was out with Motte and Beagle when Taylor Fedun—of all people—threaded a long shot through traffic to tie the game with 3:50 left to play in the third.
I guess this is the first time this year that a Tim Schaller storyline has overshadowed Elias Pettersson, so let's correct that right now. With the primary assist on Schaller's second goal, Pettersson tied the Canucks' franchise record for points by a rookie—in four fewer games than Pavel Bure tallied his 60 points in his Calder-winning season back in 1991-92.
Petey should have broken that record in the second period, too, on this penalty shot.
Count me among those who shouted "He threw his stick!" at the TV on this play.
That should have been an automatic goal, and should have been front-of-mind for the league after this incident with Alex Ovechkin and Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev just a couple of weeks ago.
The Situation Room did intervene on that play and award the game-winning goal to Ovechkin. Here's the official explanation for why Petey didn't get the same treatment.
In the end, the Stars were able to pick up a valuable point for themselves by tying the game before the end of regulation. They remain in the first wild-card spot for the moment, two points behind third-place St. Louis in the Central Division and two ahead of Arizona in the second wild-card spot. All three teams have 10 games left to play.
With the win, the Canucks have now collected points in three-straight games for the first time since that homestand back in January. They got caved in late against the Stars and were ultimately outshot 46-27, and won't have much time to soak up the good vibes before getting right back to work in Chicago.
Monday March 18 - Vancouver Canucks at Chicago Blackhawks - 5:30 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 72 GP, 30-32-10, 70 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Chicago Blackhawks: 71 GP, 32-30-9, 73 pts, seventh in Central Division
When the Vancouver Canucks last visited Chicago on February 7, they were sitting three points ahead of the Blackhawks in the Western Conference standings—still contenders in the playoff race.
The Canucks earned a point in that game, which the Blackhawks won thanks to an overtime goal by Jonathan Toews. Since then, Vancouver has gone 6-8-3 while Chicago has gone 10-6-0. The Blackhawks are riding a five-game win streak into Monday's game and can pass Colorado and potentially move within three points of a wild-card spot if they beat the Canucks. That spot is currently held by Arizona—on the road facing the Lightning in Tampa on Monday.
Back in fine form after yet another concussion, Corey Crawford has earned all five wins in the recent streak—though he missed the third period of the Blackhawks' 5-4 win over Toronto last week after leaving the game due to illness. He has given up just three goals in his last four appearances, and gets the start against Vancouver on Monday.
With the travel, there's no morning skate for the Canucks in Chicago, so we'll have to wait until closer to game time for lineup updates. Travis Green hinted on Sunday that he could work in now-healthy Sven Baertschi and/or Ryan Spooner to add some fresh legs for the back-to-back games, but he's often reluctant to change up a winning lineup. It's also expected that Thatcher Demko will get his fourth start of the season, and first minutes since he stepped in to relieve Jacob Markstrom against Vegas on March 9. Markstrom had a very busy night on Sunday, stopping 44-of-46 shots, including 14 in the third period and five in overtime, before going a perfect 4-for-4 against the Stars in the shootout. He really *should* get the night off.
With their win on Sunday, the Canucks leapfrogged the New York Rangers in the league standings to move into 25th place overall. If they win tonight, they'll jump over idle Edmonton and Buffalo and move into 23rd. A single point would leave them where they are.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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