Saturday, August 29 - Vegas Golden Knights 3 - Vancouver Canucks 0
Sunday, August 30 - Vegas Golden Knights 5 - Vancouver Canucks 3
Vegas leads best-of-seven series 3-1
Game 5: Tuesday September 1, 6:45 p.m. PT, CBC, Sportsnet, NBCSN
For the first time in this strange 2020 postseason, the Vancouver Canucks are facing elimination.
After the two-day pause in support of racial justice causes and the promotion of equality in the game of hockey, the Canucks dropped a pair of games to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here are your highlights - Game 3:
Game 4:
I was super-curious about what the dynamic would be between Vancouver and Vegas when they got back to action after their break. The first two games of the series had been so heated — could they get back to that intensity after they'd laid down their swords, so to speak?
For me, the big quote about how that played out came from Alex Tuch, who turned on his jets again to get behind the defense and open the scoring on Saturday — against the flow of the play, but still just 4:05 into the first period. That goal took some wind out of the Canucks' sails, and turned out to be the game winner as Robin Lehner delivered another standout performance.
When I asked Tuch if he'd had to do anything different to get his game-face on after the two days of reflection and solidarity, he gave me an emphatic "No."
"I knew our team was going to come out and play really hard from the drop of the puck," he said. "We were ready two days ago, and we were ready today.
"With everything that happened, I think it brought our team closer together. Being able to come together under such interesting times was huge for our team. We wanted to continue that in the hockey part of it too."
The Canucks got credit — deservedly so — for joining forces with Vegas to help make the two-day shutdown a reality. In his 31 Thoughts column on Sunday, Elliotte Friedman reports that the group that reached out to Ryan Reaves and the Golden Knights included, but was not limited to, "Horvat, Alex Edler, Jacob Markstrom, Tanner Pearson, Brandon Sutter, Chris Tanev and Tyler Toffoli."
It was a great thing to do, and shows the character of the club. And while the Canucks came out buzzing off the opening puck drop in Game 3, the fact that they couldn't capitalize on those first-period power-play opportunities really did them in. If they'd gotten the first goal early, like they did in Game 2, it could have been a different outcome.
As for Sunday — let's set aside the doom and gloom for a second to remember that was a heckuva hockey game. We've been very fortunate to be treated to some wildly entertaining play in this series.
Petey was SO fired up. That first-period goal took me right back to his first-ever game against Calgary and the goal that led to his classic meme of self-satisfaction.
Petey finished the night with five shots on goal — tops on the Canucks and tied with three players from Vegas for the most on the night. He also had two hits, a giveaway, a takeaway, a block, and went 6-for-13 in the faceoff circle — pretty good, for him.
Which brings me to J.T. Miller, who also had a monster game, with three assists. Travis Green has been juggling his lines, so Miller has been playing a fair amount with Bo Horvat, but I don't believe for a second that's why he has suddenly stopped taking draws.
There was a brief shot during the game of Miller wiping his face with his glove off — and it sure looked like there was some sort of wrist brace on his left hand.
A quick Twitter search found me this video of Miller taking a draw, from back in his days with the Rangers. It sure looks like he generates his power with that low left hand, which would take wrist strength, right?
Miller played 22:02 on Sunday, tops among Canucks forwards and third on the team behind only Quinn Hughes (24:17) and Tyler Myers (22:06). And that was after 23:30 on Saturday — his highest ice time of the playoffs. Perhaps that's why he didn't get any penalty-killing time on Sunday?
I think it's pretty safe to assume that Miller is playing hurt. I wonder about Brock Boeser, too. In what world does he come out of Game 4 without a single shot attempt? Yes, he was dropped down to the third line, but he also "only" got 2:31 of power play time, compared to more 6:04 for Miller, 5:57 for Petey and Hughes, and 4:41 for Horvat. I think something is up there as well.
As for Tyler Myers, he was on the ice for two of Vegas' three back-breaking third-period goals but for the most part, I thought it was good to have him back. At one point, the broadcast highlighted what a good job he was doing of using his big body against the 6'4", 220-pound Alex Tuch, who had his playoff-high four-game goal streak snapped on Sunday.
But there was one shift midway through the second period where Myers was out against the Vegas fourth line and took some punishment. The game sheet shows two hits by William Carrier and one by Ryan Reaves in the span of 19 seconds. I remember that moment, and I wondered how hard that would be for him to absorb, coming off his shoulder injury.
Of course, we don't know anything for sure, but Myers didn't throw another hit for the rest of the night. I hope he's OK for Game 5.
Going into the game, I was feeling good about Myers being back, while thinking Vegas' swap of Jon Merrill in for Nick Holden was a downgrade on their blue line. I also thought Marc-Andre Fleury for Robin Lehner was a downgrade and an opportunity for Vancouver.
I did forget that Fleury has a 14-year regulation unbeaten streak against the Canucks.
Marc-Andre Fleury hasn't lost to the #Canucks in regulation time since January 16, 2006. #VegasBorn
Three goals after 40 minutes looked pretty good after two shutouts in the previous three games by Lehner. But I also underestimated Vegas' ability to find another gear in the third period — and I should have known better.
When this all began, they never had a lead going into the third period of any of their round-robin games — but they won them all. And that was when the stakes were supposedly not-all-that-high!
• Game 1 vs. Dallas - 3-1 for the Stars after two periods, Vegas won 5-3
• Game 2 vs. St. Louis - 4-3 for the Blues after two periods, Vegas won 6-4
• Game 3 vs. Colorado - 2-2 after two periods; Vegas won 4-3 in overtime
For Canucks fans, the outcome was a shock because their team had previously been 6-0 in this postseason when leading after two. It raised also raised questions about how much the team's chances were hurt by needing to go with Jacob Markstrom on the back-to-back, even though that's definitely how he would have wanted it.
This has not been a good or typical performance by Jacob Markstrom; over active early, caught sliding uncharacteristically early on first 2, 3rd is a bad goal, flat out, and over active again and caught on 4th ... tell me again why back to back isn’t issue for goalies in bubble
It was heartening that the Canucks got their power play going, with two goals on Sunday. And Quinn Hughes showed some of his dazzle for the first time in this series — although I hate the narrative on the broadcast that he looks sad or overwhelmed. That's just his face — he always looks like that!
And speaking of faces — Petey put on a brave one during the postgame media availability:
Elias Pettersson: "We've been battling all season for this and we're not going to back down without a battle"
The Canucks have given fans a great run this summer — and are now one of just eight (or fewer) teams that will be playing hockey into September, as strange as that sounds.
The Bruins and the Avalanche both face elimination on Monday night; Philadelphia and Vancouver will fight for their playoff lives on Tuesday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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