Friday November 25 - Dallas Stars 2 - Vancouver Canucks 1
Jayson Megna took advantage of his promotion to the second line to score his first goal as a Vancouver Canuck, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday night.
Here are your highlights:
Megna opened the scoring just 5:01 into the first period on a nice setup from Bo Horvat. It was Vancouver's first shot of the game, after Dallas had taken the first three.
Yeah, that was our old pal Dan Hamhuis that Megna danced around to the outside.
The Canucks held the lead until midway through the second, when goals just over six minutes apart by Radek Faksa and Esa Lindell earned the Stars the win. The play on the Faksa goal probably should have been whistled dead on an icing, but not every call's gonna go your way during the long NHL season.
I was listening to the Anaheim-Chicago game earlier a hockey-filled Friday, and the Ducks announcers were lamenting a number of blown offside calls in their game and wondering if it was due to a post Turkey Day haze on the part of the linesmen. Maybe they were onto something?
Still, you have to make your own luck in this game and the Canucks did take their foot off the gas in the middle frame, outshot 11-5. They turned up the juice again in the third, outshooting Dallas 14-7 and pressing hard on the power play when Patrick Sharp was sent to the penalty box for hooking with 1:57 to play in regulation. But even 6-on-4, Vancouver managed to get just two shots through before time expired.
Troy Stecher scored the late goal that sent the Canucks to overtime against the Stars two weeks ago at Rogers Arena. He was playing like he thought it could do it again but this time around, the group came up short.
It's disappointing to see the Canucks score just one goal against one of the most porous teams in the league. Antti Niemi was very good, especially in the third period, but after their strong stretch of games, the top line has turned invisible again. For the second straight game, the Sedins and Brandon Sutter were pointless. Sutter and Daniel had two shots each on Friday, while Henrik recorded just one shot attempt, which was blocked.
If you are part of the contingent of Canucks fans that gets frustrated with Alex Edler's offense, keep Friday's game handy to prove your point. The good news was that Edler put together 12 shot attempts. The bad news is that, while he tied for the team lead with four shots on goal, he had EIGHT shots blocked in the game, including three during that final power play. Of course, there was an exploding stick in the mix during the late stages as well—you can just about set your watch by it.
Edler has carried a huge load for the Canucks this season, especially without Chris Tanev. He's averaging a team-high 24:40 per game, which will likely cause him to eventually wear down, and even though he's third on the team with 46 shots that have gotten through to the opposing goaltender, he has just one goal so far and is boasting a cringeworthy shooting percentage of 2.2 percent.
Side note: though he has played in just 11 games and has averaged just 16:03 of ice time in the games that he has played, Nikita Tyramkin has now passed Edler to move into second place on the team in the hit column with 40. He's just five hits behind team leader Erik Gudbranson, who has appeared in nearly twice as many games (21).
Tryamkin has also been solid defensively. He and his partner Luca Sbisa share the best plus-minus on the team at plus-2.
One other note before I leave Friday's game behind. Despite being on a back-to-back that ends tonight in the thin air of the mile-high city of Denver, Willie Desjardins was once again reluctant to deploy his fourth line. Brendan Gaunce finished the night with 6:51 of ice time while Jack Skille got 5:51 and Joseph LaBate played just 4:35, even though his parents were in the stands to see him play his second career NHL game. In the rarified air of the third line, goal-scorer Jayson Megna jumped from 5:50 of ice time against Arizona on Wednesday to 16:04 last night, by far his busiest night as a Canuck.
I understand Willie's desire to play his stars when his team is down a goal and looking to tie, but he did the same thing with a commanding lead on Wednesday in Arizona. Those decisions could make it tougher for the Canucks' top players tonight in Denver.
Saturday November 26 - Vancouver Canucks at Colorado Avalanche - 7 p.m. - CBC
Vancouver Canucks: 21 GP, 8-11-2, 18 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Colorado Avalanche: 19 GP, 9-11-0, 18 pts, seventh in Central Division
With the quick turnaround between games, we don't have much early information on how the Canucks will deploy their lines in Denver.
We do know that Jacob Markstrom will get the start in net—his first game since taking the overtime loss against Chicago one week ago.
With Philip Larsen ready to play, there was some talk yesterday that Nikita Tryamkin would sit out the second half of the back-to-back. Despite Tryamkin's strong play, I don't have a problem with this idea. The big guy is accustomed to a lighter schedule from his KHL years, and other teams rotate defensemen in and out of the lineup all the time in order to help keep their troops fresh. That's why we didn't end up seeing Gustav Forsling last week when the Blackhawks came to town—he'd played in the front half of Chicago's back-to-back.
No confirmation yet that this is what will happen. I'd also like to see Alex Grenier draw in, though he'll have a hard time keeping up his hot scoring streak from Utica if he ends up playing limited minutes on the fourth line.
Here's how the Canucks appear to be making room for Larsen on their active roster:
Biega has appeared in just one NHL game this season, as an injury replacement at forward in the Canucks' 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks back on October 23. He has been slotted straight back onto Utica's top defensive pair:
Michael Garteig is also making his AHL debut in net for the Comets in a matinee game against the Toronto Marlies today, after Thatcher Demko picked up his fourth straight win when Utica beat Rochester 5-2 on Friday night.
Back-to-backs are tough for the farm team, too. As I type this, the Comets are trailing 3-0 after two periods.
The Canucks will be facing a rested but slightly undermanned Avalanche squad tonight. Colorado's last game was a 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday—the first game of a five-game homestand.
Starter Semyon Varlamov is sidelined with an upper-body injury, so Calvin Pickard will get the nod in net. Considering the Avs' spotty record, Pickard has been solid in his backup role, with a 4-1-0 record this season off a 2.07 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.
Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog has missed his team's last five games with a lower-body injury. He was skating earlier this week but didn't take to the ice today and has been ruled out for tonight. Matt Duchene has been back with the team for the past two games after missing the previous four games due to a concussion.
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