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Baertschi scores two, Stecher injured as Canucks improve to 3-1 on the road |
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Sunday October 22 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Detroit Red Wings 1
Sven Baertschi scored twice, Derek Dorsett added his team-leading fifth of the year and Jake Virtanen scored his first of the year on a line with the twins as the Vancouver Canucks won two straight for the first time this year thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.
Here are your highlights:
Jacob Markstrom returned to the net and was solid, only surrendering a goal to sharpshooter Anthony Mantha while the Canucks limited the Red Wings to 21 shots.
As he had promised he'd do after his team played well, Travis Green stuck with the same line combinations he'd used in Buffalo–and it's starting to look like most of the groups are showing chemistry.
Reunited with Bo Horvat and with Brock Boeser on right wing, Sven Baertschi opened the scoring on Sunday by picking up a puck that Horvat directed at the net.
Baertschi had three assists going into the game and once he broke his scoring goose-egg, he was able to add a second goal in the second period, replacing Thomas Vanek on a line change in time to pick up the spoils of a Detroit giveaway after Alex Burmistrov used his body to separate Xavier Ouellet from the puck.
But Baertschi wasn't the only forward with a strong game—a fact made even more impressive by the fact that the Canucks were playing their fourth game in six nights on the road.
Derek Dorsett now has two goals more than his closest challengers, Vanek and Horvat, after willing his fifth of the year into the net over Jimmy Howard in the second period.
In his nine previous NHL seasons, Dorsett has only scored more than five goals twice. He has 74 more games to work toward setting a new career high, beating the 12 goals and 20 points he posted with Columbus back in 2011-12. That year, he led the NHL with 235 penalty minutes. With 42 minutes so far, he's currently maintaining a two-point lead over Pittsburgh's Ryan Reaves in that department.
Speaking of penalties, there were only three in the entire game on Sunday, which allowed us to get perhaps our best look so far at how Travis Green wants to deploy his lines at 5-on-5.
Who's the first line and who's the fourth line? That question is very much up for debate based on how evenly the lines were deployed against Detroit. Take a look:
Daniel Sedin (14:09) - Henrik Sedin (14:17) - Jake Virtanen (14:24)
Sven Baertschi (15:51) - Bo Horvat (17:09) - Brock Boeser (14:43)
Thomas Vanek (14:57) - Alex Burmistrov (13:30) - Sam Gagner (13:38)
Markus Granlund (15:52) - Brandon Sutter (15:37) - Derek Dorsett (15:18)
That's the most ice Daniel and Henrik have received in any game on this road trip so far, and it comes in conjunction with the best game of the year for their new linemate, Jake Virtanen.
Jake combined with Daniel to score his first of the year with 25 seconds to play in the second period, essentially locking down the win.
Daniel's assist brings him to four points for the year and 990 for his career. It's no wonder he and Henrik looked so pleased with Jake on the bench after the goal—the youngster might be the catalyst that propels Daniel to that thousand-point milestone before too much more time passes.
With the twins' help, Virtanen exploded for eight of Vancouver's 37 shots of the night. He was only credited with one hit—and this actually wasn't it.
The NHL listed this as "DET #55 KRONWALL HIT VAN #18 VIRTANEN, Off. Zone."
Jake's ice time was a new season high for him. It included seven shifts for 4:04 in the third period, including his first 1:10 of the year on the power play!
The one dark note from the game—Troy Stecher could barely make it off the ice after this second-period knee-on-knee collision with Tomas Tatar.
This doesn't look good—and Stecher's not on the ice for today's practice before the road trip wraps up on Tuesday in Minnesota.
If Stecher's prognosis will have him out for any period of time, the Canucks will need to call up at least one extra defenseman, as Alex Biega will once again be pressed into service.
At this point, the team is carrying two extra bodies at forward: Brendan Gaunce and Michael Chaput.
According to Paterson, Gaunce has been medically cleared to return to play, but with the team playing well, it wouldn't be easy for Travis Green to sit someone down to make a spot for him.
Fatigue shouldn't be an issue over the next while. After the road trip wraps up on Tuesday, the Canucks will return home for a rather leisurely stretch of five games in 12 nights. A short-term conditioning assignment in Utica could be an option—but the Comets already have too many veterans on their roster. Anton Rodin has often been the odd man out—healthy scratched for all but one game so far. Gaunce would only add to that logjam.
Can Gaunce skate backwards? What about Chaput?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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