Wednesday October 25 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Vegas Golden Knights 2 (SO)
On a night when his team was gutted by injuries, Bo Horvat put the Vancouver Canucks on his back with a two-goal performance that set up a shootout win in the desert over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Here are your highlights:
The win came without Brock Boeser or Elias Pettersson, who both took Wednesday's game-day skate but did not draw into the lineup. Over the course of the game, the Canucks lost Alex Edler (5 shifts, 3:10 of ice time), Sven Baertschi (10 shifts, 6:34 of ice time) and Chris Tanev (25 shifts, 18:10 of ice time).
Edler was injured in the first period, Baertschi in the second and Tanev midway through the third. Going into Wednesday's action, Edler led the Canucks and was tied for 17th in the NHL with an average of 24:28 of ice time per game and was tops in the league with 39 blocked shots—11 more than second-place Cam Fowler of Anaheim and the only player in the league to have averaged more than four blocks per game.
Enter Ben Hutton, who may have played the best game of his career and earned every penny of his $2.8 million salary. His improved fitness level served him well on Wednesday. He finished with a team high 29:25, two hits and six blocks—and was a plus-one.
Of course, Hutton's performance was under-the-radar compared to Bo Horvat's first-star achievements. Horvat's two second-period goals in the span of 64 seconds kept the Canucks alive in the game, surpassed only by the backcheck-heard-round-the-world in overtime.
If you've been following this space for awhile, you know I've been talking Horvat-for-captain since Dateline: Denmark at the World Championship last May. I'm also now enraptured by the natural leadership that Elias Pettersson has brought to the team but with him still out of sight for the moment, Horvat's campaign for the C continues to gain momentum.
His offense ain't bad, either. Now with seven goals and nine points, Bo has passed Petey in the Canucks' scoring race and is sitting in the top 10 in the NHL in goals, three behind leaders Auston Matthews and David Pastrnak.
Quick shout-outs, also, to another solid game from Jacob Markstrom, who stopped 33 shots through 65 minutes and all four skaters he faced in the shootout, and to Markus Granlund, who delivered the win as the only player to connect in the shootout, beating Marc-Andre Fleury.
Before I cycle back to reality and acknowledge that in the past, we've seen the Canucks' downward spiral reach warp speed after the injury bug bites, let's savour this:
Averaging 1.2 points per game, the Canucks are currently on a 98-point pace; that's playoff territory!
Their first-place ranking in the Pacific is that much more amazing when you consider the quality of competition that Vancouver has faced so far this season—and the miles they've already logged.
Yesterday, I compared the Canucks' crazy travel schedule to the easy ride that Vegas has had over the last couple of weeks. I neglected to mention that they were in the midst of playing the two 2018 Stanley Cup finalists in back-to-back games.
After Thursday's game in Arizona, they'll be home for a four-game stretch that includes Crosby and the Penguins, Kane and Toews and the Blackhawks and MacKinnon and the Avalanche. They won't get more than one day off between games until November 3, when they'll get a three-day rest as they prep for another six games in 10 nights on the road, including five in the Eastern Time Zone.
Thursday October 25 - Vancouver Canucks at Arizona Coyotes - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 10 GP, 6-4-0, 12 pts, first in Pacific Division
Arizona Coyotes: 8 GP, 3-5-0, 6 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
As the scene re-sets to Glendale, here's the postgame rundown of the walking wounded from Wednesday night:
Thursday morning, Alex Biega was recalled, along with fellow defenseman Guillaume Brisebois.
Selected with the third-round pick from 2015 that the Canucks acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Eddie Lack deal, this is Brisebois' first NHL call-up. In his second pro season, the left-shooting blueliner has two points and is a plus-three in seven games with the Utica Comets so far this year.
With players and media in transit and not much time between games, here's what we know so far about Thursday's lineup, after
Patrick Johnston of The Province spoke with Jim Benning: "Edler is out, Tanev is TBD after blocking a shot last night and Sven Baertschi has a concussion and is now following return-to-play protocol."
Edler and Baertschi have been placed on IR this morning.
I don't imagine we'll get much more detail until shortly before gametime.
When we last saw the Arizona Coyotes, they smacked the Canucks with a 4-1 loss to close out preseason in Kelowna. Since then, things haven't gone quite so well for the desert dogs. Despite having been a trendy pick for the NHL's most improved team this season, the Coyotes didn't score their first goal of the season until the 17:33 mark of their third game. They remain dead last offensively, averaging just 1.75 goals per game but if they can find some scoring, they could become a force to be reckoned with. They're also one of the stingiest teams in the league—tied for third overall with Tampa Bay, surrendering just 2.25 goals per game.
Arizona is headed in the right direction. The team has 11 goals in its last three games and is returning home after a four-game road trip that wrapped up with a 4-1 win over Columbus on Tuesday, featuring a hat trick by Christian Fischer.
Injury-wise, defenseman Jakob Chychrun has been cleared for contact as he recovers from a knee problem, but he's not quite ready to go yet. Christian Dvorak is expected to be out for the season after tearing a pectoral muscle while rehabbing an unrelated injury last week.
The Canucks are currently ranked 20th offensively (2.90) and 18th defensively (3.10). Makes their winning record that much more of a head scratcher, doesn't it?
Backup Darcy Kuemper got the win for the Coyotes in Kelowna, and has been delivering better numbers than starter Antti Raanta so far in the regular season. He's 1-1-0, with a 1.52 goals-against average and .953 save percentage and will get the nod for Airzona tonight. Anders Nilsson is expected to get the start for the Canucks, to complete the back-to-back.
To conclude: Tanner Kero had the only goal and Ivan Kulbakov took the loss as the Utica Comets dropped a 3-1 home decision to the Charlotte Checkers on Wednesday. Next up, the Comets will visit the Rochester Americans on Friday, then have a full week off before a two-game series on the road against the Laval Rocket to kick off the month of November.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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