Saturday January 20 - Edmonton Oilers 5 - Vancouver Canucks 2
After the Edmonton Oilers dominated the Vancouver Canucks for their third-straight win on Saturday night, I got the feeling that the two teams won't be hanging out in the same neighbourhood of the Pacific Division for very much longer.
The Oil look like they're finding a pulse and getting ready to make a move up the standings in the second half after coming back from their bye week with a 5-2 win over the Canucks.
Here are your highlights:
It was disappointing to see the Canucks get in get another early hole, giving up a goal on the first shot of the game, but this one definitely wasn't on Jacob Markstrom.
When I saw Connor McDavid strip Jake Virtanen without a second thought to set up Patrick Maroon, I wistfully conjured up that first encounter, back in Penticton oh-so-long ago...
Jake got credit for one hit on Saturday—on a night when the Oilers were using their bodies enthusiastically to separate Canucks players from the puck. The total hit count was 36-24 for Edmonton—and Zack Kassian led the way with seven. The most physical Canucks were Nic Dowd and Troy Stecher, each with three hits.
Though it felt like the Canucks were outmatched, that physical tone and the high pace of the game made it fun to watch. Vancouver also showed a pulse in the second period, drawing into a 2-2 tie off a power-play goal by Daniel Sedin and Brandon Sutter's second in as many games, scored off the rush thanks to a nice pass from Sven Baertschi.
That's a pretty great outlet pass from Chris Tanev to move the puck out of the defensive zone, too. And that's a goal that couldn't have happened a couple of weeks ago, when all three of those players were on the injured list.
You know who else has been good this month? Alex Edler. Since New Year's, he has led the Canucks with 24:43 of ice time per game—11th in the league. He's also tied with Connor McDavid for seventh overall in shots during that time, with 33—and Edler has played one less game. Notorious for getting his point shot blocked on the power play, Eddy is gettin' 'em through—and picking up some points in the process.
Saturday's surprise scratch was Erik Gudbranson, sidelined with back spasms and now absent for at least a week.
The Canucks missed his physical presence on Saturday.
All told, perhaps the most important moment for the Canucks on Saturday came in the second period of the early game. In the Headlines segment, Chris Johnston reported what I thought we'd soon be hearing—that the Sedins would like to come back for another season.
Ed Willes of
The Province has a quote here from Jim Benning on where we go from here:
“They don’t have to tell us exactly what their plans are, but we’re going to talk to them in the next little while and see which way they’re leaning,” Benning said. “They’re still important players on our team. They set the example for the whole team. If we have enough depth around them, they can still be part of our group.”
Benning also says that bringing back Thomas Vanek is "one of the things we’ve talked about."
I'd thought the Vanek/Sedin situation was an either/or situation, where the team wouldn't want to load up too heavily on 30-somethings next year, but in
The Provies, Jason Botchford says "Vanek was looking for some assurances the Sedins are coming back" before he considers re-upping.
Didn't see that coming!
Sunday January 21 - Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 46 GP, 18-22-6, 42 pts, seventh in Pacific Division
Winnipeg Jets: 47 GP, 27-13-7, 61 pts, second in Central Division
Onwards. The Canucks will finally wrap up their seven-game road trip on Sunday in Winnipeg. A win would bring them to .500 for the trip; they're currently 2-3-1.
The Jets are also on a back-to-back after picking up a 2-1 shootout win in Calgary on Saturday. Despite having lost their first-line center Mark Scheifele to a shoulder injury back on December 27, Blake Wheeler has successfully moved into the middle to fill the void. Winnipeg has gone 6-2-1 without Scheifele in the lineup and continues to press for top spot in the Central Division—currently just one point behind the surging Nashville Predators.
Connor Hellebuyck has carried the load for the Jets in net this season, and he's expected to go back-to-back tonight. The Canucks haven't announced their goaltender—but all signs point to Bo Horvat's return up front.
With Gudbranson now on injured reserve, no further roster moves will need to be made this week to get Horvat back onto the playing roster.
I'm very curious to see how Travis Green will deploy his lines tonight. The Boeser/Vanek/Gagner combo has cooled off in recent games—will we see Boeser reunited with Horvat and Baertschi tonight?
Even with Horvat back at work, the Canucks face a tough challenge in trying to pull two points out of Winnipeg. The Jets have the second-best home record in the NHL at 16-3-1—behind only the Vegas Golden Knights at 18-2-2. Vancouver has been successful this year in other tough road cities like Minnesota and Nashville, so you never know...
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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