|
Canucks extend win streak to 6 in wild 7-5 win over the Chicago Blackhawks |
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday January 2 - Vancouver Canucks 7 - Chicago Blackhawks 5
The Vancouver Canucks stretched their winning streak to six games as they kicked off 2020 with a wild back-and-forth game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
With the win, Travis Green came thisclose to earning the Pacific Division coaching slot for this month's upcoming All-Star Game. The coach whose team had the top winning percentage in each division after Thursday's game earned the honours. Here's how that broke down:
Metropolitan: Todd Reirden - Washington Capitals (.720, 27‑9‑5)
Atlantic: Bruce Cassidy - Boston Bruins (.702, 24-7-11)
Central: Craig Berube - St. Louis Blues (.690, 26-10-6)
Pacific: Gerard Gallant - Vegas Golden Knights (.591, 23-15-6)
After Thursday's win, the Canucks are 22-15-4 for a points percentage of .585.
The Golden Knights needed their 5-4 win over Philadelphia on Thursday night to clinch the Pacific spot for Gallant. If they'd even lost in overtime, they would have been at .580, which would have left Green as the Pacific's most successful coach so far this season.
Also worth noting, though — the Pacific does have a much lower standard of excellence than the other divisions. Vegas' .591 points percentage is 12th overall in the league, and the Canucks are 14th. They're now a legitimate playoff team but perhaps not quite All-Star worthy?
One thing Green does deserve credit for: he has mastered the art of the strategic time out.
When this winning streak began two weeks ago against Vegas, Green took a pause to settle his group down when the Golden Knights scored two goals in 69 seconds to erase a two-goal Vancouver lead. During that interval, Josh Leivo was also injured on a play that didn't earn a penalty call from the officials. The time out got the rattled Canucks settled down and allowed them to escape the second period without further damage. In the third, Elias Pettersson put his team ahead, and after Mark Stone equalized with 3:20 left to play, Chris Tanev stepped up for his pretty game winner in overtime.
On Thursday against the Blackhawks, Green called time out after Chicago scored three times in the span of 4:02, turning a 2-1 Vancouver lead early in the second period into a 4-2 deficit.
Vancouver responded beautifully. At the second intermission, Quinn Hughes told Randip Janda on the Sportsnet broadcast that Green reminded his players that they weren't out of the game yet — and Hughes got the comeback started with a power-play goal that came off a puck-over-glass penalty, just 2:03 after the time out. Eighty-five seconds after that, Elias Pettersson picked up his 19th of the year on a quick play off a faceoff, levelling the score at 4-4. In the third, Bo Horvat gave Vancouver the lead by bouncing a puck past Robin Lehner off traffic in front of the net — one of several goals that deflected off defending players at both ends fo the ice. Patrick Kane re-tied the game with a snipe from the right circle with 6:16 left to play, then Adam Gaudette came through for his first career game winner, moving from the boards into scoring position before roofing the puck past Lehner.
With the Hawks pressing to tie one more time, Bo Horvat iced the win with a long empty-netter with nine seconds left to play — his third goal of the year on home ice, but the first one that actually went into the net off his stick. Maybe next game he'll beat a goalie? Baby steps...
Games like this are great for hockey poolers, of course. Kane finished with two goals and had six of Chicago's 33 shots in a whopping 23:02 of ice time. For his part, Horvat led the Canucks with nine of their 37 shots, had three points, and was a plus-four. With a goal and three assists, J.T. Miller had his second four-point night since joining the Canucks and is now up to 40 points on the year — tied for 20th overall in NHL scoring. And Elias Pettersson and Tanner Pearson each had three-point nights. Petey is now 14th overall with 44 points at the halfway mark of the season, and Pearson is now up to 30 on the year — and has eclipsed the 27 points he scored all of last season with L.A., Pittsburgh and Vancouver.
St. Louis' eight-game winning streak came to a crashing halt with a loss to Arizona on New Year's eve, so the Canucks now own the longest active streak in the league, one game ahead of Tampa Bay. But with 14 points in their last 10 games, they're one of several teams that is surging. You've probably heard that the Leafs are now 14-4-1 since Sheldon Keefe took over, and 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. The Blue Jackets have also gone 8-0-4 in 12 games since their last regulation loss on December 7, despite a long list of injuries. They're up to 46 points, but are still three points out of a wild-card spot in the East. And even New Jersey has started to reverse course — 6-3-1 in the last 10 games and now riding a three-game winning streak.
Thursday was a good night overall for teams in the Pacific — in addition to Vancouver and Vegas, Arizona, Calgary and San Jose all won, and Edmonton picked up a point in an overtime loss to Buffalo, to stay one point behind the Canucks.
The playoff race is as tight as ever, but if I'd told you at the beginning of the year that the Canucks would be right in the thick of it at the halfway point of their season, you'd take that — right?
The games will get harder from here on out. I think back to when Vancouver was still in a playoff spot after the All-Star break in 2017, then went 3-8-1 before the trade dealine, leading to the deals that saw Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen get moved, and the Canucks eventually finish 29th overall — and earn the right to draft Petey.
Sounds ominous, doesn't it? That 2016-17 season was also the last time the Canucks won six in a row — and it was between December 28 and January 6, with five of the six games at home. The parallel is almost eerie...
The Canucks are taking Friday off, so a couple of quick notes from elsewhere to close today.
First — congratulations to Utica's Brogan Rafferty for being named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December!
Also — the AHL announced its All-Star selections on Friday. Rafferty will join Reid Boucher in repping the Comets.
And second — congratulations to Nils Hoglander, whose three points in Sweden's 5-0 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday put him alone atop the World Junior scoring race with the quarterfinal games complete. With 10 points, he's the only player currently in double digits — and his five goals put him in a tie for second with Canada's Barrett Hayton, one behind his linemate Samuel Fagemo. Hoglander wins on style points though, right? I'd assume he's probably the most-GIFed player so far in this tournament??
Saturday's semifinal schedule in Ostrava is now set. It'll be Hoglander vs. Podkolzin as Sweden takes on Russia at 6 a.m. PT, then Canada will get its crack at revenge on Toni Utunen and Finland at 10 a.m.
The game times are the same on Sunday — bronze-medal game at 6 a.m., then the champion will be decided at 10.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»