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Canucks hope a little home cookin' will deliver their first win of the year |
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Saturday October 22 - Buffalo Sabres at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. - CBC, Sportsnet Pacific
Can home ice change the narrative for the Vancouver Canucks?
We'll find out on Saturday night, when the NHL's only remaining winless team plays its home opener against its expansion cousins, the red-hot Buffalo Sabres.
The Canucks arrive back home with an 0-3-2 record, following a 4-3 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. They didn't hold a multi-goal lead at any point, but were ahead 2-1 and 3-2 before Mats Zuccarello tied the game on the power play midway through the third. The OT winner was also effectively a 4-on-3 power-play tally, scored by Kirill Kaprizov on a long delayed-penalty call that had the Canucks scrambling in their own end for an extended period.
Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller and Tyler Myers were on the ice for that final sequence. The two forwards had both been on the ice for more than two minutes, and Myers for 1:18, when Kaprizov finally put them out of their misery.
Back in Vancouver on Friday, the Canucks held an off-ice workout at the Scotia Barn. And where J.T. Miller was wearing the weight of his defensive struggles on the road a week ago, he was almost defiant on Friday — insisting that he felt good about his game and that the mood in the team's dressing room is more upbeat than we might think.
For the moment, they're still OK in terms of the standings. St. Louis sits in the second wild-card spot with four points heading into a busy slate of games on Saturday — never mind the fact that they've played just two games and are 2-0-0. The main point is that the teams in the West are still pretty tightly bunched. So if the Canucks *can* start putting up some points on this homestand, they can keep pace.
And as Bruce Boudreau pointed out on Friday — if there's a silver lining to all the blown leads, it would be that the Canucks didn't get blown out on the road trip. Despite the fact that the power play is just 2-for-19 so far and was blanked in the last two games, Vancouver is averaging a relatively respectable 3.00 goals scored per game. And the last two games — the toughest in terms of the travel aspect of the schedule — both got to overtime.
Saturday's morning skate was optional, so I'm rather relieved to hear that Quinn Hughes was not on the ice. He played another 28:18 in Minnesota and remains second in the league in average ice time, at 27:14 — five seconds a game behind leader Drew Doughty.
Boudreau has said that Jack Rathbone will make his season debut on Saturday. And after being scratched against Minnesota on Thursday, Tucker Poolman did take the morning skate.
That's a positive sign for him, but it's probably telling that the club also recalled Noah Juulsen on Saturday. To me, that suggests that they feel it's best to keep another righty close at hand if Poolman has further issues.
Juulsen, of course, saw one game of action on the road trip, playing 10:49 in Washington. He was back with the Abbotsford Canucks over the past few days, and scored a crucial third-period goal in his team's 4-3 win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Seattle on Friday.
And yes...the game was played at the Seattle Kraken's practice rink...
To make room for Juulsen on the roster, Nils Hoglander was assigned to Abbotsford on Saturday morning after he was scratched against Minnesota.
This seemed like a bit of an inevitability once Ilya Mikheyev came back into the lineup — and the top six. And any opportunity Hoglander might have had to play in the bottom half of the lineup probably evaporated on Thursday when fourth-liners Nils Aman and Dakota Joshua both stepped up with goals against the Wild.
Now in his third season in North America, this is the first AHL assignment for the 21-year-old. After a solid rookie campaign in the difficult 2020-21 season, where he had 27 points in 56 games, Hoglander had trouble currying favour with Bruce Boudreau after last year's coaching change. He ended his season early due to a groin issue, with 18 points in 60 games, and seemed to lose that hard-hitting disruptive element that helped make him effective in Year 1.
While Boudreau was quick to praise Hoglander when training camp opened this season, the additions up front put him in an uphill battle for a roster spot from the outset. With just one assist in his first four regular-season games, he didn't do enough to force Boudreau's hand when Mikheyev returned from injury.
Hoglander remains waiver exempt for now, which is another reason why this move is an easy one at the moment. He'll lose that status next season, or if he plays another 23 NHL games this year.
As for the Sabres — maybe this is the year that their rebuild finally bears fruit?
Buffalo currently holds the NHL record for years without a playoff appearance, dating back to 2011. But they're 3-1-0 so far this season. Their only loss was a one-goal defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers. And with 27-year-old Eric Comrie delivering standout goaltending, they're looking to sweep the Western Canadian portion of their season-opening road trip after beating Edmonton 4-2 last Tuesday and taking down Calgary by a 6-3 score on Thursday.
The Sabres are averaging 4.25 goals per game, led by five goals from Alex Tuch and four from Rasmus Dahlin — who's looking to extend an incredible NHL record on Saturday night.
But the Sabres do still have some vulnerabilities in their game. Their power-play numbers are similar to Vancouvers, at 2-for-18. And they've been averaging 41 shots against per game — second-highest in the league and further evidence of just how important Comrie has been to their success.
As I write this Saturday morning, there's no official announcement yet about who will get the start for the Sabres. But if it's 41-year-old Craig Anderson, don't sleep on him either. He hasn't played since opening night, when he made 35 saves in Buffalo's 4-1 win over Ottawa.
The Sabres will finish their road trip in Seattle on Tuesday, so the schedule doesn't offer any real hints about which way the goaltending decision will go.
Should be a fun matchup between the two expansion cousins who are both still seeking their franchise's first championship.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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