Thursday January 9 - Florida Panthers 5 - Vancouver Canucks 2
Hoo boy.
The Vancouver Canucks did not exactly instil confidence that their blowout loss in Tampa was a one-off when they gave up two goals on two shots on their way to a meek 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers.
If you have the stomach for it, here are your highlights.
After teasing a mix-up of his forward lines at practice on Wednesday, Travis Green went back to his usual deployment at game time, with Brock Boeser on the Lotto Line. Boeser had an impactful first period, with a hit on his first shift, four shots on goal, and his first goal in seven games — a deflection from the slot that's more of a 'dirty areas' goal than we normally see from him.
By the second half of the third period, Green did put his lines in a blender — playing Antoine Roussel with Petey and Brock, while J.T. Miller skated with Adam Gaudette and Jake Virtanen. Miller was eventually tossed from the game on an Abuse of Officials call — which carries a 10-minute misconduct — with 3:45 left in the game. That's probably the clearest indication of how much frustration had bubbled up on the Vancouver bench by that point.
Personnel-wise, Green did swap Jordie Benn in for Oscar Fantenberg on the blue line, while Thatcher Demko got the start after contributing mop-up duty in Tampa on Tuesday.
Benn was paired with Troy Stecher and finished with 12:44 of ice time, lowest of any of the defensemen. Demko was, well, busy. Career-high levels of busy.
On a night where he gave up five, the damage actually could have been worse — Florida finished the night with a whopping 49 shots.
That's the ninth time in 44 games this season that Vancouver has surrendered 40 or more shots — while they've only hit the 40-shot mark themselves on four occasions.
For the season, Vancouver is right in the middle of the pack with 31.3 shots taken per game, but tied for third-worst in terms of shots allowed with Winnipeg and Ottawa, at 33.1. Only the Rangers and Chicago are worse.
Narrow the window and the numbers are even more concerning. Since December 1, the Canucks lead the league with an average of 35.9 shots allowed per game. And — this'll make your head spin — the number gets even worse if you just look at the nine games since the holiday win streak started against Vegas on December 19 — still worst in the league, with an average of 37 shots against per game.
But hey — their faceoff percentage is best in the league through that same stretch at 58.6 percent.
With two day games on tap this weekend, I want to set up Saturday's Buffalo game today as well, so I won't dwell further on Thursday's debacle beyond a couple more notes:
• The Canucks conducted their amateur scouting meetings this week in Fort Lauderdale.
Patrick Johnston of The Province reported that team owner Francesco Aquilini has also taken in the last two games, which makes me wonder if he also sat in on the scouting meetings.
Jim Benning met with the Vancouver media during the first intermission of Thursday's game. Johnston is promising more dish on that conversation still to come. For now, we know that Brandon Sutter is believed to be close to returning to the lineup, but that Micheal Ferland won't be back until at least after the All-Star Break — and don't forget, the Canucks have their bye week mixed in as well, so their break will extend from January 19-26.
With the Canucks now headed to Western New York to face Buffalo on Saturday, Zack MacEwen was re-assigned to Utica on Friday. That could mean that Sutter is expected back soon. It should also help MacEwen get some playing time — he hasn't seen any game action with the Canucks since December 12 and last played for Utica on December 18, during a short five-day re-assignment before Christmas.
I believe Jim Benning is also supposed to be watching the Comets this weekend.
A couple of other Comets roster notes. Shoring up their depth at center, the team acquired minor-leaguer John Stevens from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday in exchange for future considerations.
Stevens is an undrafted 25-year-old, who was a teammate of Adam Gaudette's at Northeastern. He has 3-2-5 in 16 games with Bridgeport this year.
Finally, on the AHL front — you can watch the Comets for free on Friday night, when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at 4 p.m. PT.
Friday's game marks the beginning of a five-game homestand for the Comets, who picked up a 3-2 win over Belleville on Wednesday. They currently sit one point behind Rochester in the North Division, with two more games played.
Reid Boucher remains tied with Belleville's Drake Batherson at the top of the AHL scoring race. Both players have 41 points.
Saturday, January 11 - Vancouver Canucks at Buffalo Sabres - 10 a.m. - Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650
Standings (as of Friday morning):
Vancouver Canucks: 44 GP, 23-17-4, 50 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Buffalo Sabres: 44 GP, 19-18-7, 45 pts, fifth in Atlantic Division
As their 50th-season celebrations continue, the Canucks and Sabres will finish off their head-to-head series on Saturday with both teams coming off losses. Buffalo dropped a 5-1 decision in St. Louis on Thursday — so it's not like they've been sitting at home, waiting for Vancouver to arrive.
As of Friday, the Sabres sit 12th in the Eastern Conference, seven points out of a playoff spot. They've pretty much been playing .500 hockey since the Canucks beat them 6-5 in overtime at Rogers Arena on December 7, with a 6-7-1 record.
On Thursday, the Canucks saw what Jonathan Huberdeau can do, as he picked up two assists including one spectacular cross-ice feed to set up Mike Hoffman on the power play. Saturday, they'll face Jack Eichel, who sits three points behind Huberdeau in eighth place in the league scoring race — tied with Patrick Kane with 56 points.
Eichel's production has dipped a bit from the tear that he was on when the Canucks saw him in December. At that point, he was picking up about two points a game, and grabbed two assists against the Canucks. He's currently on another point streak but has picked up just one point in each of the last five games. Modest, for him, but still impressively consistent.
Since playing the Canucks in December, the Sabres have lost top winger Jeff Skinner and Calder Trophy candidate Victor Olofsson to injuries. But 2018 first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin is back in the lineup after recovering from his concussion, and has assists in each of his last two games. New trade acquisition Michael Frolik played his first game in a Buffalo uniform in St. Louis on Thursday, but didn't pick up any points.
Here's how the Sabres ran their lines at practice on Friday.
That, plus a nice cup of coffee, should set you up for Saturday morning's game. I'll check back in afterward, and look ahead to Minnesota on Sunday.
Enjoy!