Wednesday December 13 - Nashville Predators 7 - Vancouver Canucks 1
Wednesday night started unlucky and ended ugly. Let's kick off the blog today with the play of the game—the lucky fan who won a brand new car in the second intermission!
Here are the game highlights, but be warned—it ain't pretty.
The Hockey Gods made it clear early on that they were not going to allow the Canucks to snap their losing streak, starting with P.K. Subban's unassisted goal off a Michael Del Zotto giveaway on Nashville's second shot of the game. Subban gave Anders Nilsson something to commiserate about with Dan Cloutier when he added a second unassisted tally from centre ice to make the score 3-0 early in the second.
I felt like P.K. was avenging his brother Jordan's lost opportunity to carve out an NHL career here in Vancouver—a situation that was amplified by the healthy scratch for Nic Dowd after just two games in a Canucks uniform. But P.K. wasn't going there at all after the game.
From
Ben Kuzma's postgame wrapup in
The Province:
"At the end of the day, it’s a business. All three of us (Subban brothers) have been traded, but it’s something that’s good if it happens earlier in your career. For him, he was very happy here with the organization and the opportunity. Now he’s going to have that in the L.A."
The game might have taken a different complexion if Thomas Vanek's conversion of a Derrick Pouliot foray into the offensive zone hadn't been called back on an offside coach's challenge with 56 seconds to play in the first period. It was the right call, but if that goal had counted it would have made the score 2-1 Nashville and given the Canucks something to build off when they went to the dressing room after 20 minutes.
By the end of the second period, a win seemed out of reach with the score 4-1, but there were some positives. Alex Burmistrov took Bo Horvat's spot on PP1 and converted for just his second goal of the year. Brock Boeser got the primary assist on that goal to maintain his point-a-game pace and move back into the solo lead in the rookie scoring race. And Henrik Sedin's secondary assist was the 800th of his career, putting him in some very elite company.
Then all hell broke loose in the third period.
With both Ryan Johansen and Scott Hartnell back in their lineup after missing time with injuries, the Predators were deep and dangerous on Wednesday. Coming off a four-day rest, they were also bursting with energy. They didn't hold back in the third, despite their comfortable lead and the fact that Wednesday's game was the first of a three-in-four set in Western Canada that sees them in Edmonton on Thursday, then Calgary on Saturday.
Early in the period, I noticed a good dose of chippiness from the Preds—and very little pushback from the Canucks. A bump along the boards here, a sneaky cross-check there—and Austin Watson demolishing Chris Tanev on two heavy hits near the Vancouver net. Tanev being Tanev, he tried to press on, but played just two more shifts in the game.
Thursday's a team day off, but this news doesn't sound good as far as Tanev's status—or a return for Erik Gudbranson anytime soon.
A couple of other interesting items—I noticed that after 40 minutes, both Jake Virtanen and Nikolay Goldobin were over eight minutes of ice time—and ahead of Thomas Vanek. Goldy ended up at 15:20, but he and Sam Gagner were the only Canucks players who didn't record a shot on goal...and he was a minus four. Jake finished up at 10:58, but he was banished from the game with just over seven minutes to go after his hit on Alexei Emelin incensed the Preds and led to a fracas that felt like it could escalate into something really ugly.
Up till that point, Jake had been having a pretty decent game—although his tendency to stay on the perimeter when he has the puck is becoming more and more noticeable.
As for Goldy, the first time I noticed him was when he was hustling back to try to break up the shorthanded 2-on-0 that led to Victor Arvidsson's 2-0 goal early in the second period. After that, I picked up a pattern where he'd buzz around in the offensive zone, then peel off for a change as soon as the puck headed back in the other direction, rather than trying to defend. He seemed to abandon that strategy in the third, since he was on the ice for all three Nashville goals.
On a night like Wednesday, though, there's not much point in singling out individuals for blame. The Predators were at the top of their game. The Canucks gave up a season-high 48 shots. And really, it all comes down to this:
So, to wrap up today, let's talk World Juniors!
Yesterday, I put together this rundown of the six Canucks prospects vying for roster spots for their countries:
Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich and Michael DiPietro were all in the lineup for Canada in their 3-0 shutout loss to the USports All-Stars in their first tuneup game on Wednesday night.
All three are expected to see action against the USports team again tonight, then Canada has a final tuneup on Friday against Denmark before roster cuts are expected to be made.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»