Thursday December 21 - San Jose Sharks 5 - Vancouver Canucks 4 (OT)
I wasn't really buying the idea that Tuesday's loss to Montreal was "a step in the right direction," but I don't mind that label for Thursday night's overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks.
The Canucks picked up another point against a tough team, got four pucks past red-hot Aaron Dell, and generated some offense from unlikely sources. They were let down by their penalty killing—and some poor decision-making in overtime.
Here are your highlights from another entertaining game:
It's not every day that we get to see Sam Gagner and Jannik Hansen throw down!
This video from the Sharks' TV feed captures what happened better than the Canucks' feed did last night. Frustrated after failing to score, Hansen laid a heavy hit on Gagner near the Canucks bench, which led to the fisticuffs.
It wasn't the most elegant tilt, but it sure felt like it came from an honest burst of emotion. According to Hockey Fights, that was the seventh career fight for Hansen and his second as a Shark, and the ninth for Gagner—his first as a Canuck and first in more than two years.
After he was healthy-scratched in the Sharks' previous game against Edmonton on Tuesday, Hansen returned to the lineup on San Jose's top line on Thursday, playing with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski. But he didn't get any power-play time—which is where Thornton did his damage, with two goals. Hansen finished the night with just one shot on goal and is still looking for his first goal of the season.
But at least he was in the lineup. The player Vancouver acquired for Hansen, Nikolay Goldobin, was scratched from the Canucks lineup for the second-straight game on Thursday. Since his late-November recall, he has played in seven games and sat for six.
I guess his duties as one of Santa's elves have kept him too busy to play games?
Brock Boeser certainly got what he wanted from Santa—a clean bill of health and lots more scoring punch. He potted his 19th of the year late in the second period—still at a point a game and still one point ahead of Mat Barzal in the rookie scoring race.
Brock Boeser has now scored 19 of the #Canucks 97 goals this season (19.6%). That is the 2nd-highest percent of team goals scored in the NHL. pic.twitter.com/NupQLOMc2Q
Jake also set up the Canucks first goal of the game—his first multi-point game of the year, logging a season high 14 minutes of ice time.
Meanwhile, the #GetGaunceAGoal campaign has yielded swift results, without ever moving him out of his role on the checking line. It took a full period for the scorers to confirm, but Gaunce was the last man to touch the puck on that opening goal, 1:58 into the first period.
“I felt it hit my stick, but I didn’t know if it went in or not. It’s bittersweet; nice to score, but we needed the win.” - Gaunce
Rough night for the Vancouver penalty kill, which got burned for three goals on five opportunities—including one at 5-on-3 after a weird faceoff violation call on Nic Dowd with the Canucks already a man short.
Meanwhile, the power play went 0-for-4. That drops the Canucks to eighth overall with a 22.2 percent success rate, but they're 27th on the PK.
on #Canucks troubling run of PK in past 8 games (11 PPGA), Edler and Gaunce have been on ice for 7 apiece, Granlund 5.
Finally, it's hard not to notice another good game for Alex Biega, who once again led his team with six hits and also had three shots, two assists and was a plus-two in his 19:56 of ice time, second among defensemen behind Alex Edler.
The four games Alex Biega has played since being reinserted into the lineup have been his four busiest games of the season in terms of ice time. Can’t take the Bulldog out with the way he’s playing right now. #Canuckspic.twitter.com/IcLfopEnhi
When Boeser gets his 20th, he will also tie the Canucks' highest scorer from last season—Bo Horvat had 20 goals in 81 games.
season-high for #Canucks Boeser 21:09. He knocked on wood when I asked him if he was aware he needed just one to match team-high for all of last season
To wrap up today, a programming note from me. If you didn't hear, this week was the final week for the Westender to land in newspaper boxes around downtown Vancouver—the paper is ceasing operations after 68 years.
The news came as a big shock to me—just a few weeks ago, we'd been talking about expanding sports coverage under my Goal Posts banner, which started in September.
But newspaper closures are a fact of life in this rapidly changing media environment. Here's the link to my final column, which highlights some of the great moments in local sports during the 14-week run of Goal Posts.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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