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J.T. Miller's OT winner caps off thrilling comeback for Canucks vs. Rangers |
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The Rogers Arena curse has been lifted!
The Vancouver Canucks engineered a late comeback to earn their first home win over the season on Tuesday night. They grabbed two points off a pretty good New York Rangers club and a red-hot goalie.
They're also now 1-0 this season with Travis Hamonic in the lineup. The defenseman joined the club for practice on Monday and suited up in a third-pair role on Tuesday. He partnered with Luke Schenn, who moved to the left side now that Jack Rathbone has been re-assigned to Abbotsford.
Hamonic finished with 16:56 of ice time, including 1:48 on the penalty kill — and he was on the ice for Mika Zibanejad's power-play goal, which opened the scoring early in the second period. He also chipped in two hits, two blocks, one shot attempt and one giveaway — and saw a couple of 5-on-5 shifts with both Quinn Hughes and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Hamonic ended up playing about three minutes more than Tucker Poolman (13:55), who also did some penalty killing, blocked six shots, and put up some outstanding possession numbers during his 10:16 of even-strength ice time with Hughes for the night.
Hamonic did speak to the media after practice on Monday. And while Travis Green said that Hamonic has not yet received his second vaccine dose, the big blueliner did say that he has been vaccinated and is adhering to protocols.
“I’m appreciative of the organization to be respectful and supportive to me and my family," Hamonic said in a prepared statement. "It’s made a world of difference. It hasn’t been easy the last couple of months. I respect the questions that are going to come with the nature of our business. I have been pretty forthcoming with a lot of aspects of my personal life and things I’ve gone through in my past and throughout my career.
“This would probably be one of those situations where I’m going to keep it to myself. My family is walking the walk with me. I will say that I am vaccinated and following all the protocols until that process is done. I’m here and excited to be here and proud to be a Canuck.”
That sounds to me like he wrestled hard with the decision to become compliant, and feels he has his reasons, but is ultimately very happy to be back with the team.
"This isn’t an easy thing for me to be doing, but it has to be done," he added. "Everyone thinks they know what someone is going through and maybe we’re all very quick as a society to judge people.
“We should try to see the good in people, in why they’re going through those things and how it’s affecting them, rather than trying to unnecessarily paint every individual into one corner when not knowing the full picture. This is pretty personal.
“My biggest take-away is this is just me. I’m trying to do what’s right for me and my family to get through this time and today was one of the best, being on the ice with the guys."
On the TV broadcast between periods, Satiah Shah of Sportsnet 650 suggested that Hamonic's vaccine status is actually part of the reason why he was recalled to the big club so quickly. The Abbotsford team plays a pair of games in Stockton this weekend; if he was to travel to the U.S., he'd need to quarantine for 14 days upon his return if he's not fully vaccinated.
The big Canucks are home for another week before they play a 3-in-4 against Colorado, Vegas and Anaheim from Nov. 11-14. If Hamonic still can't go stateside at that time, it'll be interesting to see if they shuffle him back to Abbotsford to get some more ice. The AHL squad will be at home that weekend, with a pair of games against the San Jose Barracuda.
Anyway. The game...
This one will be remembered for a long time, as Thatcher Demko created a major meme with his Hasek-like heroics to keep the game tied 2-2 late in the third period.
With no stick and no blocker, he still managed to save J.T. Miller from having to make any stops as the Rangers pressed for the game winner.
When the 5-on-3 began, Poolman was credited with five straight blocks. Then, back at 5-on-4, Demko took over. He logged three saves during that sequence — all off Artemi Panarin, no less!
And even though J.T. Miller scored two goals in the game, including the impressive overtime wraparound winner after Igor Shesterkin denied him on his breakaway, I think fans will most remember his willingness to get behind Demko during that sequence.
I get the sense that Miller gets extra fired up to play against the Rangers, who initially drafted him. But I also think his performance on Tuesday could prove to be one of those galvanizing moments that helps pull the team together — and maybe sparks a winning streak?
The team is enjoying a well-deserved day off on Wednesday, then will practice Thursday before hosting the Nashville Predators on Friday. After not seeing Nashville for a year, I'm not sure what is going on with that team this season; the Preds lost four of their first five but have since reeled off a four-game winning streak, ending streaks for both Minnesota and Calgary along the way.
Shout-out, also, to Conor Garland for his play on Tuesday night. He looked like 'road Garland' on Tuesday, earning the primary assists on Vancouver's third-period goals by Miller and Vasily Podkolzin. And there may be something to this new combination of Garland with Miller and Pettersson — even if it does bump Brock Boeser down with Dickinson and Podkolzin.
It looks like Garland was out for a long shift when he set up Podkolzin's goal. But what a nice moment for the rookie — not just scoring his first goal in front of home fans, but doing it on a night where he's up against two Russian legends who were also both part of the KHL's SKA St. Petersburg organization, Panarin and Shesterkin.
It's no small thing for Demko to have out-duelled Shesterkin on Tuesday, either. The 25-year-old now leads the NHL in saves, ranks third in goals saved above expected according to Money Puck, and is already inspiring Lundqvist-like devotion from the Rangers faithful.
And while Demko's .923 save percentage to start the season is sparkling, it's crazy how many goaltenders have been on their games in the early going. Shesterkin is at a head-spinning .943, and four other goalies with at least five starts are above him — undefeated Freddie Andersen in Carolina (.956), surprising James Reimer in San Jose (.950), Jacob Markstrom (.947) and Sergei Bobrovsky (.943).
Demko actually ranks 20th right now in save percentage among all goalies and 14th among goalies with five starts or more. And this is during the part of the season when scoring is usually higher!
At this rate, it's going to be a helluva race for the Vezina this season...
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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