Friday April 1 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Anaheim Ducks 2
How's everybody in #TankNation holding up after this unexpected turn of events? The Vancouver Canucks went 2-for-2 on their California road trip, using two third-period goals to beat the Anaheim Ducks in regulation for the first time this season.
Here are your highlights:
I was working at the very excellent Wolfmother show last night at the Commodore, but was able to keep one eye on a good chunk of the game—and two eyes on Vancouver's strong finish.
Other than the unfortunate move up the standings, there may have been even more to like about Friday's game than there was about Thursday's win in San Jose.
Despite falling behind early when Josh Manson broke down the starters to put the Ducks up 1-0 just 48 seconds into the game, the Canucks dominated a good chunk of the play through the first 40 minutes, outshooting Anaheim 9-8 in the first period and 13-8 in the second.
Bo Horvat set a new career high with his 14th goal of the year when he tied the game 1-1 early in the second period, capitalizing on an outstanding feed from Jannik Hansen.
Midway through the second, Nikita Tryamkin knocked Brandon Pirri out of the game with a crushing hit, then easily stood up to a challenge from Chris Stewart, who's listed at NHL.com as 6'2" and 231 pounds.
You'll have to click over to The Provies for a GIF of that incident. Botchford also has a sweet clip of Tryamkin laying out Ryan Kesler with the game tied early in the third.
All told, Tryamkin had five hits in 14:30 of ice time and showed the type of pushback that the Canucks have needed against a Ducks team that has run roughshod over them for years. Remember when Jared McCann tried to stand up to Ryan Getzlaf back in November?
For the moment, Tryamkin has the element of surprise on his side as opponents face him for the first time. It'll be very interesting to see how he's treated next season, once he becomes a better-known character. So far, it's amazing to see him living up to fans' lofty expectations.
Now Tryamkin sits down an off-balance Kesler... May be able to launch mayoral campaign upon his return to Vancouver#Canuckson1040
A friend pointed out that Tree and Dan Hamhuis seem to be talking a lot on the bench, with the veteran explains the ins and outs of the NHL game. If Hamhuis' mentorship is a key part of Tryamkin's development, does that make you more inclined to want to see him re-signed by Vancouver for next season?
And speaking of keeping players around, I saw in the comments from yesterday's blog that I'm not the only one re-thinking my "trade Hansen" strategy. With his second-straight two-point night, Hansen was named second star on Friday and is getting back to that high level of play we saw from him earlier in the season, before he was injured.
In Hansen's case, absence truly did make my heart grow fonder. No matter how much he insists that his success this season has come from playing with the twins, it's not like the right wingers who filled in while he was sidelined were able to achieve the same level of success.
If he's the right guy to complement Daniel and Henrik's game right now, maybe the best course of action is to keep him right where he is next season?
That begs the next question—is Hansen this season's MVP? Voting for the Canucks' year-end awards is now open; after a couple of wins, it's a lot easier to think about the positives that surround the team than it was during the losing streak.
I could make a strong argument for Hansen or for Daniel Sedin. Please share your thoughts, and I'll weigh in with my full awards ballot before Saturday's season-ender against the Oilers.
Ahhh, the Oilers. Vancouver is now four points ahead of Edmonton in the league standings and after tonight, Edmonton will have just two games left on its schedule—both against Vancouver.
In the same way that it still felt awfully good to see the Canucks get the better of Kesler and the Ducks last night, I'm not sure I can willfully embrace the idea of two losses to Edmonton to close out the year—but that's probably what it would take to have any shot at all at 30th place.
I just made an awesome discovery: Sports Club Stats has a page that calculates draft lottery odds, as well as one for playoff odds!
According to their math, which takes into account the head-to-head matchups that remain on the schedule, the most likely finishing spot for Vancouver based on today's standings is in 25th place, right where they are at the moment. The odds are slightly better than 1-in-3.
There's only a seven percent chance they'd finish any higher but still a 41 percent possibility that they could move down to 26th (24 percent) or 27th (17 percent). The deck could still shuffle over the next eight days, but the bottom three slots now look pretty unlikely.
Four weeks from today, we'll find out what the hand of fate holds in store for our team, when the draft lottery goes down!
A couple of other quick notes about Friday's game to wrap up today:
• After the year he's had, nice to see Emerson Etem pick up the game-winning goal in his hometown rink, in his first return to the Honda Center since he was traded by the Ducks last summer.
• Already down a man after Sven Baertschi was injured in San Jose, the Canucks lost two more players in quick succession on Friday in Anaheim. Midway through the second period, first Linden Vey, then Chris Higgins went down.
INJURY UPDATE: Vey, upper-body, will not return & Higgins, lower-body, will not return. #Canucks
There was no update on the status of either player after the game. Saturday's a day off for the team, so we'll have to wait until practice on Sunday to find out if any of the latest casualties will be available to play against L.A. on Monday, or if we'll see more emergency call-ups from Utica.
Jake Virtanen's two-game suspension is now complete, so he'll be available to return from the doghouse on Monday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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