Saturday February 25 - San Jose Sharks 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
A battered Vancouver Canucks roster was able to stay in the game for 40 minutes but ultimately dropped a 4-1 decision to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday at Rogers Arena.
Here are your highlights:
San Jose goaltender Martin Jones grew up in North Vancouver. His father Harvey works for the Canucks organization as the Vice President and General Manager, Arena Operations. As if the Sharks weren't tough enough to beat already, Martin seems to love playing in his hometown. He spent time here while the Sharks were on their five-day break last week, then got back on the ice with yet another first-star performance on Saturday, stopping 35 of 36 shots.
Jones is now 4-0 in his career at Rogers Arena. All four wins have been during his time with the Sharks over the last two years, and all have come by the same 4-1 score. So maybe it didn't really matter all that much that the Canucks were missing 10 regulars last night—and lost another player to illness during the game.
I had honestly lost track. Here's who was missing from Saturday's lineup:
Forwards: Sven Baertschi, Jack Skille, Derek Dorsett, Markus Granlund, Michael Chaput, Anton Rodin
Defense: Erik Gudbranson, Chris Tanev, Troy Stecher, Nikita Tryamkin
Luca Sbisa left Saturday's game at the end of the second period with what was being called the stomach flu.
Willie says the doctors said Sbisa's illness is not connected to mumps. Totally different symptoms. #Canucks
Chris Tanev is one of the players that has been quarantined, though there hasn't been any word yet on whether or not he actually has the mumps. Willie Desjardins is hopeful that Tanev and Troy Stecher will be ready to rejoin the team soon.
Desjardins: "Stecher and Tanev, I think, are passed their quarantine spot. Through the quarantine, they're done and good to come back."
The Canucks started out pretty well against a sluggish San Jose team, outshooting the visitors 30-16 through the first two periods before running out of gas in the third. The power play went 0-for-2 and the first unit looked especially solid, with a very Swedish configuration that had Loui Eriksson, Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter working with the Sedin twins.
Daniel Sedin finished the night with eight shots—all in the first two periods—and the Canucks' only goal, off a lazy giveaway by Hart Trophy candidate Brent Burns.
Daniel's also on a four-game point streak—now at 977 career points with 21 games remaining on the 2016-17 schedule. That thousand-point milestone might be one of the few things this team still has to play for down the stretch—after Saturday's games, the Canucks remained nine points out of the second wild-card spot but had dropped to 28th overall in the league standings. They're currently tied at 58 points with Dallas, Carolina and Detroit, but now come out on the wrong side of the tiebreaker against all three of those teams.
The second power-play unit didn't look half bad last night either. That group was made up of Horvat, Boucher, Megna, Larsen and Hutton.
Of the three call-ups from Utica who took to the ice, Joe LaBate had the most impressive game. He played 9:43 and delivered a hit on Melker Karlsson in the second period that got the Sharks' attention.
Another look at the hit. LaBate absolutely crushed Melker Karlsson into the boards. LaBate providing some physicality for the #Canucks. pic.twitter.com/YAPKw7z74e
The hit was late, which is why he was immediately chased down by San Jose's Micheal Haley, but with Dorsett, Gudbranson and now Tryamkin missing from their lineup, the Canucks are very much in need of a player who can provide that physical edge.
Melker Karlsson definitely looked woozy after taking that hit. He missed the last 6:22 of the second period but did return to action in the third.
Also in the third period, LaBate squared off against Brendan Dillon for the second fight of his four-game NHL career. Enjoy the blow-by-blow in Punjabi!
In his first-ever NHL game, defenseman Evan McEneny delivered an early shot on goal and played a total of 15:08, including 11 shifts in the third period after Sbisa left the game. He looked a little overwhelmed at times but he certainly wasn't alone on that front. The cobbled-together defensive pairings literally tripped over each other on several occasions over the course of the night.
Today, the remaining members of the walking wounded will put on their best family-friendly smiles for a very unfortunately-timed SuperSkills competition that will be missing some of its usual fun and games.
#Canucks SuperSkills update: the autograph sessions & minor hockey component of Sunday's event have been canceled due to health precautions. pic.twitter.com/3RLRbqHLyp
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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