Tuesday December 6 - New Jersey Devils 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
I'm going to break from my usual game-recap format to put the good news first today. After taking a scary hit from Taylor Hall during the second period of last night's game against the New Jersey Devils, Philip Larsen is on his way home to Vancouver to begin his recuperation.
Wishing Philip Larsen a happy birthday and quick recovery.
Larsen was discharged from hospital & medically cleared to return to Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/Zx2nb8jdqg
The incident happened at 5:35 of the second period, just over four minutes after Daniel Sedin had tied the game 1-1. Emotions had already been running high—the Devils players and fans were incensed that Michael Chaput wasn't called for a penalty when Travis Zajac was bloodied after his face hit the dasherboard with 35 seconds to play in the first period.
John Moore also got an instigator penalty for going after Chaput, which set up the 5-on-3 that led to Daniel's goal early in the second—their first 5-on-3 goal of the year, on just their second opportunity with a two-man advantage.
This seems like a good place to insert the usual highlight package:
Down to just five defensemen and going through the motions to some degree after the Larsen hit, the Canucks surrendered goals to Kyle Palmieri and Ben Lovejoy in the six minutes of game action that followed—and that was pretty much the game.
Henrik Sedin got one back in the third period and the Canucks mounted a decent push with Markstrom pulled in the dying minutes, but they weren't able to manufacture the equalizer.
I did not have a problem with Willie Desjardins having Erik Gudbranson on the ice in the dying minutes. As a matter of fact, he's the only Canucks player that got a shot through in the last 4:37 of the game. Down to five defensemen, Willie's options were limited—and all the other blueliners got ice time, too.
Compared to a couple of other games where the Sedins have stickhandled their way to the final buzzer without even trying to score, at least there was some urgency on the ice in the dying seconds on Tuesday.
But without that tying goal, the Devils extended their regulation home unbeaten streak to 10 games and the Canucks started their road trip with a loss—and missing one more player from the lineup.
No word today on a recall from Utica to replace Larsen. At this point, it looks like the youthful blue line will actually get a little bit older on Thursday against the Lightning if 28-year-old Alex Biega draws in for his second game of the season—and his first on defense. He was deployed as a 12th forward back on October 23rd against Anaheim, where he played 8:37.
To wrap up today, an interesting rumour surrounding former Canucks executives Mike Gillis and Laurence Gilman. Word is swirling that New York Islanders majority owner Jon Ledecky has been polling hockey people on how to turn around his franchise, which has slid back to 27th place in the NHL standings this year.
Ledecky and his partner Scott Malkin started their purchase process for the Islanders in 2014 but just took over majority power this season; this has been the new group's first real opportunity to make major moves.
Garth Snow has been running the show for the Islanders since 2006, when he announced his retirement as the team's goaltender to depose incumbent GM Neil Smith after just 41 days on the job. In his 10 seasons in charge, the Islanders have made the playoffs just four times, and won their first series since 1993 last spring, against the Florida Panthers.
Here's some inside scoop on how Ledecky's plans are proceeding so far...
Will be interesting to see how Isles ownership moves forward. Lafontaine, Flatley, Healy among the group of ex Islanders talked to...
Though former Canucks general manager Mike Gillis was let go during the spring of 2014 and Gilman was relieved of his duties during the 2015 offseason, their contracts with Vancouver have not yet expired, which is why permission would be required.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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