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Sam Gagner gets 1st goal, Jacob Markstrom strong in Canucks 2-1 OT loss |
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Monday October 30 - Dallas Stars 2 - Vancouver Canucks 1 (OT)
The Vancouver Canucks managed a third-period comeback but weren't able to extend their winning streak to five games after Alex Radulov beat Jacob Markstrom to give the Dallas Stars the overtime win at Rogers Arena on Monday night.
Here are your highlights:
After some speculation that Brock Boeser would be healthy enough to play, the Canucks announced at the morning skate that he'd sit out at least Monday's game while dealing with his foot contusion. That meant Jayson Megna drew into the lineup for his first NHL game of the season.
If you weren't watching closely for Megna, he was easy to miss. He took just seven shifts for 4:18 of total ice time and didn't play at all after the 15:41 mark of the second period.
Some of that was due to special teams—there were nine penalties in total called in the game and the lines were disrupted early when Alex Radulov was sent off for hooking Brandon Sutter on the very first shift. But Green was also experimenting with a right winger in Boeser's spot with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi. Sam Gagner started there, which opened up a space for Megna on a line with Alex Burmistrov and Thomas Vanek. Megna also played a shift with Derek Dorsett and Brandon Sutter after Markus Granlund had just been used in Boeser's spot on the power play.
The Dallas Stars are off to a good start under new coach Ken Hitchcock but to my eye, he's running the risk of falling into the same trap that undid John Tortorella when he coached the Canucks—relying too much on his team's top stars. Watching the game, it was fun to see Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov barely leave the ice—they make things happen and it's a treat to get to watch some of the game's top talents up close. Radulov, in particular, hasn't come around this way very often and played like a beast all night, as well as scoring the winning goal.
But John Klingberg was the only Stars defenseman to play more than that trio of forwards—Seguin played 23:58, Radulov was at 22:23 and Benn finished the night at 21:29. That's well above their season averages: I guess in a close, low-scoring game, Hitch couldn't resist sending them over the boards every second shift in hopes of picking up another goal.
As it turned out, the only scoring of the game for either team came on the power play. The Canucks limited the top-ranked unit in the league to just one goal in five opportunities—a top corner snipe by Seguin that maaaaaybe wouldn't have gone in if that net hadn't been elevated on its pegs.
The Seguin goal was the first surrendered by the Canucks' penalty-killing unit since the team's last loss, back in Boston. But Sam Gagner's third-period equalizer with the man advantage was the first against the Dallas penalty kill since October 12, and only the fourth power-play goal the team has surrendered all season.
Gagner's goal came off a crazy play that started when Jacob Markstrom decided to try to outrace Antoine Roussel for a cleared puck.
A gutsy and exciting play, but as the celebration was going on, I was watching the goaltender to see if he'd injured himself crashing into the boards—and remembering that this was a guy who knocked himself out of action last season at the supposedly benign Superskills competition.
Markstrom did go on to finish the game and looked fine, and he's on the ice at Wednesday's optional practice.
Markstrom was fired up at the end of what was a very good game for him, slamming his stick over the boards as he exited the ice after being beaten by Radulov on a rocket in overtime.
The lead-up to the goal included Bo Horvat trying to give Sven Baertschi the patented Brock Boeser push as the pair struggled to get back defensively at the end of a shift that had already gone up and down the ice. I like the fact that 'the push' is now being integrated into game play by other players. I wonder if it'll catch on around the league?
I got the feeling that Markstrom's frustration stemmed from the knowledge that he's in a battle for ice time with Anders Nilsson, who currently boasts better numbers and a better record, despite having played less than half of Markstrom's minutes. With the luxury of two good goalies to choose from, word from the coach's room is that Travis Green and Dan Cloutier will consider their netminders' differing styles when choosing who plays against each opponent. We'll have to see whether that means Marky gets another nod against the Devils on Wednesday, or if Nilsson draws back in.
As well as Markstrom played, he was overshadowed by Ben Bishop at the other end of the ice. Even though big goalies are now the norm here in Vancouver, Bishop still seemed to dwarf both Markstrom and Nilsson when he set up in his net. I think his legs must be longer than the others—when he leans forward, his butt barely fits under the crossbar!
Bishop saw 10 more shots that Markstrom on Monday as the Canucks outshot the Stars 39-29, and he stopped all but one of them. Derek Dorsett had a couple of good chances that might have gone in for him on a different day, Thomas Vanek threatened again with four shots on goal and Sam Gagner played his best game in a Vancouver uniform, leading the team with six shots including that power-play goal, his first as a Canuck.
On the back end, Alex Biega drew some praise from Travis Green after the game but I thought Ben Hutton had the best game I've ever seen him play. He was up over 25 minutes a couple of times during the road trip so his team-leading 24:48 was probably no big deal to him but I thought he was effective at both ends of the ice. He played on both special-teams groups and looked better on the power play than he did before the road trip, getting three of his five shot attempts through to the net and also playing some savvy defense.
Hutton has just one point so far this year—an assist from opening night. If he keeps playing like he did against Dallas, more points are coming.
Finally—it's hard to believe that nine players on the current Canucks roster weren't even born—and Alex Burmistrov was 10 days old—on the day Pavel Bure signed his first NHL contract. Proof positive that the Canucks are getting younger: this happened 26 years ago!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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