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Silovs shuts out the Flames as the Canucks kick off Young Stars with a win |
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The Vancouver Canucks got their Young Stars experience off to a solid start on Friday night, shutting out the Calgary Flames prospects by a score of 3-0 at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The energy in the arena was great, where Canucks supporters were definitely louder than the Flames fans decked out in their red jerseys. And though it took more than two periods before we got our first goal, the crowd jumped on its opportunity to throw up a "Bruce, There It Is" chant as soon as Arshdeep Bains opened the scoring — eliciting grins from Boudreau, Jim Rutherford and the rest of the braintrust watching from the management suite.
The Canucks came into this weekend's event with arguably the lowest level of star power of the four squads in the competition. Last time I was here, in 2017, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko were just beginning their NHL journeys. This year, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg all brought in high-profile first-round draft picks while Vancouver, quite conspicuously, did not.
But 2019 sixth-rounder Arturs Silovs outduelled Calgary's Dustin Wolf on Friday night, stopping all 24 shots he faced to post the only shutout of the tournament's first three games. The Flames were threatening in the first period, and watching Chara-sized 6'8" forward Adam Klapka cast a shadow as he set himself up as a screen at the top of the crease was no joke. But both sides were understandably disjointed in the opening frame, as players from different backgrounds and age groups worked to find some chemistry.
And while the Flames became less threatening as the game went on, the Canucks started to make plays. By the middle frame, the top line of new additions Bains and Linus Karlsson flanking Abbotsford leader Chase Wouters was starting to connect on passes. And in the third, the puck found the net.
After the game, new Abbotsford head coach Jeremy Colliton praised the skills that all three forwards showed in the game, as well as how they found a way to work together.
"It's hockey intelligence and understanding the little things that you can do to help your linemates and puck support," he said, "especially when there's a lot of hockey being played on this ice, so it got run down pretty quick.
"You need to have support. You need to make those five-foot plays to advance it and if you do that, then you get to play in the offensive zone and you don't have defend as much, so I think they did a good job of that."
Bains was buzzing after scoring what proved to be the winning goal in his first game. The 21-year-old from Surrey grew up as a Canucks fan and as a 10-year-old, he idolized the 2011 group, naming Ryan Kesler, the Sedins and Alex Burrows as his favourites.
But he's already moving past the stage of being starstruck while working on the ice with the Sedins.
"At (Development) Camp, we were able to skate with them, so it was pretty, pretty, pretty special," he said. "Now, we're just trying to get used to it, and now we're a little bit comfortable."
That first line could stay together in Abbotsford this season, and so could Friday's second line, which saw buzzsaw Tristen Nielsen and big-bodied Danila Klimovich flanking new Swedish center Nils Aman.
Nielsen, who played in Abbotsford last season, is small but feisty — a trait that shines through in this video:
Klimovich came out playing a strong physical game, and fed Nielsen for Vancouver's second goal late in the third period, which iced the win.
On Saturday, I was on hand as Klimovich conducted his first-ever English-language media availability with a small group after practice. That story should be posting soon on The Hockey News website. He talked about how much he enjoyed spending time in Vancouver this summer, working on his game and his English while appreciating the natural beauty of the region and spending time in the outdoors. And he has a very realistic perspective on his first season, embracing the fact that he got to play pro in North America for the full year after having played junior in Belarus in the previous season.
"Yeah, it's a big step for me," he said.
He admitted that he ran out of gas on Friday night, in his first game situation since last April. But he said he has been working hard on his D-zone play and his shot over the summer, and seems to be fully embracing his opportunity. If he stays in a top-six role on a younger Abbotsford team this season, he'll get a chance to take a solid step forward.
My other big takeaway from Friday's game was the positive energy that seemed to be coming off the team. Maybe part of it is just having the opportunity to be back in a normal preseason situation after two very strange years — and the late-summer vibe in Penticton is certainly very pleasant. But more than the Flames, the Canucks seemed to be visibly gelling as a team as the game went on. Best example — after big Klapka got into Silovs' kitchen unimpeded in the first period, two defensemen stepped in to guard the Canucks' goalie when he tried the same move in the third.
"We all knew we had those jitters going into the game," said Jett Woo, the 22-year-old second-round pick from 2018 who wore one of three As on Friday night and took the ceremonial opening faceoff for Vancouver. "To get that out of the way, into a 0-0 second period, it was exciting for us.
"We just kept building off that and had a lot of fun with it," said Woo.
And it may only be a prospects tournament, but "It felt great," he said. "I was just talking to some of the guys, and I feel like it's been a while since we've won a game. So that was good, to get it out of the way."
Next up — the Canucks will try to keep the good vibes going when they square off Sunday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets (2 p.m. PT). The Jets played a close-fought game against Edmonton in their opener on Friday, but fell by a score of 3-2 as Edmonton scored the game-winner late.
Edmonton went on to beat Calgary 4-1 in the Battle of Alberta on Saturday. They'll be Vancouver's final opponent when the tournament wraps up on Monday, at 2:30 p.m. PT.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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