Wednesday November 23 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Arizona Coyotes 1
Sven Baertschi and his linemates Bo Horvat and Alex Burrows combined for eight points as the Vancouver Canucks rode a strong second period to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday in Glendale.
Here are your highlights:
Baertschi opened the scoring just 3:06 into the opening frame, giving the Canucks a rare first-period lead and scoring just his second goal of the year after a breakout 15-goal campaign last season. The 24-year-old got off to a slow start last year as well—he didn't score his third goal of the season until December 18, when he started a three-game scoring streak. Maybe his three-point performance on Wednesday will be the spark that ignites his 2016-17 season.
Baertschi and Bo Horvat have shown improved confidence since they were matched up with veteran Alex Burrows as their right winger. And Baertschi's success on Wednesday was special because he dedicated his game to his old junior roommate, Craig Cunningham, who remains in critical condition in a Phoenix-area hospital after collapsing on the ice just before the beginning of his AHL game with the Tucson Roadrunners last weekend.
All three linemates scored—and it was Burrows' third of the season, at the 6:49 mark of the middle frame, that chased Mike Smith after he gave up four goals on 17 shots.
Coyotes goalie Mike Smith: "I was awful. I was sleeping right from the first goal."
The rest of the game was played pretty close to running time, with no further scoring and just one more minor penalty assessed to each side in what was, for the most part, a pretty tame affair.
Call-up Joseph Labate did end up drawing into the lineup, a late change after Jack Skille was scratched with an upper-body issue. Playing on the fourth line with Brendan Gaunce and Jayson Megna, Labate logged just 5:55 of ice time—three shifts in the first period, two in the second and four in the third. After the collapse against Chicago last Saturday, Willie wasn't taking any chances when it came to preserving this three-goal lead!
Even with that limited icetime, the physical Labate finished the night with three hits, two of which were on Coyotes captain Shane Doan. I like the fact that he wasn't afraid to mix it up with a rugged veteran who has been known to have a short temper.
Loui Eriksson got Vancouver's other goal. After his slow start, he's now up to four on the season at the quarter pole—a 16-goal pace. Not exactly a $6 million performance so far, but if the Canucks' improved play over the last couple of weeks is not a mirage, I think we'll see Eriksson's numbers inch closer to what was expected as we go forward.
Ten days after his last start, Ryan Miller looked strong between the pipes. The Coyotes outshot the Canucks 17-11 in the first period. Miller's perfect first period set the stage for Vancouver to break the game open in the second.
It was also nice to see the Canucks able to secure a win without leaning on offense from the first line. Daniel Sedin saw his eight-game point streak come to an end and Brandon Sutter ended his four-game goal-scoring streak, but Baertschi, Horvat and Burrows more than made up for what the team's top stars didn't do on Wednesday.
With a goal and two assists of his own, Horvat is now the team's top scorer with seven goals, and his 13 points tie him with Daniel at the top of the team scoring race. Vancouver is now a respectable 4-2-1 since ending that nine-game losing streak and has accumulated 23 goals those seven games—an average of 3.29 goals per game.
Slowly, they're digging out of their early-season hole. They're still 28th in the league offensively, averaging 2.20 goals per game for the year to date and ahead of only Ottawa and Buffalo. And they're not making any progress in the standings, either—still three points out of the wild card and ranked 13th out of 14 teams in the Western Conference. But the team has weathered the losses of Chris Tanev and Jannik Hansen quite well so far and, for the most part, they've been a lot more fun to watch over the last two weeks.
The Canucks have one player back in the mix at their optional practice today in Glendale.
And one other bit of news out of the desert today—Ben Hutton has been re-signed to a two-year contract extension, with an average annual value of $2.8 million per season. The 23-year-old's current AAV is $925,000 on his entry-level deal; he would have been eligible for arbitration at season's end if he had chosen to go that route.
Something to give thanks for, indeed, for the affable Hutton.
I imagine the team will enjoy a bit more desert sunshine before hopping on the plane later today. It's about a two-hour flight to Dallas, whether the weather is also mostly sunny with temperatures in the low 20s, and where the Canucks will be playing a team on Friday that, like the Coyotes, they beat in overtime during their last homestand.
Will they be able to duplicate the strong performance they brought against Arizona?
One other positive note to close out today. The Utica Comets are 4-1 in their last five games after a 2-1 win over the North Division leading Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday night. Thatcher Demko was outstanding, making 31 of 32 saves and being named the game's first star. He's starting to find his way at the pro level—Demko lost his first three starts of the season, then took an overtime loss before recording, most recently, three straight wins. That's good news for the Comets with their other primary goalie, Richard Bachman, on the shelf due to an injury.
Travis Green had nothing new to add on Richard Bachman's injury, other than "he's out".
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»