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Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Back to the 80s vs. Blues, Quiet Deadline? |
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Sunday March 1 - Vancouver Canucks 6 - St. Louis Blues 5 (S/O)
As the clock ticks down to the 2015 NHL trade deadline, the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues put on a super-entertaining show on Sunday night at Rogers Arena.
Hollywood blockbusters should hope to create emotional rollercoasters like we saw last night. An early deficit turned into a big lead, which evaporated just in time to win a shootout that featured one of the league's best, T.J. Oshie, failing to score.
I'm not sure I have ever seen the Canucks go three-for-three in a shootout!
If you missed the game, this'll be a highlight package worth watching:
I'm having a hard time adjusting to the idea that this version of the Vancouver Canucks can give up early goals, yet still come back to win games. When Ryan Reaves (of all people) gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at the 3:02 of the first period, I was prepared to believe that the team could bounce back as it did on the road against Boston and the Rangers.
But when Alex Pietrangelo made it 2-0 to cap off an atrocious shift by Luca Sbisa less than six minutes in, I figured we'd have to be satisfied with the fact that Los Angeles had lost their third straight game earlier in the day and thus, not gained any ground on Vancouver in the playoff race.
Sbisa had been on the ice for 1:48 when Pietrangelo scored and actually started the shift well, neutralizing the dangerous Vladimir Tarasenko. But he was line a wind-up toy who ran out of fuel once he was on the ice for too long, falling down time after time. That allowed the Blues to set up and score.
But fear not! No hole is too big for these Canucks. It too just 1:25 after the Pietrangelo goal for Shawn Matthias to open the scoring, and our game was tied 2-2 just over two minutes later after a seeing-eye point shot from Yannick Weber.
In the second period, the Canucks had a video review call go their way when it was ruled that a Jannik Hansen shot had squeaked through Jake Allen's pads in time to be ruled a good goal, even though the whistle had gone before the puck crossed the line. Henrik Sedin made it 4-2 late in the period—seemingly, an insurance goal that would seal the win.
It was enough to convince Ken Hitchcock to swap Jake Allen for the more-reliable Brian Elliott in the third period, in an attempt to try to come back and salvage some points. But Nick Bonino found a tiny space above Elliott's shoulder at the 6:07 mark, giving Vancouver a three-goal cushion and prompting the return of Allen.
...and starting the Blues' comeback...
The mood was buoyant in Rogers Arena—and didn't really sag that much as Vancouver surrendered goals to Dmitrij Jaskin, Petteri Lindbohm and David Backes late in the third to force overtime.
Moments like that—and the team's undisciplined third period against Buffalo earlier in the week—serve as the reminders that perhaps Eddie Lack and the patchwork defense are in just a little bit over their heads these days. But the crowd stuck behind Lack, the team snagged a point, and after an uneventful overtime it was off to the shootout.
Goals, goals, goals for Vancouver—from Nick Bonino, Radim Vrbata and Chris Higgins, while Eddie Lack did the near-impossible and stopped the legendary T.J. Oshie (who, surprisingly, is just two-for-nine this season—who knew?)
So, despite the late collapse, the Canucks left with two points, sending the faithful home happy. The arena was loud, engaged, and looked pretty full—not too much reason to worry about music selection or other game presentation issues when the on-ice product is so fun to watch. I felt like we got about five games' worth of entertainment value on Sunday night.
Deadline Deals
Now with a five-point cushion in the playoff race, the Canucks will see if they can improve their team by trade before today's deadline.
I think there will be more action around the league before the day is done, but I don't expect much from the Vancouver camp.
If Chris Higgins does get dealt, four years after he was a deadline acquisition for the 2011 playoff run, he'll certainly go out on a high note after scoring last night's game-clinching shootout goal.
If Zack Kassian gets traded, he'll leave town with a wicked shiner after getting sucker-punched by Ryan Reaves while being held by the linesman in a second-period scuffle.
More likely, I think, we might see Jim Benning make some minor moves involving draft picks and minor-leaguers.
TSN has already had to turn to the llamas to keep things interesting during their trade-deadline coverage this morning.
Over at Canucks.com, Derek Jory is liveblogging—and we're getting a look inside the Canucks' war room.
Another reminder—no need for us to get too nervous about today's impending moves. The fireworks from last year's Roberto Luongo deal look to have been bright enough to last for multiple seasons:
To be even more specific:
So, rest easy. We'll wrap today with a positive note from practice:
Oh yeah—Frank Corrado has also been re-assigned to Utica.
Enjoy the day!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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