Thursday February 26 - Buffalo Sabres 6 - Vancouver Canucks 3
With six points already in their pockets from a successful eastern road trip, it was no surprise to me that the Vancouver Canucks let the third period get away from them in a 6-3 loss to Buffalo.
If you dare, here are your highlights:
Every team has hot streaks—even the Sabres. They've been better since their big trade with Winnipeg on Feb. 11—the same day they also traded goalie Jhonas Enroth.
Maybe impending UFA Michal Neuvirth is trying to play his way onto a new team next Monday as well? He's now 3-2-2 since the trades, and hasn't given up more than three goals in any game. Or, maybe new acquisition Zach Bogosian is settling down the blue line? He has been playing close to 30 minutes a night since arriving from Winnipeg but was a plus-three in just 21 minutes last night.
Or, maybe we need to look at the Canucks themselves. It seemed like most of the Sabres' chances came from their ability to capitalize on Vancouver's mistakes.
The Canucks outshot the Sabres 31-24 but when Buffalo did get a shot on goal, it seemed like it was a golden opportunity. Vancouver was undone by two goals from Torrey Mitchell—another impending UFA—who now has five goals on the season, and a couple of breakaway chances for Chris Stewart, who buried one midway through the second period to quickly erase Vancouver's one brief lead.
The minuses are scattered pretty evenly across the roster from Thursday. Dan Hamhuis was the high-minute man at 23:57, so I guess it's not surprising that he was in on plenty of the action at both ends of the ice—part of two of Vancouver's goals, including an assist on Jannik Hansen's game-opener—but also out for three goals against, including the final empty-netter.
The only players who were minus-two on the night were Linden Vey and Adam Clendening.
The good news on Thursday is that Vancouver's division rivals didn't fare too well, either. The Kings broke their eight-game winning streak with a 1-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators—who rolled into California and posted back-to-back shutouts against Anaheim and L.A. thanks to stellar goaltending from an undrafted 27-year-old from White Rock named Andrew Hammond.
Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks gave up a 2-1 third-period lead over Detroit to lose 3-2 in regulation.
Minnesota posted a big win over Nashville, which moved them into the second wild card spot for now, but last night, the Canucks' playoff chances dipped by just 3.2 percent, according to SportsClubStats, to 93 percent, while the Kings dropped by 7.1 percent and the Sharks by 8.7 percent.
For now, the Canucks maintain their three-point cushion over L.A. and Calgary and stay five points up on San Jose, though all those teams will play before Vancouver hits the ice at Rogers Arena on Sunday against St. Louis.
After the game, Vancouver sent Bobby Sanguinetti back to Utica—again, without ever getting a chance to hit the ice in a game situation. I assume this means that one of the regular defensemen will be ready to go when the team gets back to Vancouver. Corrado? Tanev?
Tradewinds
I was surprised to see Jaromir Jagr moved to Florida yesterday, but that was quickly washed away by the Nathan Horton/David Clarkson deal. I don't think anybody saw that coming, but it makes perfect sense for both sides—the Leafs gain cap space with Horton on LTIR while the Blue Jackets gain a useful player who won't be in the same pressure-cooker that he was in Toronto.
More importantly, that trade made me wonder how many other unexpected deals we'll see between now and Monday. The media was wringing their hands when Carolina moved Sekera and Tlusty on Wednesday, worried they'd have nothing to report on their wall-to-wall coverage on Monday.
I think we could still see lots more action—which makes me think the Canucks will end up in the mix. Last night's loss, while only one game, does make it a little easier to justify any moves that Jim Benning might want to make.
I think it's time for the poll. If you have to choose one player, who do you think the Canucks are most likely to move?
Did you see last night's Provies, where Jason Botchford lays out a fan-built team strategy called the "PA Plan"?
It's pretty aggressive, involving the acquisition of Phil Kessel and (the out-for-the-season) Martin Hanzal. The plan also includes trading Chris Tanev and (gasp!) Bo Horvat.
Check out the article for more details. I think it'll keep the gossip mills flowing for the next few days—and while I don't think Kessel will end up in Vancouver, I could certainly see Toronto making more big deals in the coming days.
Quick Hits
A few quick items before I wrap up for today and gaze into my crystal ball for some league-wide trade predictions for Bleacher Report:
• Prospect Jake Virtanen, who's listed at 6'1" and 208 pounds, blew up 6'5", 225-pound defenseman Jared Hauf of the Seattle Thunderbirds earlier this week with a check into the bench:
• Former Canucks defenseman Brent Sopel announced his retirement today. Originally drafted by the Canucks in the sixth round in 1995, Sopel spent seven years with the Canucks over two tours of duty, most notably during the team's resurgence in the early 2000s. In his last season with Vancouver, Sopel peaked along with the West Coast Express, with 10 goals and 42 points in 2003-04.
• There's a proposal in play to rename the block of Abbott St. on the east side of Rogers Arena as Pat Quinn Way. Makes sense to me—and would be a great announcement to make at the ceremony honouring Quinn that's scheduled for St. Patrick's Day, when the Leafs are in town.
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