Friday February 20 - New Jersey Devils 4 - Vancouver Canucks 2
Just like last week against Calgary, the Vancouver Canucks couldn't quite muster enough firepower to pick up a win on the second half of a back-to-back situation.
Vancouver beat the New York Rangers on Thursday for the first time since 2009, then lost to the New Jersey Devils on Friday—also for the first time since 2009. Results-wise, the road trip is a bit of a wash so far.
Here are your highlights from Friday night:
The big news at puck drop was yet another injured player. Alex Burrows pulled himself out of warmup with what was said to be a "lower-body injury"—likely *not* something to do with his fight with Chris Kreider the previous night at MSG.
In this case, it doesn't sound too serious:
With Burrows scratched, Zack Kassian drew back into the lineup after missing the last game as a healthy scratch. And the big guy made the most of his opportunity—scoring Vancouver's only two goals of the game by going to the net while patrolling the right wing with the Sedin twins.
It's Kassian's first two-goal game of his career. He now has eight points in his last eight games.
He's not quite hot enough to make the first page of the NHL's new "
trending" list, but the twins are. Henrik is ranked third in the league over the last 10 days with three goals and five assists, while Daniel's two goals and five assists rank him 11th.
A few voices in the local sports community have been clamouring for Kassian to get a chance to skate with the twins for a couple of seasons now. John Tortorella flat-out refused to give it a try so once again, I'm pleased to see Willie shuffling his deck by any means necessary to try to squeeze a win out of a losing situation.
Radim Vrbata started the game back in his old spot with the Sedins, and stayed there until one shift after the Devils' third goal of the game, early in the second period. Kassian also played one more shift with his initial linemates, Vey and Higgins, before Willie moved him up. The switch paid instant dividends.
Kassian scored on his very first shift with the twins, then added a second goal early in the third to get the Canucks within one and make things interesting. He finished the night with 13:47 of ice time—his highest total in over a month—and was on the ice right down to the last shift of the game, when Willie loaded up five forwards after the Devils' empty-net goal in one last never-say-die effort.
Certainly Kassian benefited from playing with the twins, but I tend to think he also got a big boost from being a fresh player, who didn't suit up on Thursday.
Jason Botchford
quotes Willie Desjardins as offering only a limited vote of confidence after the game:
"He was fresher too, I think that makes a difference on the back-to-back," RGW said. "He didn’t play, so he had better legs which I think helped him.
"Hopefully it gives him confidence, so that when he is in it helps him."
If Burrows is back on Sunday, is Willie still going to opt for Brandon McMillan over Kassian? Jim Benning's latest acquisition was the low man for the Canucks on Friday, with 10:51 of ice time, and delivered a completely blank stat line. So I'm not imagining things when I say that he has barely been noticeable...
The simmering goaltending controversy will wait for another day after Eddie Lack dug his team an early hole on Friday, allowing New Jersey's first three goals on nine shots.
Bo Horvat also had a quiet game, which allowed Cory Schneider to get the last laugh, with 21 saves. It's Schneider's first win against the Canucks, which mean's he's taking his teammates out to dinner!
Vancouver's New York adventure continues tomorrow when they visit the New York Islanders for the last time ever at Nassau Coliseum. The Isles continue to surge—tied for first place in the Eastern Conference as I write this, with a record of 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.
The good news? They'll be on a back-to-back, as they're in Washington taking on the Capitals this morning (up 1-0 in the late stages of the first period.) The bad news—backup Chad Johnson got today's start, so the Canucks will probably see starter Jaroslav Halak tomorrow.
One other slice of good news from last night—the Calgary Flames blew a 2-0 lead, dropping a 6-3 decision to the Anaheim Ducks. For now, that still leaves the Canucks in second place in the Pacific Division.
That's enough hockey talk for this morning. I'll be liveblogging the Stadium Series game between the Kings and the Sharks for Bleacher Report later tonight—where I guess our biggest hope is that it doesn't turn into a three-point game.
For now—time to take in some sunshine. We've got a spectacular weekend in the forecast!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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