Friday January 1 - Vancouver Canucks 2 - Anaheim Ducks 1 (S/O)
Maybe 2016 is going to be a good year for the Vancouver Canucks?
For the first time in franchise history, the Canucks won a home game on New Year's Day when they came from behind to defeat the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout.
Here are your highlights:
The Ducks were playing their third game in four nights on Friday, riding a three-game winning streak characterized mostly by suffocating defense.
For the first 40 minutes, it looked like it'd be another 1-0 game. The Canucks were far from dangerous, especially in the first period, when they managed just six shots on goal.
The highlight of the first was the video tribute to Kevin Bieksa and warm reception from the crowd at Rogers Arena, which left Juice a little bit misty-eyed on the bench.
After the Ducks took the lead, what little excitement the game had generated to that point seemed to evaporate. The second period finished with a stretch of 3:08 of continuous back-and-forth action where the only plays of note were a couple of blocked shots by the Canucks, a hit by Ronalds Kenins, a takeaway by Alex Burrows and a missed shot by Chris Tanev—a pretty good chance, actually, from right in the slot.
I had almost been lulled to sleep when Tanev connected for his second goal of the season with 9:36 left in the third—with assists from Burrows and Linden Vey, no less.
Suddenly, Rogers Arena came alive as the game rolled through to a thrilling finish.
Highlights included Jannik Hansen luring Ryan Kesler into a tripping penalty with 4:32 left on the clock.
Pretty ironic—Kesler, of all people, suggesting the Hansen took a dive.
Not that it matters. The power-play streak of futility has now reached nine games, where the Canucks have gone 0-for-20.
I've seen some suggestions that Hansen should get a look on PP1. Makes sense to me—clearly, the current setup leaves something to be desired.
Overtime's looking a bit better, though. The Canucks actually outshot the Ducks 2-0 during the 3-on-3 segment and Henrik Sedin was absolutely playing to win when he broke in alone on Frederik Andersen in the dying seconds. He failed to get a shot on goal, but the effort was definitely there.
Overall, Henrik looked significantly healthier than when we saw him last on Monday. He was back to taking draws, where his 6-for-17 success rate was on par with the rest of his teammates, and he led all forwards with 20:09 of ice time.
The return of Chris Tanev was also a boost, as was a healthier Alex Burrows—who picked up his first point in 17 games, was a plus player for the night for the first time since November 2, and scored the shootout winner—powering the puck past Freddie Andersen as the first shooter in the skills competition.
The win provided a nice measure of revenge against the bitter Kesler and served to keep the Canucks ahead of the Ducks in the Pacific Division standings, moving them back into third place for the time being, tied with Arizona with 39 points.
That could change again by the time Vancouver hits the ice against the Coyotes on Monday night.
Arizona plays Edmonton in an early game at 1 p.m. this afternoon while the San Jose Sharks, who are one point back, take on Winnipeg later tonight. The Ducks will get their next chance to catch up on Sunday, when they return home to host the Jets.
The Canucks remain 29th in the league with 12 regulation/overtime wins, ahead only of Toronto, so at this point Vancouver loses every possible tiebreaker when it comes to positioning in the standings.
Three more quick notes before I leave the game behind:
• Nice work by Jacob Markstrom, who was cool as a cucumber in the shootout in particular. Markstrom didn't have a great night against the Kings on Monday but for the most part, he has been solid since Ryan Miller went down with what is now being acknowledged as a groin injury.
• For all the fussing about Bieksa and Kesler, the most dangerous ex-Canuck last night was Mike Santorelli. He led the Ducks with six shots and assisted on Kesler's goal—all while getting no reaction at all from the crowd at Rogers Arena.
• Nice, on a bunch of levels, to see Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis together again after the game.
. @kbieksa3 - He's with the Ducks, but he still loves his #Canucks (and our fans!)
Today, it's SuperSkills time at Rogers Arena. The festivities get underway at noon with an alumni game, then the skills competition kicks off at 1:00. My biggest hope, today, is that nobody gets hurt out there!
As for World Juniors, it's one-and-done for Team Canada, who will come home without a medal after blowing an early 2-0 lead to lose 6-5 to Finland.
Jake Virtanen was in the penalty box serving a double minor during the 5-on-3 for the Finns that led to the winning goal.
Virtanen was sent to WJ's to gain more confidence in his game and play more. I'm not sure that worked out well. #Canucks
The consensus seems pretty strong that Virtanen needs to spend some time back in junior now, rather than rejoining the Canucks. It'll be interesting to see what move Benning and company decide to make.
I'm a bit surprised to see that Virtanen has played just 19 NHL games. He has burned the first year of his entry-level contract, but as long as the total stays under 40, the season wouldn't count as a year towards his eventual free-agency, per this article from NHL.com.
Of course, Jared McCann was also scratched last night—and Linden Vey played a not-bad game in his place. As much as I like McCann's shot and his offensive instincts, his weakness in the faceoff circle is an issue: he has won just 32 percent of his draws this season and went 0-for-10 against the Kings last Monday.
McCann's at 36 games played, so that 40-game threshold is coming up quickly for him.
I'll wrap today with one bright spot on Vancouver's prospect watch. Brock Boeser has one assist as Team USA leads the Czech Republic 4-0 late in the second period in Helsinki. Knock on wood, it looks like the Americans will advance to play Russia in Monday's semifinal.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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