Tuesday February 24 - Vancouver Canucks 2 - Boston Bruins 1
It's hard to believe that the Boston Bruins were among the favoured teams to win the Stanley Cup just one season ago. Peter Chiarelli and company went all-in, got bounced and are now paying the price with a team that's a shadow of its former self.
Still, it's nice to see Vancouver sweep the 2014-15 season series, especially with a depleted lineup of its own. Here are your highlights:
Eddie Lack's latest tenure as the team's No. 1 goaltender got off to a shaky start when Daniel Paille banged home a rebound at the 1:05 mark of the first period—his first goal in 36 games.
But that was the only damage the Bruins were able to do. They fired 40 other pucks at Lack, including 20 in the second period, but the affable netminder shut the door.
Though Boston crashed the Vancouver net with impunity, Lack couldn't get a goaltender interference call to save his life, but the officials did help him out on a couple of other occasions. There was one quick whistle that came just before the puck squirted loose on the wrong side of Eddie's pads, and Ryan Stanton avoided punishment when he batted the puck out of the crease with his hand.
Here's the official rule on that,
from NHL.com:
67.4 Penalty Shot - If a defending player, except a goalkeeper, while play is in progress, falls on the puck, holds the puck, picks up the puck, or gathers the puck into his body or hands from the ice in the goal crease area, the play shall be stopped immediately and a penalty shot shall be awarded to the non-offending team. See also Rule 63 – Delaying the Game.
Stanton didn't gather the puck into his body, I don't think; he just whacked it out of the crease. So, probably the right call, though it still seems like the Canucks were mighty lucky to (a) avoid being scored on and (b) avoid punishment.
Once again, the first line and the fourth line were the impact players for Vancouver. Ryan Stanton was the triggerman on the tying goal at 3:28 of the first, set up by Jannik Hansen and Ronalds Kenins, and Zack Kassian scored his second-straight game-winner and fourth goal in three games, with 13:13 left in the third.
Kassian's goal on Tuesday came on his only shot of the game—the same as on Long Island on Sunday. His shooting percentage over the past three games is a brain-numbing 57.1 percent.
He's also giving us some solid scoring celebrations—not quite "Tiger Williams rides his stick," but not too far off!
Despite the Bruins' in-your-face approach to the game, the Canucks did a good job of standing their ground. Yannick Weber stood up to Brad Marchand all game long and Vancouver actually outhit Boston 28-25, with Alex Biega leading the way with six hits.
(Yes, the Canucks have now allowed one goal in their last 120 minutes of game action with a defense of Hamhuis-Weber, Sbisa-Biega, and Stanton-Clendening. Chew on that for a minute.)
One place they continue to get killed is in the face-off circle. Vancouver won just 36 percent of their draws overall on Tuesday, with Henrik Sedin a troubling 6-for-25. By contrast, Patrice Bergeron won 31 of his 38 draws. That's how you win a Selke trophy.
The Canucks are not making it easy on themselves, but they're getting the job done. The team is now 7-3 in its last 10 games and has already pocketed six points on this road trip, with one game remaining. Even the loss to New Jersey last week is looking less embarrassing since the Devils have gone on a late-season tear, winning four straight games.
Vancouver's road record of 19-11-2 is now once again the best in the league, and they're five points clear of the Sharks and Flames, who now sit just outside the playoff ranks.
If you go to
Sports Club Stats and hover over their "Chance Will Make Playoffs" graph, you'll see the Canucks' odds are now at the highest level they've been at all season—96.5 percent.
You'll also see two other teams with huge trends in the upward direction: Los Angeles and Minnesota.
That's the bad news. If the playoffs started today, the Canucks would face the Los Angeles Kings.
To review how the playoff seeding works under the new system: the first team overall in each conference plays the second wild-card team, while the other division-winner will play the first wild-card team. Then, the second and third-place-teams in each division square off.
These are the NHL standings that will make playoff positions easiest to track for the rest of the season.
I'm thinking the atmosphere in Rogers Arena might see a boost when the Canucks get home from this road trip. They left their fans with a couple of entertaining wins before heading out, and they look like they're starting to gel into a group that believes in itself—and gets a little help from the hockey gods every now and then.
Funny timing, with the trade deadline. If I'm Jim Benning, I probably don't want to mess too much with this group's current great chemistry. The Canucks could have some extra bodies as players come back from injury, but better too few than too many, right?
One note from Botchford's
Provies about Brandon McMillan, who was scratched last night to get Nick Bonino back into the lineup:
If Brandon McMillan was claimed to help the Canucks’ farm club on a run to the Calder Cup, the Canucks have to get him assigned to their AHL affiliate before the trade deadline.
After the deadline, no player may be sent down unless he’s first been called up under certain circumstances/limitations.
McMillan will have to clear waivers too for it to happen.
So, there's one player move that we can almost certainly expect to see within the next few days.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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