Monday November 7 - New York Islanders 4 - Vancouver Canucks 2
The Vancouver Canucks scored first and added a power-play goal, all in the same game, but it wasn't enough to prevent the New York Islanders from logging a 4-2 victory on Monday at Barclays Center.
Here are your highlights:
It was good to see Daniel Sedin back in action, apparently showing no ill effects from the hit he took from Nazem Kadri on Saturday night. Daniel's first-period goal was a rarity, and gave the Canucks a lead for just the second time all season.
Markus Granlund's third of the year, on the power play, now gives him more goals than his older brother Mikael Granlund, who has scored just twice for the Minnesota Wild so far this season.
But it was the Islanders' underperforming big-ticket free agent, Andrew Ladd, who potted his first of the year to close out the scoring, putting the game out of reach for the Canucks with 9:10 to play in the third period. Vancouver didn't allow another shot for the rest of the game, while getting five pucks through to Jaroslav Halak, but there was never any real hope of a comeback.
My biggest takeaway on Monday is that Willie Desjardins looks absolutely defeated behind the bench. That kinetic energy that used to keep him moving and twitching has drained away. Now, he seems to be waiting for somebody to put him out of his misery.
The loss takes Vancouver's record to 0-8-1 since their last win over Buffalo back on October 20, and keeps the team winless on the road.
They're also one game away from tying the franchise's worst-ever losing streak, an 0-8-2 run that got Tom Renney fired early in his second season behind the Vancouver bench. Interestingly, Renney was fired on Nov. 13, 1997—one day after the Canucks wrapped up a California back-to-back by snapping the streak with a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks—and bringing the team's record for the year to 4-13-2.
Renney's replacement was Iron Mike Keenan, who turned the franchise upside during the two seasons he was in Vancouver.
It's also worth noting that Pat Quinn was actually fired as the Canucks general manager a week before Renney was let go, on November 7. The changes were coming, in part, as the McCaw family took control of the organization from the previous owners, the Griffiths family, so the organization as a whole was in a much bigger state of flux than what we're seeing now.
Anyway—let's set up tonight's game.
Tuesday November 8 - Vancouver Canucks at New York Rangers - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 13 GP, 4-8-1, 9 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
New York Rangers: 13 GP, 10-3-0, 20 pts, first in Metropolitan Division.
The New York Rangers come into Tuesday's game against Vancouver as the hottest team in the league. They're on an impressive five-game winning streak where they haven't scored less than five goals in any of their games:
October 30: Rangers 6 - Lightning 1
November 1: Rangers 5 - Blues 0
November 3: Rangers 5 - Oilers 3
November 5: Rangers 5 - Bruins 2
November 6: Rangers 5 - Jets 2
New York is the highest-scoring team in the league, with 55 goals in 13 games, while Vancouver's the lowest with just 22 goals in 13 games. For every two goals the Canucks score, the Rangers get five.
New York also has the best goal differential in the league, having scored 26 more goals than it has allowed. Vancouver now ranks 30th in that category, having given up 16 more goals than it has scored.
One more quick stat—the Canucks currently have a four-way tie for the team scoring lead as Daniel, Henrik, Brandon Sutter and Jannik Hansen all have six points.
Thirteen of the 22 players who have pulled on a Rangers jersey this year are ahead of that pace. The quickest way to get a sense of who's doing all this producing is simply to look at the list of New York's leading scorers—which isn't what you're probably expecting.
J.T. Miller: 5-8-13
Kevin Hayes: 6-6-12
Michael Grabner: 7-3-10
Jimmy Vesey: 6-4-10
Chris Kreider: 3-7-10
Derek Stepan: 1-9-10
Mats Zuccarello: 6-3-9
Rick Nash: 6-3-9
Brandon Pirri: 4-5-9
Mika Zibanejad: 2-7-9
Ryan McDonagh: 0-9-9
Brady Skjei: 0-8-8
Nick Holden: 1-6-7
The familiar names are all there, but so are plenty of newcomers. Michael Grabner and Brandon Pirri have delivered as value free-agent signings on a cap-strapped team, Jimmy Vesey is showing why he was so highly touted coming out of college and Nick Holden has been a solid addition on the blue line after being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for a fourth-round pick.
After their first-round playoff flameout against the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring, it looked like the Rangers' window of opportunity as an elite team had closed, so this start to the season is remarkable.
Meanwhile, here are the tweaks that the Canucks are making to their lineup tonight:
Stecher in, Larsen out, Markstrom starts, Virtanen sits. #Canucks
So—Philip Larsen earns his first healthy scratch of the season in Game 14. The power-play specialist has no goals, four assists and is a team-worst minus-eight in his 13 games as a Canuck.
Jake Virtanen sits for a second straight game, and Willie Desjardins offers a little insight on his decision.
Desjardins: "It’s not that I don’t think Jake is a good player, he’s not consistent enough. Until he gives you that he can't play." #Canucks
Backup Antti Raanta gets the start in net for the Rangers.
Only the Arizona Coyotes currently sit below the Canucks in the NHL standings, one point back. The Coyotes are in Denver to take on the Avalanche tonight, so there's a chance that Vancouver could be 30th overall by morning.
But it's not like Canucks fans aren't used to these dark patches, right?
It could always be worse, Canadiens fans. On this day in 1985, the Canucks were shellacked 13-0 by the Oilers 😱 pic.twitter.com/IQ7l8XpRxB
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»