The first of the highly-anticipated NHL games in China took place early this morning. Attempting to grow the game of hockey and spark some interest in the Chinese market, the Canucks and Kings embraced the opportunity and put on a show. The Kings came out on top, defeating the Canucks 5-2.

The Statistics

Baertschi, Granlund: 1 goal
Hutton, Burmistrov, Del Zotto: 1 assist
Markstrom: 22/26 saves

Game Highlights

The game got off to a fairly quick start, which was impressive given that some have yet to play a game this season. Less than a minute in, the Kings took a penalty that was, not surprisingly, a slashing call. Henrik Sedin took the same penalty minutes later, which led to this rocket of a goal by the Kings’ Adrian Kempe.
With Nick Shore in the penalty box at the 7:24 mark, the Canucks’ power-play units went to work. The man-advantage was quickly converted into a goal… for the Kings. Tanner Pearson picked off a bobbled pass from Thomas Vanek, which sent him on a shorthanded breakaway to put Los Angeles up 2-0.
One minute into the second period, Alex Martinez made it 3-0 off a nice cross-ice feed from Tyler Toffoli. With the Canuck on the powerplay shortly after due to an Andy Andreoff hooking call, Sven Baertschi was open on the wing and put Vancouver on the board.
Late in the third period, Markus Granlund buried a rebound off his own shot to make it 3-2 Kings.
Capitalizing on a Hutton-Stecher miscue that led to a 2-on-0 man-advantage, Tanner Pearson made it 4-2 Kings. Jeff Carter finished the game off with an empty net goal.

Game Notes

  • The Canucks went 1 for 11 on the powerplay today, which is frankly embarrassing. The first unit consisted of the Sedins, Vanek, Gagner, and Edler, and the second had Horvat, Baertschi, Burmistrov, Eriksson, and Hutton. As you’ve likely inferred, neither units were threatening. Of the two, the latter looked better today. That’s not to say the Sedins with Gagner and Vanek won’t work, but the man-advantage simply looked more threatening with Horvat, Baertschi, and Burmistrov on the ice. There might be a particular player in North America who could improve the powerplay, however.
  • It’s been publicized that playing Sam Gagner with the Sedins was a definite possibility. Although the trio didn’t necessarily have an exciting game, there was chemistry displayed at times. Gagner isn’t a pure shooter, which contradicts the typical linemate the Sedins have had in seasons past. He can play their passing game, however, and there were a few times where they had legitimate even-strength scoring opportunities. The area of concern would be the skating as neither of the players are considered hard checkers. This, as was shown, can lead to times where a player gets caught and puts the line in trouble.
  • Alex Burmistrov looked good today. He spent a solid amount of time on the powerplay, but he impressed at even-strength too. He skated well and moved the puck effectively, and there looks to be some chemistry between him, Horvat, and Baertschi on the powerplay. If he keeps up his play, it would be hard to keep him off the opening-night roster. He also had this goal which was waved off as it went in after the horn:
  • Thomas Vanek didn’t look particularly impressive, although that could be said about a number of players . He made an erroneous pass which led to the Kings’ shorthanded goal, and he didn’t look threatening on the power play either. There was a quick 5-pass play in the third period with the Sedins that could’ve ended up in a highlight reel goal, and that was promising.
  • I know the league is cracking down on penalties, but wow are they getting tough. There were five penalties total in the first period, four of which were slashing and holding. In last year’s league, one could easily deem them soft calls. Through all the pre-season games, the referees have been consistent. If this is one of the league’s attempts to increase scoring, it appears it could work with the abundance of powerplays that can occur in one period alone.
Say what you want about playing in China, it’s smart of the NHL to want to expand the game. It’s an unconventional market with significant potential, but it is untapped and it showed. The lack of attendance at the game will be a topic of discussion, but to be fair, could one honestly expect a full house in a country where hockey is essentially unknown? Hockey in China isn’t going to grow overnight, but judging from how the crowd reacted to the pace and action, the sport excites them. It was certainly amusing listening to the attendees “Ooh” and “Ahh” at a hit against the boards, a nice save by a goaltender, and even simply a player shooting the puck.
Unlike today where it was an early morning for viewers in North America, the next game will be a late night. The Canucks and Kings will fly to Beijing and are set to play at 12:30 AM on Saturday.