Canucks Beat the Red Wings Handily by a Score of 4-1

There was only the one NHL game today, and it happened to involve the travelling Vancouver Canucks. Today they took their show to Detroit to face the Red Wings in the fourth match of their five-game road trip.
Sven Baertschi, who’d been effective but goalless up until today, opened the scoring in the first frame. Red Wings winger Anthony Mantha responded with a goal of his own to knot the game at one going into the first intermission.
Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom was strong from that point onward, shutting the Red Wings out from that point onward. To the Canucks’ credit, they didn’t surrender many high-danger scoring chances, which certainly helps.
A trio of goal-scorers combined for Vancouver in the second period to put the Canucks in the driver’s seat and build a 4-1 lead. Baertschi scored his second on the season, and Derek Dorsett added to his team lead in goals with his fifth on the season. Perhaps best of all, though, was Jake Virtanen getting his first of the season on his eighth shot of the night.
Far from going into a shell, the Canucks continued to own the shot clock in the third period and cruised to a 4-1 victory in Detroit. Markstrom stopped 20 of 21 Red Wings shots, and opposite him, Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped 33 of 37 Canucks tries.

Stats

Quick Hits

  • You know everything I said in Friday’s post-game recap about what a great story Dorsett’s been in the early parts of this season? Well, that still applies. Dorsett isn’t going to keep this up. He’s not going to hover around a 40% Sh% all season — duh! And I think that, in the long run, playing Dorsett as often as the Canucks are is going to catch up with them. Dorsett has the worst five-on-five shot attempt share on the team among forwards; he did going into today’s game, anyway. Perhaps it’s time for the Canucks to walk away from the table while they’re still ahead. For me, that means shaving a couple of minutes off Dorsett’s nightly average. Tonight, for example, Dorsett almost played as much as Bo Horvat.
  • Tonight might have been the best of Virtanen’s young career. Virtanen had eight shots on goal, was effective in transition and buzzed the net all night. He was so overdue for a goal by the time he finally scored one near the end of the second period. And yeah, that physical edge that he brought in his first season with the Canucks — it’s back. Just ask Niklas Kronwall.
  • Erik Gudbranson was, well, surprisingly effective in his return from Friday’s one-game ban. Not only did Gudbranson finish with a positive five-on-five on-ice shot attempt differential, but he looked to play one of his better games as a Canuck to the naked eye, too. For those keeping track, yes, that’s an extra $2.00 for the Canucks Army Money on the Board charity initiative to make a child’s dream come true with the Make a Wish Foundation. Make a pledge of your own today!
  • Canucks head coach Travis Green has been fairly adamant in his post-game scrums that he thought Baertschi was on his way to breaking through offensively. Well, tonight Baertschi rewarded the coach’s faith with two goals — Baertschi’s first two goals of the season, no less.
  • Troy Stecher was just starting to hit his stride this season under Green, so of course he left today’s game with a knee injury after colliding with Tomas Tatar in the second period. Stecher never returned from that injury, playing 12:31 and leaving in the black by five-on-five on-ice shot attempt differential with a plus-two rating.