3 for 3; The Canucks History with 3-0 Starts

Did anyone really think we would be here, discussing the Canucks’ hot start to the season? It is still early, but it’s hard not be encouraged by the Canucks play to date. The team looks more structured defensively, stronger from a possession standpoint, and has been full value for its three wins. Pretty much no one in the hockey world – myself included – thought Vancouver would start the season a perfect 3-0-0, especially without ever once holding a lead. But here we are.

We should pause for a moment and fully appreciate the rarity of this accomplishment. This season is only the fifth time in franchise history that the Canucks have earned the maximum six points in its first three games. Read that again: that’s the fifth time in 46 seasons that the Canucks have achieved that feat. Not even the hallowed teams of 2009-2012 managed to go perfect through their first three games. What were the teams that did? Read further to find out.

Yes, it took the Canucks franchise until its twenty-first season in the NHL to win it’s first three games. The team wasn’t even particularly close, either – only winning its first two games on a pair of occasions, in 1978 and 1980. But the 1991-92 season was a watershed moment for the organization for several reasons. One, it was the year Pavel Bure would make his debut in a Vancouver uniform. And two, it would be the Canucks’ first winning season since 1976 (that’s fifteen seasons, for those counting).

Bure, however, wouldn’t play until November. This iteration of the Canucks would get off to a hot start without him. In fact, by the time he finally joined the lineup for his memorable first game, Vancouver was already 10-4-1 (that last number being ties, kids). The 3-0-0 start was helped somewhat by playing two games against the expansion San Jose Sharks, a team that would only win 28 games over its first two seasons in the NHL. Those first two games, a home-and-home series the Canucks would sweep by scores of 4-3 and 5-2, respectively, would get the team off on the right foot. After winning its third game in Winnipeg – before a Winnipeg franchise low of 8,689 spectators – on a controversial Geoff Courtnall overtime marker (the Jets believed it was kicked in), the Canucks had gotten to six points in the standings in the minimum number of games for the first time.

Final Record: 42-26-12, first in the Smythe Division

After waiting 21 seasons to go perfect through its first three games, the Canucks wasted no time in accomplishing that achievement for a second time. The 1992-93 Canucks would get off to the best start in franchise history. To date, they were the only Canucks team to start the year with four consecutive victories, and it did so in a pre-shootout NHL. The Canucks began the season with two games against the Edmonton Oilers, winning the first game by a score of 5-4 and the second by a score of 5-2. The Canucks would then crush the Winnipeg Jets by scores of 8-1 and 6-2 en route to the first 4-0-0 start in team history.

Final Record: 46-29-9, first in the Smythe Division

To date, this season remains the only time the Canucks started the season with a 3-0-0 record and missed the playoffs. This was the first full year under new coach Marc Crawford, as well as the last year of the dreaded Messier era. The Canucks opened the year against the New York Rangers, squeaking out a 2-1 win with goals from Markus Naslund and Chris Joseph (back for his short-lived second tour of duty with the club). The Canucks would follow up that victory with a 5-4 triumph over Chicago, led by a two-goal performance from Alexander Mogilny (and the first goal of Artem Chubarov’s brief NHL career). The Canucks rounded out their first three games with a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens, before losing in overtime 4-3 to the Flames in game four.

Although the Canucks went a perfect three-for-three to start the 1999-2000 season, the club undoubtedly benefitted from an easy early schedule. None of the teams it faced in the first seven games of the regular season qualified for the playoffs, and the team played its first five games at home. But you can only play the games on the schedule, as they say, and so this Canucks team became the third to go perfect through three games.

Final Record: 30-29-15-8, third in the Northwest Division

To think of all the very good-to-excellent teams the Canucks iced from 1999 to 2015, it is surprising that not one of them managed to start the season with three consecutive wins. The 2010 team, for instance, one of the best teams in franchise history, actually started with three consecutive losses. Alain Vigneault’s Canucks – perhaps due to Roberto Luongo’s notoriously poor Octobers – never got off to the greatest of starts. But under Willie Desjardins, the 2014-15 Canucks swept the Alberta teams over the first three games of the year. After winning 4-2 in Calgary to open the season, the Canucks beat the Oilers 5-4 in a thrilling shootout victory, and then shutout the Oilers 2-0 to complete the trifecta.

And now the Desjardins-coached Canucks have done it twice.

Final Record: 48-29-5, second in the Pacific Division