Canucks Army Post-Game: MILLER, CANUCKS BLANK PREDS 1-0

Going against the recent NHL trend, the Canucks continued their streak of playing in low-scoring affairs again Tuesday night. Squaring off against the Nashville Predators – minus both PK Subban and Roman Josi – the Canucks managed to do this evening what they were unable to do Sunday against New Jersey and last Tuesday against these same Predators – win.

Henrik Sedin inched one point closer to 1000 for his career, and Ryan Miller notched his second shutout of the season as the Canucks came out the victors in an otherwise dull contest. Scoring late in the third period to break a scoreless tie, Henrik helped the Canucks jump ahead of the Predators in the Western Conference playoff race and into a tie with the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card spot (although both teams have multiple games in hand), and end Vancouver’s four-game winless streak.

After receiving some bad news on the injury front this morning, the Canucks would also start the game with a different look at forward. Winger and noted second power play unit specialist Jayson Megna would be a scratch after coming down with an illness prior to puck drop.

Megna’s loss would prove to be Reid Boucher’s gain as the waiver wire acquisition made his Canuck debut tonight. He made an impact – literally – on his first shift of the game.

The Predators appeared to open the scoring just over 15 minutes in, after a mad scramble ensued in front of Ryan Miller. Although the Canuck netminder appeared to have smothered the puck, the puck found its way behind the goal line. The initial call on the ice was a goal, but after a very lengthy delay, it was determined that referee Jean Hebert had intended to blow the whistle prior to the puck entering the net. 

And so Abbotsford’s Derek Grant was denied his first NHL goal in his 78th NHL game. Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats. Speaking of which, for the Nashville perspective …

With the teams tied at zero after a very even first two periods of play, Henrik Sedin finally broke the scoreless draw with a bank shot off Pekka Rinne at the tail end of a rush. The goal brought Henrik to 999 career points, one away from a massive career milestone.

The Canucks would manage to nurse that lead home, winning 1-0.

-With the aforementioned flu bug hitting the Canucks, Troy Stecher played only sparingly this evening. His final ice time registered 11:50 – well below his season average of 21:03. It will be interesting to see if he is good to go for Friday against the Panthers.

-Part of the reason this game, that only featured one goal and two power plays, took so long to complete tonight was the protracted discussion and review on the Predators’ disallowed goal. Here is the ruling from the NHL, kindly provided by Sportsnet’s Irfaan Gaffar.

Ultimately, I feel it was the correct call – as the play should have been blown dead – but why did it require both a huddle and a lengthy review? Referee Hebert emphatically motioned that it was a goal, and then indicated he was in the process of a blowing the whistle after the review. Which one was it?

-Tryamkin played one of his most physical games as a Canuck tonight. His confidence is only increasing, and he had an even night in the Corsi department. Desjardins experimented with him on the right side throughout the game, possibly related to his sparing usage of Stecher. It seemed to pay off handsomely on a couple of occasions.

-Ryan Miller continued his strong play of late, stopping all 30 shots he faced tonight en route to his second shutout of the season. Miller has let in two goals or fewer in every game in 2017, aside from the wild affair in Philadelphia

-Henrik will go for career point number 1000 against his old pal, Roberto Luongo, on Friday. Wouldn’t that be fitting?

Friday, January 20 vs Florida; TV: SNET, Radio: TSN 1040