Canucks Army Postgame #1: Sutter Shuts ‘Er Down

It was a relatively uneventful affair, as the Canucks became the final team in the NHL to begin their season, facing off against a Calgary Flames squad that had already played two games. Things weren’t looking good through the first 40 minutes, but the Canucks were able to come away with the shootout win, and that’s all that really matters.

In typical Canucks fashion, the season’s scoring opened with an own goal. With the goalie pulled on a delayed penalty, Loui Eriksson sent a pass back towards Erik Gudbranson, who missed it, and it ended up in the back of the Canucks’ net to make it 1-0 Flames. 

href=”https://t.co/eJzpkebapE”>pic.twitter.com/eJzpkebapE

— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech)

After a fairly uneventful two periods, the Canucks were finally able to tie the game at one after a beautiful shift in the offensive zone by the Canucks top line of Sedin, Sedin, and Eriksson.  

In spite of some good sustained pressure by the home team towards the end of the third period, they were unable to finish the game of in regulation. Overtime solved nothing, which set up the only goal of the shootout, a wrist shot by Brandon Sutter. 

– If you were concerned about this club’s ability to produce offence, tonight’s game likely did very little to mitigate those concerns. The Canucks struggled to create quality chances through the first two frames. I know it’s early in the season, but I can’t help but feel as though Willie Desjardins’ lineup decisions haven’t exactly been conducive to creating offence beyond the top line. Most of the Canucks’ forwards dominated possession tonight, but they struggled to generate quality looks against a Flames team that put forth a very weak performance. 

– Desjardins was criticized heavily in anticipation of last night’s game for his decision to start Bo Horvat on the fourth line between Derek Dorsett and Alex Burrows, but the decision appears to have paid off, at least in the short term. as that line led the Canucks’ with a CorsiFor of 88.9%. 

– On a slightly less cheery note, Horvat also had the least ice time tonight of any Canucks centre at even-strength, and also started only 25% of his shifts in the offensive zone, curious given the fact that he led the team in scoring over the back half of last season. 

– On an even less cheery note, Jake Virtanen looked visibly shaken after a hit by Lance Bouma, and was removed from the game to undergo concussion protocol. Fortunately, he returned in time for the second period.

-The Canucks defense corps had a strong performance tonight, and the Canucks’ third pairing of Luca Sbisa and Philip Larsen led the charge. We all saw that coming. Luca Sbisa also gave us this wonderful .gif, which will live on in my dreams forever. 

Overall, it wasn’t the most entertaining outing but the Canucks came away with the two points, and we got this great Slaughterhouse-Five reference from Pass It to Bulis so overall it was a good night.