Canucks Army Postgame #3: Party Up

It was a battle of the undefeated tonight at Rogers arena with the Canucks, having won their first two games, hosting the St. Louis Blues, who boasted a 3-0 record of their own. It looked as though it may have finally been time for the wheels to come off the wagon, but surprisingly, it was Vancouver that was able to hold on to their record, battling back to win the game in OT. 

Vancouver was full value in tonight’s win, finishing in the black by possession metrics against a Western Conference juggernaut, and coming away with their third win in as many games thanks to timely goals by Bo Horvat and Henrik Sedin.

The Canucks are undefeated in 2016-17. Up is black. Down is white. We’re living in Bizarro World.

(The game-winner was eventually credited to Henrik Sedin, but not before we got to hear Chris Tanev’s goal song- “Party Up” by DMX.) 

– It almost looked for a moment as though Luca Sbisa had opened the scoring by redirecting the puck past Jake Allen while falling down. Unfortunately, the goal was ruled to be caused by a distinct kicking motion by the situation room in Toronto. It’s a shame too, because it was the most Luca Sbisa goal of all time. 

– Canucks fans the world over grew a couple of extra gray hairs tonight when Bo Horvat appeared to be injured by a cross-check from Alex Steen. There was no penalty on the play, but luckily Horvat stayed in the game, and was able to take revenge on the blues late in the third period by scoring the game-tying goal. 

-The Horvat-Baertschi power duo was fantastic tonight, generating a number of chances and finishing in the black by shot-attempt differential despite starting only 14% of their shifts in the offensive zone. Horvat in particular looked good, generating a couple of Grade-A chances all on his own. 

– Not to be outdone, the Canucks third line of Granlund, Sutter, and Hansen also generated a couple of nice chances and finished with the best CF% of any Canucks line. 

– The Canucks’ powerplay really hasn’t been clicking thus far, and tonight was no exception, going 0-4 on the night. I can’t say I really understand what they’re trying to accomplish. The Canucks coaching staff are currently rolling with a four-forward formation that features Brandon Sutter down the middle with a Sedin on either side. Sutter’s never been a big point-producer, and the Sedins are two of the best forwards in the game at cycling the puck. They’ve made an entire career out of making five-foot passes to each other. Having them on opposite is sub-optimal. 

– Ryan Miller was unable to play tonight due to a mystery ailment, leading the Canucks to sign UBC Thunderbird Matt Hewitt to a one-day contract. His assistant coach, former Canuck Sven Butenschon, was in the arena tonight to watch him suit up for the Canucks. In a moment of Chris Levecquian deja vu, it almost looked as though Hewitt would have to take the reins when Patrick Berglund collided with Jacob Markstrom in the third period. The camera immediately panned to Hewitt, who looked visibly nervous. Luckily, Markstrom shook it off and was able to stay in the game.

It’s been an odd start to the season, to say the least. The Canucks are undefeated in 2016-17, with no regulation wins. Brandon Sutter has arguably been their best player, and Luca Sbisa scored a goal (sort of). I don’t expect the good times to last, but for now, let’s all enjoy it. Up next are the Buffalo Sabres, who will be returning to Rogers Arena on Thursday night, and are notoriously not very good at hockey. The Canucks could feasibly be heading into California this weekend with a 4-0 record. What a time to be alive.