Canucks Army Postgame – Star Struck

Tonight seemed as good an opportunity as any for Vancouver to recapture some of the offensive flare that was so pivotal in driving their success from earlier this season. They had finally been given a large enough cushion from their grueling season-long road trip to ditch the exhaustion excuse. A repeat affair of Saturday night wouldn’t be accepted.

Further to that point, even in the golden era of Lindy Ruff’s brief tenure as the Stars bench boss they’ve more or less thrown defensive hockey to the wayside. This year it’s doubly so, with Dallas icing a lineup that consistently includes at least two rookie defenceman. They’ve also been victimized by even-strength goaltending nearly as bad as Vancouver’s.

Alas, it wasn’t to be. For every Vancouver push, there was a response from Kari Lehtonen. It didn’t take much for the Stars to win this one, as they got the one fluky goal past Eddie Lack and sealed the deal with an empty-netter, securing the 2-0 victory. 

Read past the jump for a recap.

It didn’t take long for the Canucks to mount a furious offensive push to start this game. I’d barely settled into my couch before the Sedins completed a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play that resulted in a glorious scoring chance in front. This started a sort of wavelike effect on the rest of the offensive lineup, as each line chipped in with a quality scoring chance of their own before the five-minute mark had struck.

The pace continued, with Vancouver being the key beneficiary of this breakneck speed. Speaking of breakneck, the Canucks dodged a Curtis McKenzie sized bullet, as the lumbering Stars forward gave Luca Sbisa a serious push from behind in the Canucks zone. Somehow, Sbisa popped right back up in nearly as little time as it took for Brad Richardson to kick McKenzie’s ass in his defense. 

This high-event, Canucks dominated period continued right to the end. All the things were happening, and save for a Stars offensive flurry near the final quarter-mark, it was all Canucks. They even had a shorthanded breakaway from Chris Higgins and his abs! It could have been a 2-0, but…

If only the second went even half as well as the first. I’m beginning to notice that Vancouver’s style of play is heavily geared towards high-event hockey and as the pace dropped steadily in the second, so did Vancouver’s grip on this game. There were extended forays into the Stars zone and while the shot total from that period isn’t indicative of a club that was offensively dominant, the Canucks had some quality chances all the same. 

The nadir of the second and arguably this game came on Dallas’ one not-empty net goal. It remained the one blemish on an otherwise perfect night for Eddie Lack, who had his name chanted towards the end of the third. The Stars fourth-line, led by Colton Sceviour, made a rush to the Canucks net. In what originally looked like a centering pass from Sceviour, Lack’s glove gave the puck a glancing blow on the ice, redirecting it towards, and in to, his own goal. 

If the Canucks grip on this game was dwindling in the second, it was all but unlatched in the third. There was the odd offensive flurry that accompanies a team trailing in the third, but really, nothing to write home about. The best chance I recall from the entire period was a Stars breakaway, which Lack shut the door on in short order. For his efforts on the play, Lack’s name was chanted in Rogers Arena by the Vancouver faithful. 

The Stars were able to put the icing on the cake with a goal from none other than sort-of-former-Canuck, Antoine Roussel. Kevin Bieksa tried directing a shot on net in the dwindling minutes, but it was blocked by Roussel, who outworked Bieksa for the puck and easily sent home the empty-netter. I was definitely hoping for a Patrick Stefan moment, but the hockey gods are rarely so kind or cruel, depending on which side of the fence you’re on.

I can’t remember the last time a Corgis chart (Editor’s note: here are some actual corgis to help you cheer up, if you need them) so accurately depicted the game, at least based on my memory of how things went. I can’t help but imagine how this game finishes if the Canucks capitalize of one of the four scoring chances they threw on net in the first five minutes. Just one.

A brief glance at the Canucks by-player Corsi chart reveals a list of have and have nots. The separation of quality puck possession from Vancouver’s bottom to top-six is just striking. The Canucks fourth-line in particular, with Jannik Hansen, Derek Dorsett and Bo Horvat were particularly rank, with a Corsi For% of roughly 25%. I remember some sheer dominance from Hansen tonight, so I find these numbers bizarre on the whole, but this is becoming a pretty concerning trend.

It appears as though the Canucks second-line is recapturing some it’s early season magic. Nick Bonino left the possession books well in the black with a 60% Corsi For and by my recollection he had a few great chances to boot. Chris Higgins was even more dominant where puck control is concerned, spotting a Corsi For of 67%. Higgins in particular had a glorious chance on a breakaway, but Lehtonen turned him aside with the blocker. It’s a disappointing game, but the important thing will be if the second line can continue to generate chances in the coming games. If they can, the goals will come.

It’s been a rough stretch for Vancouver, that’s for sure, as they’ve now dropped five contests in a row, and none against a particularly good team. It’s not even close to panic time though, as their team PDO is in the dumps. We know some tough bounces can make an adequate team look abysmal, and Vancouver’s right in PDO hell for the time being, so their fortunes are due to change soon enough.

Maybe what the Canucks need is a Hockey Night in Canada match with the falling-back-down-to-Earth Calgary Flames to get things going? They face them in front of the bright Saturday lights, so we’ll see you then.