Canucks blow late lead, down former rival in overtime

The Vancouver Canucks throttled the Chicago Blackhawks for 40 minutes on Wednesday night before they took their foot off the gas in the third. 

In the final frame the script was flipped, as the Canucks hung on for dear life against a bona fide Stanley Cup contender. It didn’t go well for them, as they Blackhawks managed a pair of late goals to tie the contest and send it to overtime. 

Thankfully Daniei and Henrik Sedin were able to pull off some vintage Sedinery and secure a crucial extra point for their club. No harm done, at least. 

(Courtesy: HockeyStats.ca)

That chart really says it all. Vancouver handled proceedings nicely for 40 minutes, and blew a flat in the third period. Whether it was score effects, or Vancouver sitting too firmly on their lead and letting the Blackhawks back into it, or Chicago sleep walking through the first two periods, the third frame was ugly for Vancouver. 

(Courtesy: war-on-ice.com)

The Canucks did well to generate quality looks and though they lost the overall shot attempt battle, were the better team in score-tied situations. They also blocked a good deal of shots from within the scoring chance area. John Tortorella would be proud.

In his move to centre in relief of Nick Bonino, Shawn Mathtias won five of seven draws and finished roughly even by shot attempt differential. That’s a decent showing particularly considering the quality of his competition. 

The fourth-line was excellent once again, generating a goal (Bo Horvat’s), and coming out ahead by shot attempt differential. Chicago relies on exploiting their opponents’ generally weaker depth lines, so Horvat, Dorsett and Kenins coming out ahead in their matchup was essential.

Finally the Sedin twins were excellent on Wednesday night, putting in a vintage performance. Daniel Sedin scored two goals and both were lovely, while Henrik Sedin picked up a couple of assists – a primary assist on a perfect feed in overtime, and an extraordinary hard-working secondary assist when he was hauled down by Niklas Hjalmarsson on a partial breakaway leading to Daniel’s third period marker. 

This is the end of the Canucks’ dads trip. It resulted in much adorableness, like this hug Eddie Lack received from his father after tonight’s game:

Lack, despite allowing a soft goal to Marian Hossa that tied the contest, had a solid outing. 37 of 41 shots isn’t great, but at he deserved to win a game in which he wasn’t lights out. He hasn’t received much in the way of goal support this season…

The Canucks will head home for a day off on Thursday before they host the Boston Bruins on Friday night. They’ll have to be in fine form lest they want to see Brad Marchand kiss the ring in a game that isn’t a blowout loss (no one wants to see that).