Canucks Rookies blown out by Oilers in Penticton Tournament Debut

Let the games begin! After months of having to deal with things that weren’t live hockey, the Vancouver Canucks hit the ice for their first game of the year! Well, sort of – the Canucks rookies suited up for their first game of the Young Stars tournament in Penticton. That’s still pretty cool, though; it’s a way to see the Canucks of the future beat up on the Oilers. Who doesn’t love that?

One problem, though…

The game didn’t exactly get off to a good start. Just three minutes after the opening faceoff, Braden Christoffer walked through a group of four Canucks and beat Clay Witt to open the scoring for the Oilers. Jake Virtanen was quick to liven things up by nearly killing Connor McDavid, but all that did was cause a lot of distraction for the remainder of the period.

Early in the second, Edmonton doubled up. This time, Josh Winquist found a way to escape the sights of every Canucks player and banged home a gimmie. Mackenze Stewart tried to shift the momentum by dropping the gloves with Michel Moroz, but two minutes later, Leon Draisatl’s attempt at a centreing pass found its way into the net to further Edmoton’s gaping lead.

Things got worse before they got better. With Dane Fox in the box, Connor McDavid set up Darnell Nurse for a wrist shot from the point, which also beat Witt (this.. happens a lot as the game progresses).

Late in the period, the Canucks finally got on the scoreboard. Brendan Gaunce entered the zone and ripped a wrister past Keven Bouchard and gave Vancouver a bit of hope going into the third period.

It did not work out as planned. Connor Rankin continued Edmonton’s wild ride with an unassisted goal two and a half minutes into the third period, and while Ben Hutton was able to bang in a pass from Gaunce, it was as close as the team would get. Anton Slepyshev and Connor McDavid took the Oilers’ lead from “sizable” to “blowout”, and brought the mood of Canucks fans from “pessimistic” to “crippling depression”. Kyle Platzer picked up a bouncing puck and ripped a wrister past Witt to bring the score to 8-2, but at that point, I think everybody had mentally checked out; including the fans watching on YouTube.

If these are the type of games that Jake Virtanen is capable of playing on a night-by-night basis, you can see why the Canucks decided to draft him as high as they did. He lead both teams with seven shots on goal, and was an absolute wrecking ball. He managed to distract the Oilers from actually playing hockey for a considerable period of time; once he stepped on the ice, everybody was either watching their backs or out for blood. Combine that with solid offensive play, and you have a potential game-changer.

It’s hard to give a defensive group any credit when they’re pumped for eight goals against, including many high-percentage scoring chances, but Jordan Subban looked very good. Always in position, always making quick decisions with the puck, and his early game tie up of Connor McDavid was, in my eyes, the most intelligent defensive play by the night.

Brendan Gaunce looked great with the puck. You’ll see in a second how he contributed to the nicest play made in the game, but his goal and his assist on Hutton’s goal were both nice heads up plays. Gaunce was the only player on the team to pick up multiple points.

This is a fantastic little play by Jake McCann and Brendan Gaunce; it’s almost Sedin-like. Unfortunately, this didn’t lead to a goal, but you can’t help but look forward to many of these moments in their futures.

Ben Hutton actually scored twice tonight; it’s just that his first goal was in the wrong net. Not his best moment.

The best thing for the Canucks to do is to let this one roll off their back and move forward. Blowouts aren’t exactly frequent occurrences, and while it would have been nice to see the team not give up in the way that they appeared to, we’re also talking about a group of teenagers in pre-pre-season tournament. Their next game is on Sunday – they’ll be taking on the Winnipeg Jets at 3PM.