CanucksArmy Post-Game: Stars Shinin’ Bright
6 years ago
The Rundown
Tanev out for at least a week, Granlund potentially out for a month, Goldobin “travel issues” keeping him out of the lineup, but Boeser is back! Did The Flow help snap the four-game losing streak, or did the Canucks season continue to spiral out of control? Let’s see if the Canucks could take advantage of the Dallas Stars who played their third game in four days.
Puck Drop
The Canucks got started quickly with a great solo effort for Reid Boucher who pounced on an unsuspecting Dan Hamhuis, lifting his stick and executing a quick wrap around in one swift motion for the opening goal just two minutes into the game.
Hard to believe with hands and speed like this that this is only the seventh goal of the season for Jake Virtanen, this backhand five-hole goal is simply filthy. It appears JV18 has some newfound confidence, 2-0 Canucks.
Under two minutes later, Hutton started the play with one of his team-leading, 12 controlled zone exits which set-up the Sedins’ teaming up to get the puck to Thomas Vanek who unleashed yet another signature breakaway bomb to make it 3-0 Canucks. The sixteenth goal, trade stock UP!
I’ll miss Vanek as well; he’s been fun to watch this year! Unfortunately, a draft pick or prospect is more valuable than my entertainment.
As everyone was expecting, the Canucks were up 3-0 on the Stars after the first period while directing 26 shots at the net compared to 18 for Dallas. Perhaps Markstrom’s words following the loss in Carolina lit a fire under this seemingly dead team showing no signs of life. Or maybe the Canucks were taking advantage of a fatigued Dallas team who were playing their third game in four nights, probably a little bit both. Whatever it was, it was as inspired as this Travis Green led team has looked in a while!
Second Period
Like John Garrett, I was worried that the Canucks would sit back on the lead, but that wasn’t the case. The Canucks didn’t take the foot off the gas and continued to pound the Stars in the second period.
Off a broken entry on the power-play, Boeser recovered the puck and made a sweet through the legs dish to Bo Horvat who ripped it past Ben Bishop for his thirteenth goal of the season. The fourth goal would be the last Bishop would allow this afternoon, and he wasn’t happy it! Kari Lehtonen would take over for the rest of the game.
Ten minutes later, Virtanen would execute a rare combination of a controlled entry plus pass, setting up Michael Del Zotto for a point shot which was deflected by Boucher for his second of the game and as many on the season. It’d be nice to see plays like these more often from Virtanen. Heads up plays following zone entries will definitely help JV18 earn a few more shifts from coach Green. Let’s hope these distributions become a little more familiar, of all the regular Canucks forwards, Virtanen ranks last in shot attempt assists with a measly rate of 6.57 per hour.
Potentially the most significant Reid Boucher fan on Canucks twitter, Tyler Shipley loved the effort from the former fourth-round pick of the New Jersey Devils. Boucher had a monster of a game in his 15:33 of ice-time with two goals, eight 5-on-5 shot attempts, three primary shot attempt assists, for 11 total primary shot contributions at even strength. One heck of a game from the 24-year-old.
After 40 minutes, the Stars showed subtle signs of life taking over in shot attempts, up 40-38 while trailing 5-0.
Third Period
The uneventful third period did produce something memorable, at least for the newly signed Darren Archibald who picked up an assist and his first point in the NHL since 2013-14. Archibald just pushed the puck back to point following a face-off win from Brandon Sutter which led to Erik Gudbranson wristing it at the net, likely just hoping to create a rebound at best. However, Stars netminder, Lehtonen either didn’t see it or misread the pace of the shot, and it slipped through him to make it 6-0 Vancouver.
Today was a good day for the Canucks, a six spot on the scoreboard combined with a shutout and trade-stocks going up all over the place. Vanek scores, Gudbranson scores, and the team snapped an ugly four-game losing streak. The more efforts like this Green can squeeze out of this team before the trade deadline on Monday, February 26th the better!
Observations
- Another player who raised their value today was the defender, Ben Hutton. Hutton played 16:23 paired with Derrick Pouliot and had the top Corsi rating among blue-liners with a rate of 58.33%. In his limited playing time he also produced seven primary shot contributions (four shots, three assists) and had a 55% controlled exit rate, both were good for the team lead among Vancouver defenders. As the season progresses, Hutton’s playing time continued to decline, and he was even benched during the third period of last game. I feel as if this organization is on the fence with Hutton come the trade deadline, I don’t feel they’re actively shopping him, but if a team makes an offer that makes sense to them, they’ll pull the trigger. At this point, a change of scenery may be the best thing for his career, he’s apparently behind Michael Del Zotto on Green’s depth chart, and that a hard thing to do for left-handed defenders in the NHL. Should he stay or should he go now, what do you guys think?
- Sven Baertschi had a quiet game in his 19:38 of ice-time, he didn’t have a shot attempt and had only two primary shot assists while playing with the best forwards this organization has to offer. It’s going to be interesting seeing how everything plays out with Baertschi regarding his next contract. His counting stats are solid with 24 points in 46 games, but when you look under the hood, his underlying numbers tell a different story. His 8.64 shots/60 are hardly more than Alex Burmistrov was producing before he headed back to Russia, and his 9.35 shot assists are just over one more per hour than career fourth-liner, Nic Dowd is producing. This is slightly concerning at the very least, defining what exactly Sven Baertschi is and figuring out a number that works for both parties is going to be tricky business, I’d love to hear the discussion between agent and GM when the time comes.
- The Virtanen, Dowd, Boucher line clicked, what a game. The trio produced three goals, and all had a 57% share of shots or better while on the ice. Looking forward to seeing what these three can do when united again!
- Huge shout out to goaltender Jacob Markstrom, a brutal captain like honesty followed by a 30 save shutout against a strong Dallas team.
- The consistent Troy Stecher had a strong game this afternoon which is crucial as he was pretty down on himself earlier this week. His willingness to openly hold himself accountable is admirable, that said, I thought he was far too critical in his self-evaluation. So you had a bad game, every player in the league does on occasion, it’s okay! Watching Stecher develop this year has been one of the lone bright spots this season. Keep your head up Stech; you’re having a heck of a year!
- One final note, how the heck is Julius Honka not a regular for the Dallas Stars? The 22-year-old was one of few Dallas Stars I actually noticed today. #FreeHonka, or trade him to the Canucks, he’d look great beside fellow Finn, Olli Juolevi.
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