CanucksArmy Post-Game: Tank Buster
By J.D. Burke
6 years agoThe Rundown
The Canucks are winning hockey games all of a sudden — great timing. Coming into today’s match with the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, the Canucks came out with the ‘w’ in four of their last five games. They’re getting hot, to the chagrin of #TeamTank.
Meanwhile, the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the hottest teams in the NHL post-trade deadline, and thanks in no short part to the addition of former Canuck Thomas Vanek at that. They’d won 12 of their 15 games in March before today.
Something had to give.
With the flu ravaging the Canucks’ lineup and forcing Thatcher Demko into the spotlight for his first NHL start, it seemed like that something would be Vancouver.
Canucks Lose Three-Goal Lead, Win the Game in Overtime
With a rookie goaltender making his first start in front of a team battling illness throughout the lineup, this had the makings of a blowout. With the Columbus Blue Jackets on the power play early, defenceman Seth Jones scored his 16th goal of the season, good for a tie in first among defencemen. It felt like the Blue Jackets were well on their way to confirming those fears (hopes?).
The Blue Jackets kept pushing in the first, but with the help of the post, Demko was able to withstand the barrage and keep the Canucks in this hockey game.
Demko’s teammates would reward that effort with a hot start to the middle frame. Darren Archibald scored just before the halfway mark, assisted by Ashton Sautner (his first NHL point), on a short side shot that beat Joonas Korpisalo. Minutes later, Nikolay Goldobin finished a tic-tac-toe passing play between himself and Jussi Jokinen with a one-timer goal five-hole for his sixth of the year.
The Canucks continued their onslaught in the third period. Jokinen scored his fourth goal of the season and notched his eighth point in eleven games to pad the Canucks lead, and Bo Horvat wasn’t far behind with a great goal in transition with a setup from, you guessed it, Jokinen.
The Blue Jackets weren’t undone, though. They made a furious comeback effort — the type you’d expect by a team frightened by the proposition of an angry head coach in John Tortorella. It’s safe to say everyone is going to try and avoid this if at all possible.
Blue Jackets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois started the party with just under four minutes left in regulation, scoring a power play goal. Little over two minutes later, Zach Werenski got the Blue Jackets within one; then 16 seconds later, Cam Atkinson scored the tying goal with a blown coverage at the side of the Canucks’ net giving him all the time and space necessary to do so.
That comeback was short-lived. It took the Canucks less than a minute and a half in overtime to get the win, as Alexander Edler, on a two-on-one with Sam Gagner, looked pass for a solid handful of seconds before sealing the 5-4 win in overtime.
The Numbers
Quick Hits
- With today’s win, the Canucks are in 27th place. That gives them about an eight percent chance of landing Rasmus Dahlin and about a one-in-four chance of landing a top-three pick. It’s getting ugly for #TeamTank. Then again, coaches and players don’t tank. Can’t get mad at the Canucks. The teams they’re playing that are letting this happen? Yeah, they deserve all your fury.
- Nikolay Goldobin is having one hell of a turnaround. With his goal in today’s game, Goldobin is producing at nearly a 30-point pace over an 82-game season. That’s better than Jake Virtanen. The best part to see here is that Goldobin isn’t benefitting from inflated percentages; he’s legitimately playing better hockey, and the results reflect that. This could turn into Canucks head coach Travis Green’s best development story of the season — it’s possible.
- The Canucks had one player today leave the game with a positive on-ice shot attempt differential. That player? Ashton Sautner. I’ve liked his game with the Canucks. He keeps it simple and doesn’t chase hits. He’s playing like a reliable bottom-pair defenceman. If Sautner can sustain this over a long enough sample, that would be quite the find by the Canucks scouting staff.
- Demko didn’t paint a Picasso with his effort today, but he got the win. I don’t know if I’d blame him for any of the goals that beat him, either. There were a number of ten-bell saves I do remember, too. This kid deserves a tonne of credit for bouncing back after an early first goal and holding the fort when the Blue Jackets were clearly outplaying the Canucks. The future in net seems bright.
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