Instant Reaction: Secondary scoring shines in Canucks’ win over sputtering Oilers
By Dave Hall
8 months agoWelcome back to Instant Reaction — the series here at CanucksArmy where we bring you our instant reaction from every Vancouver Canucks game and encourage our readers to do the same in the comments section below! Cody Severtson is writing The Stanchies tonight and those will be posted later this evening. The Statsies — CanucksArmy’s analytics-based post game report by Mike Liu will be posted tomorrow morning.
Canucks hockey on a Monday night? Sure, why not?!
Well, after the first 10 minutes, it sure felt like the team had a case of the Mondays, finding themselves down 1-0 and outshot by a 20-2 margin. Ugly stuff.
Credit the Edmonton Oilers, who certainly came out looking like they were on a mission to turn their 2-7-1 record — soon to be 2-8-1 — around.
We were all thinking the same thing: thank goodness for Thatcher Demko.
For the second game in a row, he not only kept his team in the game in the early stages but made several key saves to prevent them from falling into a deep hole.
Sure, Mattias Ekholm got one by him, but no one was stopping that shot.
The lead wouldn’t last long.
As he does, and has all season, Quinn Hughes put the team on his back and said, “Don’t worry, guys. I got this”, tying the game up with a lucky redirection off of a skate to kick-start a wild stretch for his Vancouver Canucks.
Over the next 3 minutes.
1-1.
2-1.
3-1.
After all the momentum built by the Oilers, it was all for naught and the Canucks would commence their dismantling of a struggling Oilers team for the remaining 47 minutes.
The Canucks are on a roll as of late, as winners of four straight games and now sporting a 5-0-1 record at home.
Obviously, the club’s top stars are doing their part and producing points at will.
However, it’s the contributions from the bottom six that have been truly refreshing. Over their last four games, since the last time the Canucks had lost a match, we have seen the following totals:
Pius Suter – three goals in as many games
Dakota Joshua – Assists in back-to-back games
Sam Lafferty – four points (2G + 2A) in as many games
Anthony Beauvillier – four points (2G + 2A) in as many games.
Nils Höglander – One goal.
Conor Garland – One assist
Dakota Joshua – Assists in back-to-back games
Sam Lafferty – four points (2G + 2A) in as many games
Anthony Beauvillier – four points (2G + 2A) in as many games.
Nils Höglander – One goal.
Conor Garland – One assist
Now that’s secondary production.
I saw a statistic today that sparked my interest, and it’s fitting that the Canucks have been enjoying an influx of secondary scoring.
Let’s face it, you need superstars, and you need them to produce for you.
However, it’s simply impossible to go all the way leaning on that single avenue. No, championship teams need a full buy-in and have the entire team firing on all cylinders.
Well, right now, they are getting contributions from everywhere.
Whether it is goaltending, from either tandem option, their blueline, superstars or members of their bottom-six, everyone is chipping in and is cohesively working towards wins.
And we are seeing that with a 9-2-1 record on the year.
Sure, the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks are one thing.
But the Dallas Stars and now the Edmonton Oilers (three times), that’s a whole different ball game.
With the win, the Canucks’ take the series against the Oilers, winning three-out-four matches. They now carry a 14-point gap between the two and sit comfortably in third place league-wide.
Okay, who had that on their bingo cards this time last month?
Additional thoughts
- With a point in the final minute of the game, Elias Pettersson officially takes the league-wide scoring lead with 21 points.
- Quin Hughes grabs another four-point night. That’s his fourth game in which he has put up three or more points in a single game. He shares a spot in second place, with his brother, with 20 points on the year.
- Filip Hronek extends his point streak to seven games, with 10 points in that span. He’s on pace for 82 points right now and sits third among defenceman scoring.
- Thatcher Demko now holds the league lead in wins (7) and has allowed more than two goals in a single game just once this season. This is starting to get Vezina-worthy.
- Nils Höglander had one of his best periods in the NHL in the first and found his third of the year in the second. He finished second among the forward group in 5v5 CF% (50.00%). He’s been an Oiler killer and is up to 12 career points against the Oilers
- I don’t think enough can be said for the refreshing new approach to the club’s power play. It’s amazing what a little movement can do.
The Canucks head out on a three-game Eastern Canada road swing, with their next game this Thursday at 4:00 PM against the Ottawa Senators.
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