New York Rangers vs Vancouver Canucks Post Game Recap
By Cole Marton
5 years agoThe Rundown
Quintin Hughes finally arrived in Vancouver yesterday, but unfortunately for the fans that went to the game tonight, he didn’t make his NHL debut. However, on Hockey Is For Everyone night, fans found out Loui Eriksson was scratched for the first time as a member of the Vancouver Canucks as the boys got set to take on the New York Rangers. Markus Granlund slotted back in on the 4th line in Eriksson’s usual spot, and Chris Tanev returned to the lineup as well after missing the last 11 games. That wasn’t the only change on defense, as Derrick Pouliot was scratched in favor of Guillaume Brisebois.
Jakob Markstrom got the start in net as he tried to rebound after getting pulled for the first time all season in his last start. The full lineup for the Canucks tonight went like this.
The Canucks also came into tonight having played the last 6 games without ever holding the lead… A streak they looked to break as they attempted to bounce back from a terrible performance against the Vegas Golden Knights in their own building.
1st Period
The first whistle of the game happened quickly, as just 7 seconds in Antoine Roussel was hit up high by the stick of Tony DeAngelo. The Canucks power-play was still without Hughes, but they had a great opportunity early in the game to take an early lead.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but the Canucks power-play remained awful, and aside from one shot by Alex Edler, never really set up at all. Looked like 2 empty minutes of hockey before the game returned to 5 on 5.
The Rangers dominated possession for the next few minutes, but it was the Canucks who got the next quality scoring chance around the 5-minute mark. After a stretch pass just missed Brock Boeser, the puck came to Josh Leivo who took a harmless shot on goal. Henrik Lundqvist made the first stop and was forced to make a tough second stop on Adam Gaudette who nearly stuffed home the rebound.
Gaudette kept up his strong first period, and around the 9-minute mark he skated into the Rangers zone, made a nice toe drag to free up some space and took a nice shot towards Lundqvist, but Lundqvist was there to make the save.
A minute later, Roussell made an awful pass through the middle of the Canucks zone that was intercepted by Chris Kreider, but Markstrom was there to bail out his teammate. After the game Markstrom had versus the Knights, it was nice to see him come up big with the point-blank stop.
The game didn’t get much better for the Canucks, as they were absolutely dominated territorially for the next 5 minutes, and they really struggled with their breakouts throughout the first period.
The Canucks got their best chance of the period around the 18:30 mark of the frame. Ashton Sautner came down the left wing and put a harmless shot on goal that Lundqvist stopped easily. The rebound popped right out in front and was picked up by Tyler Motte who tried to go around the goaltender and stuff it home. Unfortunately, he just missed and hit the side of the goal.
The period came to a close with the score tied at 0. The Canucks looked pretty brutal for the first 15 minutes of the period but had a couple of nice flash in the pan scoring chances throughout. If they could fix their breakout, and get the puck up to their forwards better throughout the remaining 40 minutes, they stood a much better chance.
2nd Period
The 2nd period started off slow for both teams, as a Boeser shot was the only one through the first 4 minutes of play for either side.
A terrible scene for Canucks fan followed 30 seconds later, as Elias Pettersson got hit in the jaw by a spinning elbow from Kreider. Kreider was given a 5-minute major penalty for elbowing, and the Canucks went to their 2nd power-play of the game.
A minute into the power-play and the Canucks nearly opened the scoring. Gaudette continued his strong game and made a great pass into the middle to a streaking Tanner Pearson. Pearson tried to snipe one past Lundqvist, but Lundqvist kicked the shot to the side and kept the game scoreless.
Another minute after the Pearson chance and the Canucks took the lead for the first time in 7 games. Leivo received a feed from Bo Horvat and promptly made a beautiful no-look pass to Boeser who was sitting right on the left face-off dot. Boeser made no mistake, and ripped it over the shoulder of Lundqvist to give the Canucks the lead 6 minutes in.
A few minutes later, and still on the power-play the Canucks nearly gave up their lead after another brutal turnover in their own end. This time, it was Troy Stecher with the errant pass right to Ryan Strome, but again Markstrom was there to shut the door.
The Canucks power-play expired without another goal, but they scored right after for the 2-0 lead. Edler made a beautiful stretch pass to Motte for a breakaway, and Motte again tried to put the puck around Lundqvist. This time, he succeeded for his 8th goal of the season.
11 seconds after Motte scored, he scored again! Roussel started the play and drove to the front of the Rangers goal before he was hit from behind by Brendan Lemieux. The puck squirted back to the top of the slot right to Motte, who wound up and fired a shot top corner over Lundqvist for his 2nd goal of the game. Lemieux was given another 5-minute major on the play, and the Canucks went right back to the power-play for another 5 minutes.
The Canucks weren’t able to capitalize on their 2nd 5-minute power-play, as they dropped to 1 for 4 on the man advantage, however, they had some more good looks as the power-play was strong through the 2nd period.
17 minutes into the period, the Canucks took their first penalty of the game when Pearson was called for hooking.
A minute into the power-play, Jay Beagle got entangled with Vladislav Namestnikov right in the slot in the Vancouver zone. Beagle was getting in Namestnikov’s face after Namestnikov hit Leivo in his mid section a minute earlier. Both players were given coincidental minors.
The Canucks killed off the Rangers power-play, and the period came to a close with the Canucks up by 3. A crazy period of hockey to watch. On one hand, it was good to see the Canucks came out of the 2nd with the 3 goal lead. On the other hand, 2 major penalties in 1 period against the same team right after each other? Almost as bizarre as the 7-minute power-play the Canucks had to kill off all those years ago… The Canucks still had 20 minutes to play as they looked to close out the win.
3rd Period
The Canucks kept up their strong play from the 2nd period, and 2 minutes into the 3rd they drew their 6th power-play of the game when Kevin Shattenkirk was forced to hook Granlund right by the Rangers goal.
The Canucks 6th power-play looked more like their first one of the game and didn’t generate much of anything. It also only lasted 1:30 seconds, because Leivo got called for interference after he got entangled with Namestnikov as he went off for a line change.
Things went from bad to worse for the Canucks, as right as 4 on 4 expired Stecher got called for a hook on the Rangers Brady Skjei, who almost blew right by the Richmond, BC native for a chance on Markstrom. The Canucks were now 2 men down for 1:30, and needed a strong penalty kill performance.
The home fans got just that, as the 3 man penalty kill unit was fantastic and kept the Rangers to the outside for the majority of the 1:30. They killed off the Leivo penalty, and ultimately killed off the Stecher penalty with ease to see the Rangers power-play drop to 0 for 3.
Wasn’t the last time the Canucks were shorthanded in the period however, as around the 10:30 minute mark Edler got called for interfering with Jesper Fast in the neutral zone. The Rangers went to their 3rd power-play of the period as they looked to find some sort of answer to the strong play of Markstrom.
The Rangers 4th power-play of the game finally broke through, and they cut the deficit by 1. The Canucks failed to clear the zone a minute into the power-play, and the puck found itself on the stick of Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad made a nice saucer pass over to Pavel Buchnevic who snapped a shot over the glove of Markstrom for the power-play tally.
The Rangers came on strong around the 13-minute mark of the period, and Markstrom needed to make a couple of nice stops to preserve the 2 goal lead. The Canucks still led by 2 with just 5 minutes left to play, as the Canucks inched closer to the win.
The Rangers decided to pull their goaltender with 3 minutes remaining in the period, and the Canucks were up to the task. Motte was on the ice for 2 of the final 3 minutes and fanned on a chance right in front of the empty Rangers goal as he failed to complete the hat-trick. The Canucks did get an empty netter, as Jake Virtanen, in his 200th game and 2nd game back after his injury scored to make it 4-1. That was the final, as Vancouver bounced back after a tough loss and beat the Rangers handily at home.
Also, as far as goal calls go, this one was beautiful.
Advanced Stats
Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com
Wrap Up
The Canucks needed a win like this after a rough stretch of games saw them play from behind in the previous 6. They took the lead tonight, extended it and never looked back against a Rangers team that shot themselves in the foot after a few brutal penalties basically stole a period away from themselves.
One of the keys for the Canucks in this game was the adjustment made by a couple of the young defenders after a tough first period. Sautner and Brisebois struggled to move the puck up the ice in the 1st, and while they didn’t get a ton of ice time in the 2nd, I thought they were much better in the 3rd period. The whole defense bent, but they didn’t break and gave the team the opportunity to capitalize when the Rangers became undisciplined. It did highlight the need for a defender like Quinn Hughes in their lineup, however, as the lack of a true puck mover almost sunk the ship early for the Canucks.
That Hughes line leads right into the next key to this game, which was Jakob Markstrom. Markstrom rebounded from a rough game against Vegas with a strong game tonight against the Rangers. While he wasn’t overly busy and didn’t need to ‘steal’ this game, he needed to keep the Canucks in it through the first period when they were getting out-played. He made a few key stops on Kreider and Strome and made a sneaky strong poke-check to clear the zone on the long 5 on 3 penalty kill. He was also strong for the few minutes in the 3rd when the Rangers were searching for their 2nd goal. For all the doubters out there, this game was another sign that Markstrom has really turned the corner. He was great when the Canucks needed him tonight, and helped lead the boys to the victory.
Tyler Motte had himself a game, and was the best Canucks forward in a game where a lot of players played well. He utilized his speed on his first goal, and scored a goal-scorers goal on his 2nd with fantastic shot placement to put it past Lundqvist. Ignoring his 2 goals, Motte had a number of other quality scoring chances at every point in this hockey game, and I was quite disappointed when he fanned on his hat-trick opportunity with a minute to go in the game. Other notable players from tonight’s game include Gaudette, Horvat, and Edler.
All in all, another slow start didn’t hamstring the boys tonight, as they were able to take control in the second and never wavered. A confidence booster to the kids as the Canucks play out the season. Their next game is at home against the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. 
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