Vancouver Canucks vs Detroit Red Wings Post Game Recap: Shot Out Of The Sky

5 years ago

The Rundown

After what was one of the most exhilarating Vancouver Canucks games in recent memory, the boys went back out east for their second 6 game road trip of the season. Tonight, it’d be a date with the Detroit Red Wings who had started to turn the corner as of late before they lost in their last outing. Brock Boeser would not play, but Chris Tanev returned for the Canucks who looked to make it 4 in a row.

1st Period

The Canucks came out with a purpose right from the opening puck drop, and peppered Detroit starter Jimmy Howard early and often. It’d take 3 minutes before the Red Wings could get one shot on the board, while Vancouver had 4. That would be the tone set for the period.

5 minutes in, the Canucks first prime scoring chance would be Loui Eriksson on a breakaway with Dylan Larkin right on his heels. Eriksson’s shot would be turned aside by the blocker of Howard to keep things knotted at 0.

The Canucks would get a mini reward for their offensive zone time 8 minutes in. Bo Horvat had the puck in the corner and was struck by a high stick by Detroit defender Danny DeKeyser.

Vancouver’s best chance of the power-play would see golden rookie Elias Pettersson whiff on a one-timer. Only 1 shot on the power-play and it wouldn’t be a goal. 30 seconds after Jakob Markstrom would have to make 2 huge saves to keep the game tied.

The Canucks would finally be rewarded on the scoreboard for all their shots. Pettersson would hit double digits in goals in just his 10th game of the year… No description necessary, just watch the shot he unleashed to beat Howard.

Magnificent, 1-0 Canucks 13:30 minutes into the 1st.

The Red Wings had a good chance a bit later in the period. Off a Derrick Pouliot turnover (These happen a lot), the Wings would work the puck around to Martin Frk, who’d beat Markstrom short side but ring it off the iron. After a face-off, it’d be Darren Archibald with a partial-breakaway of his own but he couldn’t slide the puck past the toe of Jimmy Howard. The period would see the Canucks pound the Red Wings in the shot column 17-7, but they only led by 1 heading into the second period.

2nd Period

The Canucks again come out of the gates hard, which kept the Red Wings on their toes. Howard had to make a couple of acrobatic stops which kept Vancouver from extending their lead.

5:30 minutes in, it looked as if the Red Wings had tied the game, but a goal by Martin Frk is waived off as after Travis Green’s challenge determined that Frk was quite offside so the game would remain 1-0 Vancouver. It would take another minute and a half (7 minutes into the period) for the Red Wings to register their first shot of the 2nd period. 30 seconds after their first shot, the Red Wings would get their first power-play after Erik Gudbranson clipped Larkin with a high stick.

The Red Wings would fail to capitalize after a big stop by Markstrom. A few minutes later, it’d be Ben Hutton who’d snap a wrister through traffic and past Howard to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill would challenge the goal, but his challenge would be unsuccessful, and because of that the Red Wings would have to serve a minor penalty.

The Canucks power-play struggled, and didn’t muster much of anything on their man advantage. Mere moments later, Adam Gaudette would be sent to the box for holding after he took down Darren Helm. It’d only take 14 seconds for the Red Wings to strike. Justin Abdelkader would find the puck in the slot and rifle a wrist shot over the glove of Markstrom to make it 2-1.

The period would wind down and come to a close with the Canucks still ahead 2-1, but Detroit had started to wake up after struggling through the first half of the game.

3rd Period

The Canucks were unable to hold the 3rd period lead for long, as only a minute and a half in the Red Wings would tie the game off of a Gustav Nyquist shot bouncing off of Troy Stecher’s skate and into the back of the net. 2-2 with lots of time remaining.

One of the best chances in the period would follow just a minute later when Tim Schaller rang a tap in off the post after a beautiful feed from Horvat. Would’ve been a great response from Vancouver.

2 minutes later, it’d be the Red Wings who’d have their best chance at taking a 3rd period lead. Dekeyser hit the post on a slap-shot, and the puck came right to Larkin alone on the short side with a wide open net. However, to the relief of Canucks fans, he missed the wide open cage and the game remained tied at 2.

Goldobin would take a high stick to the face from Mike Green, and this would send the Canucks to their 3rd and final power-play of the game. Put it bluntly, they looked brutal and couldn’t generate any quality scoring chances. Quite frankly, that’d be it for action in the 3rd period. While both teams had some moments, there wasn’t any amazing scoring chances or jaw dropping 3rd period moments that bring out the best of either team. Both teams played like they were running out of gas, and these teams would have to settle this one in overtime.

Overtime/Shootout

To make up for a lackluster 3rd period, there were a couple of quality chances in overtime. Nikolay Goldobin had a quiet game, but him and Pettersson had the best chance for Vancouver in the extra frame. 2 minutes in, Pettersson and Goldobin came in on a 2 on 1. Pettersson held onto the puck, and ripped it past Howard’s glove but off the crossbar. On the other end, it’d be Nyquist vying for his 2nd of the game only to be robbed by the glove of Jakob Markstrom with under a minute to go. With both teams failing to score, this one would need a shootout to decide it. The only goal scorer in the shootout was Dylan Larkin in the 1st round. The Detroit Red Wings completed the comeback and beat the Canucks 3-2…

Advanced Stats

Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com

Wrap Up

A tough game for the Canucks to lose on the road, but still some positives to take out of it.

Elias Pettersson has another highlight reel goal, and shows no signs of slowing down… at all. Like the kid is unreal, and gives everyone a reason to watch every game.

Ben Hutton had another good game, and potted his 3rd goal of the season. For someone everyone was down on at the end of last year (myself included), this has been the best story of the season not named Pettersson for me. Hutton has proved to be the best of the 3 left side defense-men not named Alex Edler, and could be around for a few more years even with Juolevi and Hughes breaking in if he keeps playing like this.

Jakob Markstrom can’t be faulted for any of the goals tonight, and kept his team in it late in the 3rd. In a game that seemed to be slipping from the Canucks in the 3rd period, they needed Markstrom to carry them to just 1 point tonight, and he did.

Now, this team still lost after being up by 2. Biggest downfall tonight was their special teams. The Canucks went 0 for 3 on the power-play and let Detroit get a power-play goal of their own. Digging a little deeper (not too much tonight, started this late) and you could just see the whole look of the power-play was off with Boeser out of the lineup.

Not much else to put other then this team let one slip away from them. Back to the drawing board for our boys before their next game.

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