Vancouver Canucks vs Detroit Red Wings Postgame Report: Miller and Edler shine on PP1

The Canucks were riding a wave of success at home as they took on the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night at the Rog. This matchup was once again met with anticipation as the Canucks took to the ice for only the fifth time this season. The season comes fast and furious once the month turns over to November but for now the Canucks have a well rested team with multiple days between games.

As the backup took to the ice for the Canucks tonight in goal I will be doing the same here at CanucksArmy for the postgame wrap-up, I’ve studied up on the other writers postgame reports but I am warning you now that mine may be a tad different and will also include some “In Other News” section for every article. So without further ado, here’s my first go at the driver’s seat.

The first period began with a quick goal for the opposing team as Alex Edler and Bo Horvat had a defensive letdown that left Thatcher Demko hanging and it looked like the Red Wings were off to a great start. That didn’t last long, as the Canucks began piling up shots and controlling the pace of play with ease against what looked like a less skilled Red Wings team.

The Canucks defencemen were able to control the puck very well for the most part against the forechecking from the opposition. The pairing of Troy Stecher and Jordie Benn looked especially potent at transitioning the puck up the ice and it showed as Stecher was in the right place to receive a Jake Virtanen spin-o-rama pass that was 100% intended for Troy from Richmond.

The second powerplay unit had a slight change that shocked many Canucks fans and that was the addition of Brandon Sutter. Ferland seemed to be the odd man out on a second unit that I had really enjoyed so far allongside Pearson and Horvat. Part of the reason I liked this unit was because they would all crash the net so hard and having Tyler Myers and Quinn Hughes as the point men made a real nice combination with the net crashing trio.

That second unit could use revamping, but after the performance from the first unit it looks as things will be set for a few games with the same 5 players.

That first unit was exactly where Alex Edler was when he scored a powerplay goal that was helped by the double screen that Bo Horvat and JT Miller created. Edler has generally been Green’s go-to guy on the man advantage, and his performance tonight did nothing to dissuade him from going back to that well.

Brock Boeser went to work in the second period as he collected three assists in the middle frame, the aforementioned Edler was also all over the scoresheet and contributed with 3 points in the game.

JT Miller was tonight’s first star for good reason, he scored two powerplay goals and was a major piece in the powerplay unit being able to score 3 goals in only 2:55 of powerplay time for the first unit of Edler, Pettersson, Miller, Horvat and Boeser.

All eyes were on Thatcher Demko tonight as Always90Four wrote in the pregame Tuesday morning. Demko let in the early goal on a tough open break for Dylan Larkin 30 seconds into the game. Demko was only tested 24 times but he saved every single one of them after the early goal against. He had a few nice saves early in the third period when the Red Wings were on a 5 on 3 powerplay but for the most part it was a quiet night for the young netminder.

The final takeaway from tonight’s game is that the first powerplay unit can explode on any given day. Bo Horvat won 4 of 5 faceoffs in the offensive zone and although he was left off the scoresheet tonight, his unit was able to succeed in scoring some quick goals with two from Miller and one from Edler at the point. Elias Pettersson had two primary assists on the powerplay tonight and if this team can depend on their great special teams all season long they will be in a playoff position come April.

5on5 Corsi % provided by NaturalStatTrick

The Vancouver radio scene has changed a lot since the introduction to Sportsnet AM650, they came in hot with the rights to the Canucks radio broadcasts and now have made a handful of cuts that resulted in job losses. Jawn Jang, Cam Mitchell, Kellan Tochkin and Rick Dhaliwal will no longer be a part of Sportsnet650 as per Patrick Johnston of the Province.

It’s always a sad day to see someone lose their job and it is especially tough to see someone like Rick lose their job, he does an amazing job reporting on the Canucks and his scoops will be missed by the Rogers company. These decisions are frustrating for myself as I have been friends with Rick for over a year now and he has helped me build my contacts and has taught me how to get scoops. Cam and I have also had conversations and he was generous enough to take me through the radio business last time I was at the SN650 studio.

Canuck fans are already up in arms about the cuts and have begun trashing Rogers and Sportsnet for their recent cuts.

Rick and Jawn have sent tweets out to thank everyone for their support over the two years of SN650.

In some more positive radio news Tuesday night marked the return of RobFaiNation on TSN1040. The late night sports talk show in my opinion is the most fun radio show out there, Rob understands that the Vancouver market is dominated by Canucks talk and you will find a lot of that on Rob Fai Nation but he is also the play by play voice of the Vancouver Canadians and an avid wrestling fan.

Come for the sports talk, stay for the shirtless callers and bar stories with Rob Fai on TSN1040.