Vancouver Canucks vs Minnesota Wild Post Game Recap: Lost In The Wilderness

5 years ago

The Rundown

The Vancouver Canucks arrived in Minnesota tonight for the last game of their second 6 game road trip of the season. The team had gone 1-2-2 over the past 5 games and wanted to try and win their last game to feel good before they head back home. In their way, the Wild looked to beat down on a weary team in the midst of their first slump of the season. Richard Bachman would get the start in net, and the Canucks needed to play their hardest in front of a netminder who hasn’t played since late October.

1st Period

A great first 5 minutes for the Canucks see them push the pace and keep the Wild off the shot-clock, but the good times don’t last much longer than that and the Wild see Charlie Coyle receive a great flip pass from Jonas Brodin and making Bachman look foolish to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.

The faceoff right after the goal, Darren Archibald would hit Jordan Greenway with a high stick to send the Wild to their 1st power-play of the game. It would be late in the man advantage, but the Wild would strike again. Bachman would come out of his net to play the puck, but he passed it right to Mikko Koivu who promptly deposited the puck into an empty net to make it 2-0 Minnesota 7:30 into the game.

Bachman would make a nice breakaway stop on Koivu a few minutes later, as he tried to salvage his confidence and give the Canucks a chance to win, and the Canucks would get a power-play opportunity a little over halfway through the period when Nino Niederreiter interfered with Erik Gudbranson. The Canucks power-play was downright putrid, and they would see their power-play and any hope of building momentum vanish.

Bo Horvat decided he’d had enough and tried to get the Canucks going when he threw a huge hit on Matt Dumba. It seemed to have done something when a minute later Elias Pettersson would draw a penalty as he drove to the front of the net. Brodin took the penalty, and the Canucks would attempt to tie it up late. Again, the Canucks power-play looked lost and they would see their power-play drop to 0 for 2.

Bachman was saved by the refs 18:30 minutes into the period when he couldn’t hang onto a rebound but the play was blown dead. That play summed up his period, and the Canucks would see themselves down by 2 as they tried to rebound in the latter 2 periods.

2nd Period

Only 40 seconds into the second and the Wild would get their 2nd power-play of the game. Ben Hutton tripped Eric Staal right at the Wild’s bench, and Minnesota would strike again on the power-play. Niederreiter would deflect a Koivu pass far side past Bachman a minute into their power-play for the 3-0 lead.

The Canucks counter attack almost led to a goal, but after a nifty Pettersson drop pass Michael Del Zotto would put his shot off the crossbar just like he did versus the New York Rangers, and the road team would still trail by 3.

Would take a couple minutes, but the Canucks would get another power-play opportunity when Goldobin would be interfered with by Jordan Greenway. 6:30 minutes had gone in the period before Horvat got the first shot on goal for the Canucks. The first shot would end up being the first goal as the puck would squeak by a surprised Devan Dubnyk to make it 3-1.

36 seconds later and the Wild would regain their 3 goal lead. Eric Staal would come in and try to make a pass across the ice. Gudbranson would block the pass, but Staal would grab the puck back, skate around the goal and bank the puck in off a sprawled Bachman to make it 4-1.

The Canucks woes would sadly continue, as around the 13-minute mark the Wild would score again. Dumba wound up and fired a cannon of a shot past Bachman, who got tangled up with Del Zotto, and it’d be 5-1 for the Wild.

Goldobin would draw another penalty late in the period when Mikhael Granlund was forced to interfere with him in front of the net. Canucks would get their 4th power-play and do nothing with it. The boys trailed the Wild by 4 as they got ready for the 3rd period.

3rd Period

A positive note in a game full of negativity, this team didn’t quit. The Canucks came out with pace and energy and got some pretty quality chances to kickstart themselves in the final frame. A notable chance from Adam Gaudette would be stopped, and quickly after Brendan Leipsic would be hit up high by the stick of Eric Fehr to grant the Canucks their 5th man advantage. Unfortunately, the early momentum was erased by another poor power-play, and the Canucks still trailed by 4.

5:30 minutes in, and it’d become 6-1 for the Wild. Staal makes a great pass across the ice to Jason Zucker, and Zucker’s fantastic wrist shot beats Bachman on the glove side.

26 seconds late it’d be a quick strike goal for Vancouver. Markus Granlund would fight his way to a rebound and put it home to make it 6-2.

Some more good pressure from a Vancouver team that trailed by 4, and they’d receive their 6th power-play after Zucker put the puck out of play in his own zone. This one was probably the best run power-play of the game for Vancouver, but they can’t put another goal past Dubnyk.

That power-play was the last real chance for either team, as this game coasted to the end. A tough way to finish the road trip as the Canucks lost to the Wild 6-2.

Advanced Stats

Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com

Wrap Up

There wasn’t a lot of good in this game for Vancouver. They looked like a team that played the 6th game of their 2nd eastern road trip of the season.

Bachman did not provide adequate goaltending tonight, and that was unfortunately expected. There were some goals he had little to no chance on, but even the way he played throughout was poor. He didn’t look comfortable, couldn’t control his rebounds and looked lost for a majority of the game. Simply put, he looked like a goalie that hadn’t played in weeks.

I loved the heart this team showed, even as they got pounded tonight. For as brutal as they played at times, they always kept trying to get back in it and put their best foot forward when they could. For a team that looked lifeless a majority of the game, they found ways to put in some good shifts even when they trailed by more than 3. It was unfortunate but they didn’t have the legs to compete with the Wild tonight.

Horvat scored and put himself into a tie for the league lead in away goals tonight. He continued to impress and found a way to breathe some life onto the bench all while taking critical faceoffs at all points throughout.

Lastly, it was nice to see Gaudette get an assist on the power-play, as he’s been the guy I’ve seen learn the most from Horvat so far this year.

That’s all she wrote for the road trip. The Canucks went 1-3-2, but hopefully, lessons were learned along the way for Travis Green’s squad.

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