Vancouver Canucks vs New York Islanders Post Game Recap: Party In New York Part 2

5 years ago

The Rundown

After losing 3 of their last 4 games (granted 2 of them in overtime), the Canucks came into Brooklyn on the second game of a back to back with a goal to right the ship. The New York Islanders would be a tough task; with Barry Trotz at the helm of this Islanders team, they would surely be a tough test for a Vancouver team that may be on their last legs. Elias Pettersson looked to break out of his mini slump, as he only had 2 points in his previous 4 games coming in, and some Canucks would need to find ways to help him out and contribute on offense.

1st Period

The Canucks came out swinging tonight, and a few minutes into the game a great cycle from the Bo Horvat line would lead to an early lead. Horvat would find Brendan Leipsic across the ice, and Leipsic would make no mistake to give the Canucks the 1-0 lead.

A few minutes after though, one of the worst goals allowed by Markstrom would even the score. Tom Kuhnhackl would sweep the puck towards the Canucks goal while on his back, and it’d find a hole short side to tie the game up at 1.

46 seconds after the Islanders tied the game, they’d find a way to take the lead. Mathew Barzal would find Josh Bailey, and Bailey would fire a pass off of Chris Tanev’s skate and in to help the Islanders take the lead. Tanev was interfered with by Anders Lee earlier in the play, and gave the referee a pretty stern look after.

Bailey’s goal off Tanev

The game would slow down a little bit when Ben Hutton would take a minor penalty for slashing. The Islanders power-play would get a couple of strong one-time looks, but Jakob Markstrom was there to shut the door and the Canucks would kill off the penalty. Right after, Elias Pettersson would steal the puck and get a quick shot off that would be handled fairly easily by Thomas Greiss.

13 minutes into the period, Canucks fans watching at home would see Coquitlam boy Barzal bomb down the ice with a great burst of speed, and then watch him pull off a slick spin move on Troy Stecher to open up a lane to feed Nelson, but Nelson fires the puck way wide.

A few minutes after Barzal’s dazzling display, the Islanders would take a 3-1 lead. Brock Nelson would beat Michael Del Zotto to a puck in the corner, and Stecher and Nikolay Goldobin lose Jordan Eberle in the slot, and Eberle would be left alone with the puck and make the Canucks pay in one foul motion.

The Canucks would get a chance late in the 1st, when Erik Gudbranson was tripped up by Andrew Ladd. The Canucks first power-play of the game would see some decent chances, but no goal would come of it and the period would come to a close with the score 3-1 for the home team.

2nd Period

The beginning of the second period started out promising, and Vancouver would get another power-play chance when the Islanders were caught with too many men on the ice. On their 2nd power-play, it’d be Jake Virtanen potting a goal over the goaltender Greiss to make it 3-2 3 minutes into the period. After seeing the goal Markstrom gave up earlier, this was sorely needed. #ShotgunJake

The road team would use the Virtanen goal as a spring board of sorts, and looked a lot more confident throughout the period. The Canucks would then be awarded their 3rd power-play of the game when Nelson caught Gudbranson with a high stick 9 minutes into the frame Good chance for the Canucks to tie the game up.

The power-play reverts to the form that had plagued the team throughout the road trip, and don’t see much offensive creativity. Mere moments after the penalty expired, Derrick Pouliot would head to the box for a high stick infraction of his own, and the Islanders would get their 2nd power-play of the night.

The Canucks penalty kill doesn’t break, and the Islanders don’t see any quality scoring chances come of their man advantage.

15 minutes into the period, and it’d be the Canucks who get their 4th power-play of the night when Leo Komarov triped Pettersson. The Canucks came a few inches from tying the game, as Virtanen nearly potted home his second goal but rang his shot off the post. The power-play would go by the wayside with the Canucks still trailing by one. Ultimately, that is how the second period would finish. Play opened up a bit, but the Canucks couldn’t find a way to tie it despite the fact they out-shot the Islanders 11-5 in the period.

3rd Period

Another goal would be scored before the 4 minute mark of a period, but it’d be the Islanders who extend their lead instead of the Canucks tying it up. Kuhnhackl would get his 2nd of the game with a controversial kicking motion. After review, the goal would stand and put the Canucks further behind the 8 ball.

The goal scored by the Islanders really took the wind out of the Canucks sails, and they didn’t muster any quality chances for most of the 3rd period. The second game in 2 nights looked like it was too much to overcome, especially after the Islanders opened up the game.

The Canucks would see themselves short handed halfway through the 3rd when Chris Tanev was forced to hook Ryan Pulock on a partial breakaway. Could’ve been called a penalty shot, but it wasn’t and the Canucks had to try and kill off the penalty. They do just that, and keep themselves within striking distance with half a period to play.

15:30 minutes in Virtanen would be called for a double minor for a high stick to the face of Thomas Hickey. On the Islanders 4th power-play opportunity of the game they’d strike. Cal Clutterbuck of all players snapped home a wrister in the slot to make it 5-2 and put the game out of reach.

The Canucks would kill off the second of the double minors, but they don’t find any more goals and fall to the Islanders 5-2.

Advanced Stats

Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com

Wrap Up

Rough 2 games in New York for the Canucks, and they didn’t have a strong 3rd period tonight. Couple of quick notes from tonight’s game.

Jakob Markstrom allowed the worst goal of the season so far for a Canuck goaltender on Kuhnhackl’s first of the game. After he saw his team give him an early lead, to give one up like that was painful to watch. Other than the gaffe he didn’t have a bad game, but this one will be remembered for that first goal against.

Goldobin’s ice time was drastically cut midway through the game, and when the team was trailing as they were I don’t see how this was a positive move by Travis Green. I understand he tried to light a spark under a player, but with so many offensive weapons out of the lineup, tonight was the wrong time to try and sit someone like Goldobin down while the team was fighting from behind. Goldobin does have to keep his consistency up, but he’s also one of the most creative. Wrong player to bench tonight.

Jake Virtanen… what a start to the season for the Abbotsford born beauty. 8 goals already and we’re not even halfway through November. He’s getting goals in all sorts of ways, and being rewarded with time in the top 6. Another player who was shown a lot of tough love from Travis Green, and with the way Virtanen played tonight, and has played throughout the road trip, it gives me hope that Goldobin will figure it out too.

One more game on this road trip for the Canucks, hopefully they finish the trip 2-2-2 in Minneapolis on Thursday.

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