Vancouver Canucks vs New York Rangers Post Game Recap: Party In New York Part 1
By Cole Marton
5 years agoThe Rundown
The Vancouver Canucks entered the big apple with points in all 3 of their previous 3 games on the road trip. However, overtime losses against the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres were both winnable games that slipped away from the team in the final frame before they ultimately fell in a shootout. Tonight, the team tried to get back to their winning ways against a New York Rangers team with a 5-0-1 record in their last 6 games. Elias Petterson turned 20 this evening, so fans hoped they’d see some more magic from our alien.
1st Period
The Canucks wouldn’t get off on the right foot to start the night. The boys would surrender the first few shots of the game, and then end up shorthanded after Adam Gaudette would go to the box for slashing 2:30 minutes in. Tough way to start a game at Madison Square Garden, to say the least. The Rangers would get 3 shots on the man advantage, but no real high danger scoring chances and the Canucks would kill the penalty off and try to regain a foothold in the game.
The road team wouldn’t get their first shot on goal until 6:30 minutes into the period, but right after their first shot, they’d get their first power-play after Tyler Motte was hit with a high stick from Tony DeAngelo. The power-play would start off strong, but fade with no real quality scoring chances and the Canucks would fail to capitalize.
The boys in white wouldn’t let this faze them and would continue to dominate play for the remainder of the first period. The Canucks would register the next 7 shots on goal, and wouldn’t allow the Rangers to get another shot on net for over 10 minutes. The only real downside of the period for the Canucks is they wouldn’t score a goal to take the lead, as both teams headed to the dressing rooms still deadlocked at 0.
2nd Period
The second would kick itself off with a lot more action than what fans saw in the first. Only a minute in, and the wizardry of Goldobin and Pettersson would be on full display when Goldobin found Pettersson up high, and he one-timed a shot that Henrik Lundqvist had to stop with the shoulder to keep the game tied at 1. Unfortunately, mere moments after creating a scoring chance, Goldobin would be called for tripping Lias Anderson to give the Rangers their second power-play of the game.
The Canucks penalty kill would tighten up, and not allow the Rangers a single shot on goal. Right as Goldobin gets out of the box, he’s fed up the ice by Motte and proceeds to bury a wrist shot off the post and in to give the Canucks a 1 goal lead a little over 3 minutes into the second.
A minute later the Canucks would keep up the pressure, with Loui Eriksson feeding Michael Del Zotto for a great scoring chance, but Del Zotto would watch as the puck would hit both posts and stay out to keep the game 1-0 for Vancouver. Few moments after that, Darren Archibald would get into a scrap with Cody McLeod as the Rangers looked for a spark to get back into the game.
The Goldobin, Pettersson, and Virtanen line would have another good shift 5 minutes into the period, captivated by a great pass by Pettersson that’s whiffed by Virtanen who looked to have some open net available to him, but the Canucks can’t extend their lead.
Jakob Markstrom didn’t have to be spectacular through the first part of the game, but 8 minutes into the period he’d face a couple quality shots and turn both aside to preserve the lead. Not long after it’d be Ben Hutton going to the penalty box for a cross check to the back of Jesper Fast, and the Rangers would look to even the game up on their 3rd power-play of the night.
Markstrom would be the Canucks best penalty killer, stoning the Rangers throughout the power-play to keep the lead. It’d be an abbreviated power-play for the home team once Filip Chytil got entangled with Motte, which sent the game to some 4 on 4 play. It’d take a little over 30 seconds for Hutton to get back onto the ice, and the Canucks would go to their 2nd power-play of the game, albeit shortened. A great chance for Goldobin to get his second goal of the game comes and goes with a shot that beats Lundqvist but rings off the bar blocker side and stays out and the Canucks would see their power-play drop to 0-2 up to this point in the contest.
Once the play was stopped, the first faceoff after the Canucks power-play saw Loui Eriksson head to the penalty box for a trip, and the Rangers would capitalize 13 seconds into their 4th power-play of the game. Filip Chytil, who ended his team’s last power-play prematurely, would bang home a rebound off the pad of Markstrom to tie the game up at 1, 12:30 minutes into the frame.
As we neared the end of the second, a scramble in front of Markstrom led to a Canucks power-play as Gudbranson was hit from behind while behind the play by Mike Zibanejad. The Canucks power-play wouldn’t last long though, as not even 15 seconds in Markus Granlund would apparently high stick a Rangers penalty killer, and the Canucks power-play dropped to 0-3. The remainder of the second would be uneventful and the game would head to the 3rd tied at 1. Another game in which the Canucks were still in it as the last frame started.
3rd Period
An up and down start to the period for Vancouver. A minute in, the team would see Markstrom make a fantastic save on Chris Kreider to keep the game tied at 1.
Right after, it’s Pettersson’s turn as he sent Virtanen to a partial breakaway chance that would see him blast a shot over the Rangers goal. Mere moments later, it’d be a quick give and go between Goldobin and Pettersson that concludes with a Pettersson shot kicked aside by the pad of Lundqvist 2 minutes in.
A tight 3rd period wouldn’t see much action again until around the 7:30 mark when Markstrom would be called upon again to keep the game close when he made a strong save on Chytil.
A few minutes after, and right after an icing was called against Vancouver. The ensuing faceoff would see Brett Howden collect a loose puck and rip it past Markstrom to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with less than half a period to play.
The Canucks would try to battle back, but with under 5 minutes to play, Goldobin would take an ill-advised minor penalty to put the Rangers to their 5th power-play of the game and a chance to ice it late in the 3rd. The Canucks penalty kill would stand tall and keep the team alive with just over 2:30 minutes left in the game.
Low and behold, the Canucks would press and be rewarded with their 4th power-play of the game with under 90 seconds on the clock, when Virtanen was tripped down low by Zibanejad. The best chance of the power-play would come right at the end of the game, with a Pettersson shot followed up with Horvat jamming away at the rebound, but in the end, Lundqvist was there to stand tall and preserve the Rangers 2-1 victory.
Advanced Stats
Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com
Wrap Up
Another hard-fought road game from the Canucks, but they come out of this one empty-handed. A couple of quick notes I saw after watching tonight’s game.
The injuries the Canucks have sustained have started to affect the team in all areas. While it was great to see players step up through the first few weeks, the loss of key players around the roster was noticeable in all facets of the Canucks game tonight and throughout this road trip as a whole. The Canucks penalty kill has given up 4 power-play goals in the 4 games on the trip, and the power-play has looked lost a majority of the time. Alex Edler, Brock Boeser, and Sven Baertschi are sorely missed on the power-play while Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle’s penalty kill prowess and shutdown abilities remain unfilled. Bo Horvat has done a great job amidst all the injuries, but he was virtually invisible offensively tonight and he looked fatigued at times during the game.
Nikolay Goldobin finally got his second goal of the season in a rollercoaster of a game. There were moments where he looked like the offensive weapon Canucks fans hope he can become, and there were moments where he looked like the Goldobin who didn’t know what defense was. With teams keying in on Pettersson more and more, and the continued absence of the aforementioned Boeser and Baertschi, Goldobin needs to start scoring with more regularity. Tonight, he unloaded 2 wicked wristers and scored on 1. For Canucks fans, a night like tonight hopefully helped him regain his offensive prowess that we expect to see moving forward.
Lastly, Derrick Pouliot couldn’t seem to make the right play and quite frankly looked lost on the ice tonight. He also hasn’t been able to fill the hole left by Edler on the top unit power-play and just isn’t playing to a level that one would hope someone playing 22 minutes a night should fill. While Goldobin’s confidence probably went up after tonight, Pouliot’s seemed to be one of the lowest on the team all night. He needs to up his play, or he could be the one in the press box once Edler returns.
That’s all for part 1, part 2 will go tomorrow when the Canucks finish up their back to back against the New York Islanders.
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