Vancouver Canucks vs Vegas Golden Knights Post Game Recap: Dads In The Desert

5 years ago

The Rundown

The Canucks embarked on their 2nd road trip of the year, and it began tonight with a showdown against the Vegas Golden Knights in Las Vegas. This road trip is also the Canuck’s dads road trip, and so the fathers of Canucks players joined the team for their trip into the American desert. The Canucks were looking to get back in the win column after a loss against the Washington Capitals, but it’d be a challenge without their 2 top offensive weapons, as both Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson were out of the lineup.

1st Period

Right away the game would see an early whistle with play blown down 14 seconds into the opening frame, as Vegas’ Shea Theodore would be called for an early elbowing minor to put the Canucks on the power-play. Can’t say it did anything, as the Canucks power-play units struggled without their top offensive weapons, and couldn’t generate any real scoring chances. A few minutes later Alex Edler would be called for slashing Jonathan Marchessault sending the Knights to their 1st man advantage, giving the Knights an opportunity to open the scoring.

On the Knights power-play, the only shot came off the stick of Chris Tanev for the Canucks, which was the first shot in the game for both teams, and it took 5 minutes and 2 power-plays to occur. The Knights wouldn’t get a shot on goal, and so both teams exchanged pretty awful power-play opportunities.

The next 10 minutes of the first period didn’t inspire any excitement. Both teams struggled to get anything going offensively, and it’d take Jakob Markstrom passing the puck to William Karlsson (you read that right), for a scoring chance to develop. Karlsson couldn’t put the puck home and the chance would go by the wayside. Markstrom would have to make another good save before the Canucks generated any sort of offense again. Last real chance of the period was off the stick of Brandon Sutter, as he toe-dragged his way to the slot, only to see his shot easily stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury. That was it for the first, not a lot happened and there’d be no score heading into the second. The Markstrom save is down below.

2nd Period

Now, I waited until the second-period portion to make mention of this because we didn’t know officially up until this point, but Edler received a lower-body injury on a hit in the first period and would not return for the rest of this hockey game. Leaving the Canucks without one of their top defenseman for the rest of the game.

It’d only take a little over a minute for a team to break the 0-0 deadlock, and it’d be the home team who struck first. Erik Haula outworked Derrick Pouliot behind the net and fed Max Pacioretty out front. Patches made no mistake, and promptly put the Knights up by one.

It wouldn’t take much time for the Canucks to tie the game. Bo Horvat, one of the few remaining offensive weapons still in the lineup for the Canucks tonight was able to tip home a Loui Eriksson point shot to put the Canucks on the board! Brendan Leipsic was able to draw an assist on the play, as the young forward was rewarded for the hard work he had put in after being a healthy scratch the past couple of games.

Only 63 seconds later the Canucks would take the lead. Again, it’d be Horvat with the goal as he received an outlet pass and skated down the left side into the Vegas end before firing a bullet past Fleury.

30 seconds after Horvat’s 2nd goal of the game, Chris Tanev would head to the box for a tripping minor, that gave the Knights their 2nd power-play of the game. The Canucks would again showcase their improved penalty kill, and with 7 seconds to go in the Tanev minor, Tyler Motte would draw a holding penalty against Colin Miller to close out the Knights power-play.

On the Canucks next man-advantage, the power-play mustered one notable chance. After multiple failed zone entries, Nikolay Goldobin hits Eriksson for a breakaway opportunity. Eriksson can’t convert on the chance as Fleury stoned him with the blocker to keep it a one-goal game. The Canucks would go 0/2 on the power-play, and a few minutes later Horvat would take down Miller and be sent to the box.

The Knights wouldn’t score on their 3rd power-play of the game, but the next sequence of plays would lead to the tying goal. After the penalty expired, Eriksson would try to feed Leipsic right in front of the goal, the errant pass would send the Knights on an odd-man rush. It’d be Ryan Reaves with a wicked wrister to tie the game up at 2 with a minute and a half to go in the period. This game would head to the 3rd all tied up.

3rd Period

Another injury alert to begin the period, as Canucks forward Sven Baertschi sustained an injury and also wouldn’t return to the game. Dropping the Canucks to 16 possible skaters for the final frame.

A minute into the 3rd, Troy Stecher would get beat by a pass as he tried to play the puck. This led to Jake Virtanen being forced to take down Haula in the slot and putting the Knights up a man for the 4th time in the game. Nothing would come on the power-play, and the Canucks would see the Knights power-play drop to 0/4.

More injury news would follow, as Tanev would be seen blocking a shot and had to hobble his way off the ice. He came out for one last shift and was in visible discomfort. This meant the Canucks would be without their top defense pair and a top 6 winger for the 2nd half of the 3rd period. Unsurprisingly the Canucks would have to fight hard in their own zone, without being able to create much offense. In the end, they’d steal a point. A gutsy effort from the team would get this game to overtime.

Overtime

The overtime period was fast and furious all the way through. Both teams had solid chances; Virtanen got 2 good scoring looks in the extra frame, but couldn’t get either past Marc-Andre Fleury. A couple minutes later, a great move by Reilly Smith leaves him alone in front of Markstrom, but he put the puck up high and over the net. The 5 minute overtime period would come and go, and this game would head to a shootout.

In the shootout, both teams would go scoreless through the first 3 rounds. In the fourth round, Markus Granlund would beat Fleury to set up a must-score for Karlsson. Karlsson would come in but was unable to get it past Markstrom and the Canucks would come out with a shootout win in the regular season for the first time in over a year, and their first win ever against the Vegas Golden Knights! 3-2 final from the sin city.

Advanced Stats

Both photo’s courtesy of naturalstattrick.com

Wrap Up

What a win tonight from the Canucks. It’s one thing to go into a tough building and pick up a win on the road, but the Canucks lost 3 crucial pieces and still wound up with the victory.

Bo Horvat was incredible tonight and has been throughout the season. Without Boeser and Pettersson, Horvat put the offense on his back and drove play throughout the game. 2 massive goals and a great back-check in overtime showed why many fans in this city why he’s captain material.

Brendan Leipsic was inserted into the lineup and played great. He looked like a player who played for his right to stick in the lineup and did just that. An assist on the 1st Horvat goal, and not afraid to mix his speed and stick-handling all throughout. A treat to watch, and he should see some more game action, especially if Baertschi is out long term.

Great job by Stecher, Erik Gudbranson, Pouliot, and Ben Hutton for the way they battled through the game, even while they watched Edler and Tanev go down with injuries. They could’ve buckled and let Vegas run over them, but they stood up to the challenge and helped the team get the win. Markstrom is included here as well, as he made a number of quality stops throughout the game to keep the team in it.

The team stepped up when they had to tonight, it was a great team win, and one Canucks fans should be proud of.

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