Vegas Golden Knights vs Vancouver Canucks Post Game Recap: Struck Down In Their Castle
By Cole Marton
5 years agoThe Rundown
After a pretty rough offensive showing last game against the NHL’s cellar dwellers, the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Vegas Golden Knights who had been on a bit of an upswing since their defenseman Nate Schmidt returned to their lineup. The Knights were going to be a tough task for a Canucks team that has struggled to play well in the opening frame. Vancouver came in with only 1 first period goal in their last 7 games, meanwhile, the Knights scored in the opening 5 minutes in all 4 contests against the Canucks last year. This one had the potential to get away from Vancouver early.
1st Period
The Canucks had some trouble with the Knights early on in the game, as they struggled to keep pace with Vegas’ speed. 3 minutes in, and the Knights pressure turned into something, as Alex Biega was called after he interfered with Daniel Carr. The Knights went to their 1st power-play of the game.
The Canucks penalty kill was up to the task, and they wouldn’t have to kill off the full 2 minutes. Tyler Motte came onto the ice and created some havoc short-handed when he came down the wing and applied pressure onto Marc-Andre Fleury. This forced the Knights’ Colin Miller to take him down and take a penalty, which terminated the Knights power-play with 26 seconds left on their man advantage.
After the 26 seconds of 4 on 4 action, the Canucks started their 1st power-play of the night. The boys in blue were able to create a couple of nice chances, which included a dangerous Bo Horvat one-timer, but they couldn’t get one past the Knights red-hot goaltender, and both teams would see their power-plays drop to 0 for 1 early on.
The Canucks started to heat up around the 8-minute mark of the period. The line of Brendan Leipsic, Horvat, and Sam Gagner hemmed the Knights in their own zone for over a minute, which led to a Vegas icing. After the icing, Nikolay Goldobin, Elias Pettersson, and Brock Boeser all stepped onto the ice. They didn’t get a great start to their shift, but just under 10 minutes in we’d see some magic. A play eerily similar to the Canucks road win versus the Los Angeles Kings, Pettersson stole a Vegas pass and enter the Vegas zone. Unlike the Kings game, he was mauled to the ice, but as he fell he fed a no-look behind the back pass to Boeser in the slot, and Boeser hammered it home to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.
The Knights were pesky, however, and 14 minutes into the frame the reigning western conference champions responded. After a good shift that followed a Canuck’s icing, William Carrier had the puck bounce off his skate and in to knot the game back up at 1.
Jake Virtanen, who was demoted to the 3rd line at the start of the game, got a great chance with just under 5 minutes to play in the first. After he received a pass, he chipped it by Nick Holden and came in on a breakaway. Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall and forced Virtanen away from the goal with an old-school poke that kept the game tied at 1. That was the last great chance of the period, but a fantastic opening frame for the Canucks against a team that came in notorious for strong early starts.
2nd Period
Another rough start to the period for the Canucks as they’d be down a man 2 minutes into the period when Carr created a quality scoring chance. Carr took the puck and try to wrap it around Markstrom, but Markstrom made the stop with his pad. However, Troy Stecher hit Carr up top with his stick and gave Vegas the man-advantage. On the Vegas power-play, Max Pacioretty was fed in a prime scoring area by Riley Smith. Pacioretty made no mistake, as he deposited the chance past Markstrom’s blocker to make it 2-1 Vegas 3 minutes into the middle frame.
4 minutes into the period and the Canucks received their 2nd power-play after Holden held Loui Eriksson in the neutral zone. The Canucks fired 4 shots on their power-play, which included great chances from Pettersson, Horvat and a few bombs from Boeser, but they can’t put one past Fleury and their power-play dropped to 0 for 2.
The game slowed down for the next 5 minutes, as both teams fought hard through the second period. Our next quality chance came off the stick of Motte, as he rushed down the wing and got a few good shots on Fleury, but Fleury stood tall.
Last notable event of the period was a huge hit thrown by Biega on Carrier, but the Canucks couldn’t get a shot past Fleury in the middle frame to tie it up. Not for lack of chances, however, as they outshot the Knights 24-20 but trailed by 1.
3rd Period
Another poor start plagued the Canucks to start the 3rd period, the only difference was that Vegas struck. A minute in and the Knights saw a rush into the Canucks’ zone end when Pacioretty beat Markstrom short side to make it 3-1 Vegas.
The Canucks didn’t back down, and their resiliency paid off with a goal 3 minutes into the frame. Horvat rushed down the far side and placed a shot perfectly off of Fleury’s pad. The rebound kicked right to Alex Edler who put it home to make it 3-2 with his first goal of the season.
The Canucks pressure almost led to the equalizer 6:30 minutes in when Leipsic hustled hard and stripped Fleury of the puck behind the Knight’s goal, but he hit the post on the wraparound attempt and the Canucks still trailed by 1.
All the hard work finally paid off, and the Canucks eventually tied up the hockey game! Another hard-nosed play from Horvat started the play, as he dug the puck from behind the goal line from the Vegas defenders. Gagner found the puck and threw it cross-ice to an open Boeser who redirected it off Fleury and in. It wasn’t officially ruled a goal right away, but after a quick review the call on the ice was a good goal, and the game was all square with a little over half a period remaining.
12 minutes into the game and the Canucks got a great opportunity after Alex Tuch interfered with Edler behind the play. The Vancouver power-play had 7 shots through 2 power-plays up to this point and looked on track to give the Canucks the lead.
However, disaster struck the Canucks, and the Knights scored on the Vancouver power-play. Smith would somehow get a breakaway, but Ben Hutton made a great play to disrupt the chance after he hustled hard on the back-check. The puck rolled to the corner, and the Canucks 2nd power-play unit all seemed to overskate the puck, as each skater waited for someone else to collect it and send it up ice. This mental lapse led to a 2 on 1 chance for the Knights, and Smith eventually fed William Karlsson for a tap-in 13:30 minutes in…
Ultimately, the late shorthanded goal was the difference maker. The Canucks never found their stride in the last 6 minutes, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3… The Canucks 10th loss in their last 11 games…
Advanced Stats
Both photo’s courtesy of Naturalstattrick.com
Wrap Up
This loss hurt as a fan who watched the game and was impressed with how the boys fought throughout. However, what an awful goal to give up when you’re tied late in the 3rd period. Absolute embarrassment from Goldobin, Leipsic, Markus Granlund, Eriksson, and Hutton to allow that play to develop as it did. A couple of other points from the game down below.
Brock Boeser came out with a vengeance tonight. It was a blast to see him break out like he did tonight. A terrific performance, and he’s got 6 points in his past 3 games played to prove he’s still the player that lit the lamp last season.
Elias Pettersson’s pass to Boeser on his first goal was another highlight reel moment in a rookie season full of them. He’s just so good, and it was a pleasure to watch him put on a show. He was worth the price of admission tonight. Hard not to gush about him.
Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette both had moments tonight where they looked great on the rush. Virtanen’s breakaway chance was a thing of beauty but ultimately couldn’t make the move quick enough to beat a top-tier goaltender like Fleury. Gaudette had a couple of nice looks throughout the hockey game, and I saw his shot handcuff Fleury on a few occasions. Been a while since we’ve all had a chance to #shotgunjake, but Virtanen could’ve had a few tonight with the way he played.
On the injury front, Edler didn’t play the final 4:30 minutes of the game after he took a nasty hit from Ryan Reaves. The Canucks have lost their past 2 of 3 with Edler in the lineup, they absolutely can’t afford to lose him again for another long stretch. I hope he’s back in time for Saturday. Also, this hit was truly awful. If this doesn’t get looked at by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, then they’re not doing their jobs.
A rough loss for the Canucks tonight, but overall a strong effort. The game came down to poor mistakes at the wrong time, and the team couldn’t overcome them.
EDIT: My tense use lately hasn’t been up to snuff. I went back and re-read/edited the article as of 3:00 pm PST Nov. 30/2018. To all who’ve been offering constructive criticism and supported not just my writing, but the writing of all the staff here at canucksarmy.com I’d like to personally say, thank you.
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