Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin – USA TODAY Sports

On the second of unusual consecutive match-ups in the same city, the Canucks looked for a mini series-sweep over the Jets tonight. Having been successful holding off Winnipeg’s young guns on Tuesday night, the Canucks hoped for the same result today. It was all and well in the first period, but Patrik Laine and Nikolaj Ehlers stopped them in their tracks and forced a one win, one loss situation over these past two games.

The Canucks, yet again, failed to win back-to-back regulation wins this season as they fell 4-1 to Winnipeg.

Markus Granlind: 1 goal

Loui Eriksson: 1 assist

Forward TOI leader: Henrik Sedin (19:33)

Defense TOI leader: Luca Sbisa (23:08)

Ryan Miller: 21/25 saves

Shots: VAN 23 – WPG 25

The game got off to a worrying start when Chris Tanev briefly left the bench after an awkward collision with Mark Shiefele and Patrik Laine. The same happened with Jannik Hansen after he got hit by a Tramkin shot, but both players returned. Minutes into the period, Markus Granlund scored the game’s first goal after Loui Eriksson intercepted a pass and centred it for a quick shot into the net.

The first period overall was much better than Tuesday’s, but the Canucks took three penalties with Tryamkin being held accountable for two. The Canucks out-shot the Jets 9-4 at the end of the first.

The second period was an eventful one. It started off with this Patrik Laine hit on our beloved 1,200-game-playing captain Henrik Sedin:

In the same shift, Matthieu Perrault then went for Jannik Hansen with the knee-on-knee contact that was bound to happen.

Jannik Hansen was justifiably mad.

Towards the end of the second, it was none other than Patrik Laine who tied up the game for Winnipeg with this slick snipe past Miller.

The Jets had a very good second period and they carried it onto the third. The Canucks could not carry their first-period momentum into the rest of the game, and Winnipeg took advantage. Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice to put Winnipeg up 3-1. 

Bryan Little hit the nail on the coffin to put the Jets up 4-1 over the Canucks.

First of all, Henrik Sedin deserves a round of applause. Warrior, leader, mentor, league MVP, and overall good person are words to describe he and Daniel. 1,200 games is a significant milestone. Congrats Hank!

Aside from his second period goal, the Canucks generally did a good job shutting down Patrik Laine over these past two games. The goal that he scored is quite honestly a gimme for player of Laine’s calibre, but those types opportunities were limited. By no means am I saying Laine was not a threat, because he definitely had threatening moments. He was given some pretty good looks, as he probably does every game. The Western Conference now has its own Alex Ovechkin.

Jannik Hansen had himself an eventful two periods. The Perrault hit was bad. Hansen’s right knee was hit, but he seemed fine subsequently after. However, something went wrong minutes after on an innocent pivot and then he was favouring the same knee.

With the undetermined status of Hansen, the Sedins will likely be looking for a new linemate. Loui Erksson is sitting right there for Willie Desjardins. The history with he and the Sedins is unquestionable, so why not give him a shot? Loui Eriksson was basically signed to play with the twins, so Desjardins’ choice of not putting the trio together full-time is strange.

The Jets’ 4-1 goal is questionable. Miller just barely had the puck in front of his toe, the ref blows his whistle, Bryan Little taps it in milliseconds after the whistle, then it’s a good goal. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think a blown whistle signifies a stoppage of play?

Those who favoured Ehlers over Virtanen at the 2014 NHL Draft suffered a stinger tonight. Ehlers had 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) and was named First Star playing a little under 17 minutes tonight. He also had this nifty move that you cannot deny was very impressive.