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Canucks Army Postgame: Luca Sbisa End-to-End Rush
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J.D. Burke
Feb 10, 2016, 00:39 ESTUpdated:
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(Graphic courtesy Matthew Henderson. Follow him on Twitter: @MHenderson95)
It appears as though reports of the Canucks demise are greatly exaggerated.
With Vancouver’s backs against the wall, they behaved like any group of young professionals would and called upon their mother’s to help themselves get back on track. On the first of a two-leg road trip – on which the Canucks are accompanied by these mothers in question – the Canucks came to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche and get back into the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
The two middling sides played a fast-paced contest, trading barbs early and keeping each other honest with hot goaltending. Vancouver separated themselves in the second, with Matt Bartkowski and Sven Baertschi potting a goal apiece to the one Colorado scored, courtesy Francois Beauchemin. Bo Horvat netted the insurance goal halfway through the third, giving Vancouver the 3-1 lead they’d take to the final buzzer for the win.

Stats

Quick Hits

  • That was likely the best game of Luca Sbisa’s career with the Canucks. Sbisa was physical, engaged and managed to do exceedingly well in transition. In fact, it was Sbisa’s end-to-end rush which set up the Canucks third goal. Sbisa’s ability to transition play tonight was reflected in his neutral zone numbers, where he led all Canucks defenders with three of the controlled variety. Can’t confirm this, but I feel as though that’s likely the high of Sbisa’s season. Sbisa’s also rocking a flashy Corsi for of 55%.
  • The blue line as a whole had a spectacular game. There were big shoes to fill by the middle of the second period, as Alex Edler had to leave the game with injury – never did return, by the way. Ben Hutton had a pair assists in close to 20-minutes of ice-time, which is pretty impressive for a rookie defender; Dan Hamhuis had a number of solid defensive plays, include a couple breakups in transition. Great effort all around.
  • About that Edler injury… oh, and Brandon Sutter too. Both were out of the game by the end of the second, never to be heard or seen again. In that game, anyways. In fact, it appears as though both are likely to miss tomorrow night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. Luckily the Canucks have a pair of centers on hand and Alex Biega. Not what you’d call ideal, but these things happen.
  • Is it just me, or is Linden Vey turning into an NHL ready centre? Just as we’d all written him off, naturally. While Vey was held pointless tonight, he was a solid presence in the neutral zone and contributed in the face-off circle winning 60% of draws. Vey now has eight points in 18-games, which is a good pace for a high-end third liner. Throw in the fact that Vey has always been a defensively sound centre and the Canucks might have something there after all.
  • The real first star of tonight’s game? That would be Beth Bartkowski, mother of Matt Bartkowski…

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