logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Canucks Army Postgame: Tanks for Nothing, Sharks
alt
J.D. Burke
Apr 1, 2016, 02:15 EDTUpdated:
Comments
You can’t win them all, or so the saying goes. Right now winning is losing though and I’ll be damned if the Canucks haven’t had their fair share of victories of late. Nine of them to be exact.
Visiting the playoff-bound San Jose Sharks for the fifth and final game in their season series, Vancouver cut their winning losing streak short before hitting the historic ten-game mark. They came out the gate flying, forcing a Paul Martin turnover in the neutral zone and converting on the ensuing rush by way of a Daniel Sedin goal on a Martin Jones rebound. 
Bo Horvat caught the Sharks flatfooted not long after, driving his way to the net and firing the elusive second Canucks goal past an outstretched Jones. It’s a good thing Horvat scored that goal, because it was his man who put the Sharks within one halfway through the first. Patrick Marleau, playing the role of floater in the Sharks power play formation, was lost in coverage and finished a passing play in the high-slot to cut the lead in half.
Logan Couture, almost predictably, knotted the game at two halfway through the third – invoking nightmares from the first quarter of this season and fulfilling the fantasies we’ve developed to finish it. Jannik Hansen used his deceptively accurate and hard slap shot to put the Canucks back on top and pot his 20th goal on the season. Markus Granlund put the final nail in the coffin, scoring an empty-net goal to close out the night.

Stats

Quick Hits

  • Sven Baertschi left the game in the early second with what is being described as a lower-body injury. Hard to say what exactly happened. The Canucks broadcast pointed out two separate plays as the likely suspects, but they both looked innocuous enough. Baertschi didn’t appear to be in any major sort of discomfort. Perhaps taking him out of this game was a precautionary measure.
  • Jannik Hansen, 20 goal scorer. The rare, Danish kind of 20 goal scorer – as Catherine Silverman would undoubtedly point out if it were her in charge of this game. Couldn’t be happier for the guy. He’s always been way better than his role would indicate, but a spot alongside the Sedins this season has brought that to light for all to see. All is well for Tiny Drancer.
  • Quiet night for the big Russian, Nikita Tryamkin. I mean that in the most complimentary fashion, too. No glaring errors and appears to be keeping pace nicely. Rocked a steady 42% Corsi For on the night, which is by no means great, but sampling issues and so on.
  • One of the major adjustments we’re noticing out of Willie Desjardins as the season nears its conclusion is the pace his team is playing with. It’s taken long enough, but he’s finally realizing he can’t keep up with the league’s best. Peter DeBoer used to work a low-event, offence averse system in New Jersey and it went miles in getting the most out of a roster with less than no finishing talent. DeBoer is now coaching the Sharks.

Breaking News