Canucks Rally Back From 2-0 Deficit to Defeat Kings 3-2

Canucks netminder Anders Nilsson hadn’t played in well over two weeks, and you could tell on the first of the Kings two goals. Markus Granlund fumbled an outlet pass and Kings winger Tanner Pearson collected the puck and sent it through Nilsson, who was crouched in the reverse VH position against his post.
On the faceoff that followed, Canucks pugilist Derek Dorsett, in an effort to spark his team, dropped the mitts with Kings winger Andy Andreoff. It didn’t have the desired effect — certainly not in the immediate aftermath. Brendan Gaunce put the Canucks on the penalty kill shortly after the heavyweight bout and the Kings Anze Kopitar made them pay in the dying seconds of the penalty.
The Canucks controlled the game from that point onward, tilting the ice heavily into the Kings zone. By the end of the first period, the Canucks had out-attempted the Kings 14-5, though the score remained 2-0 in the home team’s favour.
In the second frame, the Canucks turned the pressure dial up to 11. The Sedin line, with Loui Eriksson, took firm control of the hockey game and on one of their better shifts, Henrik converted on what looked like an attempted pass that deflected off a Kings defender and past Jonathan Quick for the Canucks first goal. That was just the start for those three.
And if an effective Sedin line wasn’t giving you flashbacks of a better era in Canucks hockey, the new-look power play that took the ice a few short minutes after Henrik’s goal should’ve had the effect.
After a pair of games, both lopsided losses, in which the Canucks power play went a combined 0-for-10, Canucks head coach Travis Green mixed things up a bit, combining the best elements of the two units he’d been playing the last week or so. The new first unit included both Sedins, Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Alexander Edler. And they were dynamite.
With Boeser planted firmly in the “Alexander Ovechkin spot” on the left side of the Canucks 1-3-1 power play formation, he leaned into a heavy wrister that bounced off Quick’s shoulders and into the Kings crease. There was Horvat on the doorstep to even the game at two.
Not to be outdone, the second-unit contributed with a power play goal of their own to seal the comeback victory for the upstart Canucks. With play transitioning back into the Kings’ end, Thomas Vanek caught Sven Baertschi was a cross-ice pass, and with Derrick Pouliot clearing the middle of the ice to drive to the front of the Kings net, Baertschi used the space and leaned into a game-winning, wrist shot, power play goal.
After an iffy start, Nilsson shut the door and backstopped the Canucks victory, stopping 30 of 32 Kings shots. Quick, who had a solid night in his own right, stopped 24 of the Canucks 27 tries.

The Numbers

Quick Hits

  • Let’s talk about the Dorsett fight that many have alleged kickstarted the Canucks comeback. I’m still not convinced. In the immediate aftermath of the scrap, the Canucks took two lazy penalties and surrendered a goal. If that fight woke them up, it had a timed release type of effect. And I’m just not buying. Much of the research done in the public sphere suggests that fighting has no positive impact whatsoever. In fact, one article I found after the fight suggested that the team of the winning fighter surrenders the next goal more often than the other team. Nobody thinks Dorsett won that fight, too, so there’s also that.
  • The good news? I still think this was one of Dorsett’s better games of the season. He didn’t score, but I thought he made a lot of good plays, especially on the penalty kill. Dorsett had a vital role in Brandon Sutter’s rush that eventually led to a penalty shot, and he drew the penalty that led to the game-winning goal.
  • I’ve always felt that most underestimated how effective Eriksson and the Twins were last season. That line controlled north of 55% of the shot attempts at even strength, which is downright dominant. I’d always suspected a lot of their perceived lack of chemistry from last season was just bad luck. An effort like tonight’s suggests that just might be the case. They were dominant. The Sedins looked four years younger, and Eriksson looked every bit the player I’d become used to watching in his time with the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins. An Eriksson bounce back? It doesn’t seem like such a crazy notion after tonight. Using the results that Henrik and Eriksson combined for as a proxy of their lines productivity, they had a +6 shot attempt differential and generated seven on-ice scoring chances.
  • Derrick Pouliot just keeps getting better. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, each new game is Pouliot’s best in the NHL. He’s been a shot metrics stud, and tonight he chipped in with two points. That gives Pouliot five in his first 15 games as a Canuck. Not bad — not bad at all.
  • The first Kings goal was awful. It’s the kind of goal we’re accustomed to seeing Jacob Markstrom give up in the first minute of a hockey game. Like Markstrom, though, Nilsson was able to bounce back and shut the door. The Canucks didn’t need Nilsson to be a worldbeater for most of the night, but whenever the Kings pressed, he was up to the task.
  • Has the Canucks power play turned a corner? Tonight was a good night for both units. The new-look first unit especially. It looks like Green has loaded up on all his best power play weapons for one supergroup, and I have to say, I’m a believer after tonight. It’s the perfect blend of shooters and distributors and they all seem to be in the right spots, too. Let’s hope the Canucks stick with it.