DeBrusk – EP40 – Lekkerimäki
Cotter – Rossi – Karlsson
Öhgren – O’Connor – Boeser
Bains – Sasson – Gallagher

EP25 – Hronek
Oleksiak – Willander
Buium – Schenn

The Canucks ran out of gas in the final 20 minutes of their 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday, so it was going to be interesting to see how they came out to start this game.

They started on time tonight, but the opening five minutes were certainly tilted in the Islanders’ favour. The Canucks managed to limit the Islanders’ chances on goal, however, even if New York did spend most of the time in the Vancouver end.

Brendan Gallagher drew a high-sticking penalty on Brayden Schenn, giving us our first chance to take a look at the Canucks’ new-look first power play unit. Jonathan Lekkerimäki took advantage of that opportunity he was getting, blasting a shot that beat Ilya Sorokin but rang off the crossbar.

It was a good sequence from Lekkerimäki for more reasons than the near goal, as the chance started with some strong work along the boards from the young winger. It’s been a solid start to the season from Lekkerimäki, who looks stronger and more confident than we’ve ever seen him before. Anyways, the Canucks did not score on this power play chance.

The Canucks didn’t have to wait long for their second power play chance of the game. This time, they managed to get set up, but didn’t test Sorokin, as their only real chance was a Filip Hronek slapper from the point that hit Jake DeBrusk in front before the Isles cleared the puck out.

Leevi Meriläinen was sharp early on in this game. He made some beautiful saves, and the biggest one was this one off of Luke Schenn’s brother:

The Isles managed to beat Meriläinen just under 15 minutes into the game, as Kyle Palmieri deflected a point shot past the Canucks’ goaltender to make it 1-0 Islanders.

The Islanders struck again after Zeev Buium failed to get the puck up the wall, instead extending New York’s zone time. The Islanders moved the puck quickly to eventually find Mattias Maccelli, who ripped a shot past Meriläinen. That’s a tough one for Buium, who was taken off the power play and moved to the third pairing for this game.

Some takeaways from the first period:
-Couple of nice rushes and bids on goal for Liam Öhgren. Pulled off a nifty little fake pass on a 2-on-1 before trying to slide the puck past Sorokin.
-Jonathan Lekkerimäki is playing with some kind of confidence right now and it’s great to see. Manny Malhotra deserves a lot of credit for helping to unlock this version of Lekkerimäki that we saw when the two were together in the AHL.
-Bo Horvat is so likable. One of the first players I ever interviewed. Fun Horvat story I haven’t told here: I was 19, working on my Botchford Project story, and I’d rarely interviewed players before. It was my first time in the Canucks’ room. I knew I needed a quote from Bo for my story, so in the one-on-one interview I had with him, I asked him a pointed question. Unfortunately for Bo, he didn’t quite give me the answer I wanted/needed for my story, so what did 19-year-old me do? In a panic, I asked Bo the exact same question again. Like, didn’t even change my wording of the question. Just asked the exact same question. Without missing a beat or acknowledging how strange my behaviour was, Bo simply gave a different answer this time around. That’s captain stuff right there. Imagine if reporters said, “Wrong answer, let’s try that again,” after players or coaches answered questions? One of those things I was incredibly embarrassed about in the moment but can laugh at years later.

The Isles had the Canucks hemmed in to start the second period, and Meriläinen once again had to be sharp. Thankfully, he was.

Max Sasson got the party started for the visitors just under eight minutes into the second after Jamie Oleksiak moved a pass up to Arshdeep Bains to enter the New York zone. Bains feathered a pass into open ice towards the slot, and Sasson won the footrace to the puck before rifling a shot past Sorokin to open the scoring for the visitors.

The Canucks’ near-coin-flip penalty kill got their second chance to go to work when Elias Junior Pettersson tripped up Ondrej Palat (though DPetey vehemently disagreed with the call). Again, Meriläinen stood tall, and again, they managed to kill this one off. Unlike the first one, this was a full two consecutive minutes they needed to kill off!

After the Sasson goal and the successful kill, this game quickly looked like the ice was tilted in the Canucks’ favour. Their forecheck was crisp and they were all over the Islanders, beginning to stack shifts as well. This swing of momentum culminated in the Canucks getting a power play chance. There, Brock Boeser let go of a quick strike off a pass from EP40 to tie things up:

With that goal, Boeser moved past Todd Bertuzzi and into sole possession of fifth on the Canucks’ all-time power play goal leaderboard.

2-2 heading into the third.

Some takeaways from the second period:
-Matthew Schaefer is so much fun to watch.
-Not great on the goal against, but good to see a couple of rushes with the puck on his stick from Zeev Buium.
-Good period for the visitors. One of their best of the season. And don’t forget those early saves from Meriläinen. That gave the Canucks a fighting chance in this game.

Tony DeAngelo took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (cause of course he did) at the final horn of the second period, meaning the Canucks kicked off the third with a power play.

The Canucks managed two deflections on goal but couldn’t solve Sorokin, and the game remained tied as the two sides headed back to 5v5.

Kickstarted by Matthew Schaefer being Matthew Schaefer — the Canucks’ third line and third pairing iced the puck, so the Isles sent out their top line and top defence pairing — the Islanders had the Canucks hemmed in and chasing the puck, and eventually, Kyle Palmieri rifled home his second goal of the game to put the home side back out front.

The Canucks were pushing for a goal. Arshdeep Bains and Jonathan Lekkerimäki found themselves in on a 2-on-1 together, but Bains’ shot went wide of the goal. The Canucks kept pressing, but the Islanders were not making it easy.

Ondrej Palat appeared to cross-check Liam Öhgren into the boards, but no call was made, much to the chagrin of the Canucks’ bench. Moments later, with less than two minutes left in this game, Zeev Buium took a hooking penalty, effectively killing the Canucks’ chances of a comeback.

Before the final horn, though, Leevi Meriläinen made another sick glove save off of Bo Horvat. Drew O’Connor and D Elias Pettersson mixed it up after the whistle, and we saw Horvat throw some glove punches at O’Connor while he was down on the ice. I take back every nice thing I wrote about Horvat earlier.

Canucks pulled their goaltender with 30 seconds left, and things got interesting when Adam Pelech tripped up Brock Boeser and gave us some 4-on-4 hockey with 18.1 seconds to go. Isles won the draw and immediately iced it. 11.7 seconds to go.

Islanders win the next D-Zone faceoff and ice it again. 2.8 seconds left.

Pettersson wins the draw, gets the puck back, but with Horvat clogging the shooting lane, EP40 slid the puck over to Marco Rossi, who ripped his shot past Sorokin… after the final horn had already sounded.

Some takeaways from the third:
-I know he took the penalty earlier, but thought it was another good game for DPetey, who stood out big time on Sunday. He was playing with Hronek on the top pair tonight, and looked right at home. Nice to see for the young DMan.
-These were Kyle Palmieri’s first two goals since returning from the ACL injury that he suffered last season. If you haven’t watched the clip of when that injury happened, dig it up. Palmieri got up, and while hobbling toward the bench, stole the puck and saucered a pass into open ice, leading directly to a goal. One of the wildest plays you’ll ever see.
-You’re going to see a lot of Leevi Meriläinen in The Stanchies later tonight. 35 saves on 38 shots tonight.
-Lots of time for Buium to figure things out, but I hope it happens soon. Really believe in this player.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!

And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE moments after the final horn on YouTube!