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Postgame: Wild Take Down Pettersson-less Canucks 4-2
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Photo credit: © David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
Brett Lee
Feb 6, 2020, 22:51 ESTUpdated: Feb 9, 2020, 14:20 EST
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Looking to get back on track after a suffocating loss to the Boston Bruins, the Canucks felt one final aftershock from Tuesday night.
Elias Pettersson took the warm-up skate with the Canucks but was deemed unfit to play due to a lower-body injury sustained from a hit by Matt Grzelcyk in Boston. This news not only deflated Canucks fans everywhere but also seemed to dampen the team’s opening period. Vancouver surrendered three goals in the first frame and never recovered.
It was a game that felt unenergetic and bland for many stretches even if there was some spice and flavour to the match. Multiple hits led to fights as Jake Virtanen squared off with Jason Zucker and Zack MacEwen dropped the gloves with Marcus Foligno, but physicality aside, the game was lacking in excitement overall. The Canucks strung together a solid three-ish minute sequence in the middle of the second period where they looked legitimately dangerous with their pressure and sustained zone time but had just five shot attempts to show for it.
Tonight was reminiscent of a mid-season, mean-nothing game, from seasons prior. Thankfully, it would appear the Canucks have moved past that stage this season and these nights have been far and few between. They happen; it is hard to remain consistent over an 82 game season, especially on game five of a road trip.
The Canucks will have the opportunity to correct course back at home in a pivotal Divisional game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

Lineup

With Elias Pettersson out, that meant Zach MacEwen would draw in for the Canucks and Adam Gaudette would be taking over Pettersson’s position down the middle. Gaudette was given a game misconduct in the third period which threw the lines in a blender and saw Bo Horvat double shifting to close out the game. We even got to see a combination of Antoine Roussel, Horvat, and Jake Virtanen which is a combination that many were hoping to see coming into this season.
Oscar Fantenberg also left the game due to this hit from Marcus Foligno.

Highlights

Stats

(5-on-5 stats from Naturalstattrick.com)

Game Thoughts

  • I thought Troy Stecher had one of his best performances on the season tonight. He was engaged throughout the entire game and was the motor during that three-minute stretch that I talked about earlier. He was second in 5-on-5 ice time and led the Canucks in controlling the shot attempts.
  • On the other end of the spectrum, Adam Gaudette was a team-worst 32 CF% on the night in what was not his ideal first audition as a top-six centre. He had a solid chance in the first period but other than that, was out of his element. I’d consider this another growth opportunity for Gaudette as he slowly becomes a bonafide #3 NHL centre. Injuries happen and having a 3C that can move up into the top-six is crucial moving forward. Gaudette is very much a work-in-progress.
  • I also thought this was Zack MacEwen’s best game as a Vancouver Canuck. He stood up for Oscar Fantenberg by fighting Marcus Foligno and got some decent looks playing with Bo Horvat. However, he took a penalty 200-feet away from his own net which is something a player like Zack can’t do.
  • Quinn Hughes did not look himself tonight but managed to net his 40th point on the season. If you told me Quinn would have 40 points after a full season I would have been ecstatic but he has been everything this team could have asked for and then some. Knowing the game he expects of himself, I think he is going to have a strong showing Saturday night.

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