The Rundown
After a truly magical opening night, many in the Vancouver Canucks’ fanbase were prepared for a bit of a comedown in Game 2. In fact, by the time Saturday rolled around, the optimism from earlier in the week seemed to have turned to outright dread—and not just due to the possibility of a difficult loss.
It didn’t take any scouting reports or advanced analytics to understand what the Calgary Flames were going for when they made the following roster move:
Many fans had flashbacks to
an infamous game between the two franchises in 2014, and the worries ranged from Erik Gudbranson having to “answer” for breaking Travis Hamonic’s face to super-rookie Elias Pettersson getting caught up in the retribution game. Of course, there were a few other, less-realistic concerns afloat, too.
Fortunately for the faint of heart, the Flames ultimately decided not to dress Peluso, allowing him to provide intimidation from the pressbox instead. Dalton Prout, a heavyweight fighter in his own right, drew into the lineup to replace Hamonic, but the rosters remained otherwise unchanged—as revealed by Jeff Paterson on Twitter.
In any case, the table seemed to be set for the kind of high-intensity, old-time hockey that isn’t usually seen this early in the season. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, most Canuck fans would probably consider themselves thankful if the team just walked away from this one with all their young stars intact.
Having the guy that killed half the Marvel Cinematic Universe singing the national anthem didn’t lighten the mood any.
1st Period
As it turns out, Vancouverites were right to fear the start of this game, but not because of the fisticuffs.
Elias Lindholm scored his first as a Flame with a nice tip-in just 12 seconds into the period. Brandon Sutter lost a defensive zone faceoff cleanly, and from there all it took was some crisp D-to-D passing and an unchallenged netfront presence for Calgary to open up the scoring.
A handful of seconds later, Brock Boeser just missed getting away on a breakaway—an opportunity that would have allowed him to turn around the momentum AND bump his miniature slump in one fell swoop. Beyond this near-break, the vast majority of the action in the opening minutes took place in the Canucks end, with the defense looking slightly overwhelmed by the Flames’ energy level.
Despite some light line-juggling by coach Travis Green, the Canucks were unable to tilt the ice in the other direction, and they generated just two shots in the game’s first ten minutes, with shot attempts at 16-3 for Calgary.
The normally effervescent Petterssons did not look impressed.
Vancouver’s first sustained pressure of the game came from the Motte-Sutter-Virtanen line with about seven minutes remaining in the first. The hardworking unit maintained pressure and generated chances through their entire shift and the subsequent line change, allowing the Elias Pettersson line to take the ice.
Pettersson, Nikolay Goldobin, and Loui Eriksson all made it onto the ice without the puck leaving the Flames’ zone, and the ongoing pressure quickly resulted in multiple chances for Goldobin. The puck ended up in the corner, and after some terrific passing behind the net from Eriksson and Goldobin, Pettersson finished things off with a snipe from the slot. The Canucks were finally on the board with just their third shot of the game.
Pettersson became the sixth Canuck in team history to score in each of his first two NHL games, and the first since 1980.
For the record, Dalton Prout was on the ice for the entire sequence.
Of course, this lifted the mood of two particular fans inside the Saddledome.
Goldobin took a high-sticking penalty with just under five minutes remaining in the period, but that turned out to all be a part of the Canucks’ secret plan. After some clutch saves by Jacob Markstrom and a couple nice blocks by Chris Tanev, Sutter and Tyler Motte sprung themselves on a shorthanded two-on-one. Sutter kept it all the way and buried it on the blocker side, giving Vancouver the 2-1 lead on their fourth shot of the game. No assist was awarded.
Unfortunately, the flaws in the “take a penalty and score shorthanded” gameplan became apparent less than a minute later, with Mark Giordano coming way down from the point and wristing a fairly soft one past Markstrom.
This time around, Tanev’s propensity for blocking shots hurt more than it helped, with the puck ticking off his body before sneaking by Markstrom.
The remainder of the period was uneventful, with the only highlight being Jake Virtanen laying yet another solid hit on Dillon Dube behind the Canucks net and one more shot on net by Tanev.
Intermission Highlight
Brian Burke actually wearing a tie properly for once and speaking intelligently about the hot button issue of domestic abuse, to boot. What is this?!
2nd Period
On their first shift of the period, the Pettersson line got right back to work. After they entered the zone via a creative flip pass by Goldobin, the line put the Canucks on their first powerplay of the game when the notorious Dalton Prout needlessly interfered with Pettersson away from the play.
Elias stayed on the ice, joined by the rest of the first powerplay unit, and scored the third goal of his young NHL career a matter of moments later. Brock Boeser carried the puck into the zone, and after an attempted shot Bo Horvat got it back to Alex Edler, who sent a crisp pass across to Pettersson. Without missing a beat, Pettersson roofed the one-timer over Mike Smith—marking the first powerplay goal in both his career and the Canucks’ season.
On his next shift, Pettersson almost made it a hattrick after blocking a shot, controlling the puck, and walking it down the ice for an open chance on Mike Smith, but his opportunity for even greater glory was stymied for the time being.
To be entirely fair to Prout, he did make his first impact of the game at the 14:30 mark, landing a crushing hit on Motte in the neutral zone. The ever-energetic Motte, of course, got right back on his feet.
Virtanen was the next to sit in the box after a call for interference on what looked like a solid—if slightly late—hit on Johnny Gaudreau. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only aid the Flames would be receiving from the refs on this sequence.
After some early chances by the Calgary powerplay, Markus Granlund cleared the puck, only to have it hit the official on its way down the ice. The Flames returned it to the Canucks’ end and Matthew Tkachuk buried a rebound as Derek Ryan jammed Markstrom’s pad into the back of the net. The Vancouver coaching staff, however, used their Coach’s Challenge successfully, overturning the goal due to goaltender interference and offering the officials an opportunity for redemption in the eyes of Canuck fans.
A minute later, at the 9:31 mark of the period, it would all be for naught as Gaudreau buried a Sean Monahan rebound to officially tie up the game on an undisputable play where Markstrom had absolutely no chance to make a second save.
A key defensive play came moments later, with Troy Stecher making moves on an odd-man rush to prevent a total shift in momentum in the Flames’ favour.
The teams exchanged some more ineffective rush opportunities as the game began to open up in the second half of the period, but no real scoring chances occurred until Tkachuk set up Mikael Backlund with a cross-ice pass, but Markstrom shut the door.
Stecher continued to make a positive impact, drawing a tripping penalty on Giordano by keeping his feet moving behind the Canucks’ net. Vancouver embarked on their second powerplay of the game with 4:40 remaining in the second period. The man advantage was turned into a lengthy 5-on-3 thanks to the niftiest display of stickhandling from Pettersson yet, which resulted in both a scoring opportunity and a tripping penalty to Michael Stone.
Never one to leave a job half-finished, Pettersson picked up an Edler pass in the corner and wired a perfect play to Horvat on top of the crease, who buried the Canucks’ second powerplay goal of the game—with more than a minute-and-a-half remaining on Stone’s penalty. It was Pettersson’s fifth NHL point in just five NHL periods, vaulting him into a tie for the league’s scoring lead.
With just over a minute remaining in the period, the Flames failed to convert on yet another odd-man rush, but they managed to take the Canucks’ best player off the ice in the process with Pettersson picking up his first career penalty for tripping Noah Hanifin. Markstrom had to absorb a couple of shots and a couple of slashes from Tkachuk, leading to Markstrom retaliating with a chop of his own. Sutter got in there right away and horse-collared Tkachuk to the ice, but the frequently unpopular Tkachuk was the only player penalized, resulting in some four-on-four hockey to end the period.
As the second intermission began, the shots stood at 26-12 in favour of Calgary, which means the Canucks had converted at a rather impressive—if unsustainable—rate of 33%.
Intermission Highlight
Bo Horvat sounded extremely captain-esque in his interview and talking about “proving people wrong” this season.
Intermission Lowlight
The Sportsnet talking heads attempting to ignite the “Elias Pettersson’s icetime” controversy.
3rd Period
The Canucks started off the third period by killing off the remaining four-on-four time to gain a 40 second powerplay, but failed to generate a shot. Shortly after Tkachuk exited the penalty box, Gudbranson had a brief interaction with Prout in the corner of the Flames’ end on a rare offensive foray, but nothing came of the encounter.
Vancouver found themselves shorthanded once again when Sven Baertschi took a holding penalty on Giordano, and the penalty killing unit set out to maintain the one-goal lead. This time, they were up to the task, and the Flames failed to register a single shot or scoring chance on the vital opportunity. To make matters worse for Calgary, Michael Frolik followed up the flubbed powerplay with a lazy tripping penalty on Goldobin, giving the Canucks’ top unit another chance to gain a little breathing room.
Pettersson’s stickhandling wizardry was on full display before he set up Boeser for a wrister—the Canucks’ first shot in over ten minutes—and next he had to make a couple nice defensive plays on the backcheck to prevent a shorthanded goal against. Unfortunately, Boeser took a slashing penalty on the same odd-man rush, bringing the teams back to four-on-four hockey.
Once Frolik left the box, the Flames made the most of their shortened man advantage, with Gaudreau carrying the puck up the ice and then setting up Monahan for an easy goal with a picture-perfect cross-ice pass from the corner. Tie game.
Green wisely responded with the Pettersson line, and the unit once again generated some genuine chances, including a Goldobin wrister from the slot that Smith snagged with a showy glove save. It’s probably fair to note that, for the time being, Goldobin-Pettersson-Eriksson have taken over as the Canucks’ top line—despite what the icetime totals might say.
After another commercial break, the Flames’ offered some pushback of their own in the form of Matthew Tkachuk’s netfront presence, but Markstrom made another quality stop through the traffic. After that, the game settled down for a couple of lackluster minutes, setting the stage for an exciting finish.
With 6:15 remaining on the clock, Goldobin took a lazy slashing penalty against Tkachuk in the neutral zone, presumably earning himself a serious talking-to from coach Green in the process. Goldobin’s chances of a benching increased significantly when Lindholm converted on a tic-tac-toe from Gaudreau and Tkachuk to put the Flames ahead 5-4 with just over five minutes left. Edler tried, and failed, to make a valiant kick save on the play.
Desperate for an equalizer, Boeser rang a hard backhander off the iron on the next shift, and Stecher almost banged in the rebound, but the puck stayed out of the net as the broadcast went for its final commercial break of the third period.
The next few minutes of the game featured some scrambly play and chances for both teams—including a shifty attempt by Brendan Leipsic—but it ultimately culminated with an Austin Czarnik empty-netter with 1:38 left on the clock.
The Canucks would finish the game on the powerplay after Hanifin crosschecked Baertschi from behind into the boards, but their attempts to get Pettersson his first career hattrick ended when Boeser gave the puck away at the blueline and Frolik notched a shorthanded empty net goal to finalize the score at 7-4.
Advanced Stats
Gameflow from Canucks vs. Flames October 6, 2018 (Courtesy of naturalstattrick.com)
Heatmap from Canucks vs. Flames October 6, 2018 (Courtesy of naturalstattrick.com)
Wrap Up
In the end, the Canucks lost, and they lost big. But this certainly wasn’t the depressing comedown that some fans were fearing. For one, there wasn’t even a hint of retribution from the Flames toward Gudbranson or any of the Canucks, and the game was relatively non-physical throughout its entirety.
As well, the kids are definitely still alright. Pettersson continued his all-out assault on the NHL scoring ranks, Horvat had a goal and an assist, and Goldobin made some brilliant moves (and a few braindead ones). The Canucks’ offense looked dangerous all night long while the defense remained “adventurous”—pretty much what the fanbase was expecting coming into the season.
In effect, this game was of the sort that most Canuck fans are entirely comfortable with enduring throughout the 2018/19 season. High-scoring losses help to juice the stats and foster the offensive development of young stars like Pettersson and Goldobin, and they also help the franchise move ever closer to a top ticket in the upcoming Jack Hughes lottery. A 7-4 loss shouldn’t be considered a disappointment at all—in fact, it’s difficult not to look at it as a relatively positive result.
Brock Boeser’s season thus far, summed up in a single image:
Top Performers
Elias Pettersson- Who else? After some early complaints about his icetime, Pettersson ended up tied for fourth-most among forwards, and notched two goals and one assist while he was out there. Pettersson did end up a minus-one, but don’t let that fool you—he continued to demonstrate some strong play away from the puck and has firmly established himself as the team’s best all-around player just two games into the season. He also went 60% on faceoffs, leading all Canuck centers.
Bo Horvat- Horvat is currently carrying the top line on his back, with Boeser and Baertschi off to relatively lackluster starts. Horvat put up a goal and an assist in this game, but he also generated chances with a few of his patented drives to the net. Horvat led the forwards in icetime with 20 minutes and 42 seconds, almost five minutes of which came on the powerplay. Other than Pettersson, Horvat was the only Canuck center to win the majority of his faceoffs.
Next Game
The Canucks continue a sizeable early season road trip with a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, October 9, with a start-time of 4:00PM PST.
