The Rundown

The Vancouver Canucks played their first game of 2019 just like a majority of the first half of their season, on the road. Their opponent tonight was the worst team in the NHL, the Ottawa Senators, who the Canucks made a trade with earlier in the afternoon. After the Canucks were shut out their last time out, the boys wanted to send a message with a good start this afternoon against a wounded opponent.
Jakob Markstrom got the start, and the most notable scratch of the afternoon was Nikolay Goldobin being sat out in favour of Tim Schaller.

1st Period

The Canucks accomplished their early goal as they jumped out to a great start, and were blessed with an early power-play chance 1:30 minute into the game. After Mark Borowiecki high-sticked Elias Pettersson, the Canucks power-play attempted to give the team an early lead.
70 seconds into the Canucks power-play, and the Senators got a great chance short-handed. Chris Tierney battled down low, and fed Mark Stone in the slot, but Stone couldn’t beat Markstrom. That was the best chance for either team on the power-play, and the Canucks power-play fell to 0 for 1.
5 minutes into the game, and the Canucks manufactured a brilliant scoring chance. After Derrick Pouliot made a nice play to outlet the puck to Bo Horvat, Horvat went to work on the 2 on 1. He made a nice move to open up some space and passed the puck across to Antoine Roussel, but Roussel was stopped on the doorstep by Senators goaltender Marcus Hogberg, and the game remained scoreless.
The Canucks kept up the domination, and at the halfway mark of the first period they led the shots column by a whopping 14-3 total. Hogberg was fantastic for Ottawa early.
11:30 minutes into the game and a fight broke loose! Schaller decided to drop the mitts against Senators defender Ben Harpur. Unfortunately for Schaller, Harpur wasted little effort in dismantling him.
A minute and a half after the Schaller fight however, and the Canucks received another great scoring chance. After the Senators bobbled the puck in the neutral zone, Jake Virtanen intercepted the puck and came in on a breakaway against Hogberg, but his attempt to slip the puck through the goaltender’s five-hole failed.
As the period came to a close, the Canucks earned their 2nd power-play of the night. After another strong shift for Vancouver, Stone interfered with Markus Granlund. With 17 seconds left in the period, it looked like Vancouver could coast into the 2nd with their man-advantage, but Ottawa made things interesting. Alex Edler got entangled with the referee, and the Senators’ Zach Smith came in on goal. Smith was hacked at by Edler, and couldn’t get his shot off but the Senators weren’t rewarded with a penalty shot, or even a penalty. That was the only real good scoring chance the Senators got, as Vancouver dominated the 1st period. Shots on goal were 17-6, but Vancouver couldn’t beat Hogberg. Their power-play carried over to start the 2nd period as they looked to open the scoring.

2nd Period

The Canucks power-play came out to begin the 2nd period, but looked like they didn’t listen to anything Travis Green said to them. Their power-play stuttered through the first 1:20, and the Senators came back to even strength still tied.
Right after the power-play expired, the Canucks revved up their play. Virtanen skated back into his own zone 2 minutes in, then found Granlund for a great chance, but he couldn’t beat Hogberg.
5 minutes later, and this time it was Boeser who attempted to beat Hogberg after he split the Senators defense. Again, Hogberg stood tall and made the save.
6:30 minutes in, and the Canucks top offensive line went back to work. Boeser rang a shot off the post before Pettersson drew a penalty when he forced a stick-less Ryan Dzingel to take him down. The Canucks went to their 3rd power-play of the game 7 minutes in.
It took 3 power-plays, and 27 shots before the Canucks finally got on the scoreboard, but they got on the board first. After the 2nd unit with Pettersson saw Ben Hutton ring his shot off the post, the top unit capitalized. After some nice passing, it was Sven Baertschi who buried home a big rebound from Hogberg for his first goal since October 22nd, and opening tally 8:30 minutes into the period.
The Senators roared back quickly, and Markstrom needed to make a nice pad stop on a shot from Matt Duchene. On the play however, Tyler Motte tripped up Mikkel Boedker and the Senators went to their first power-play of the game. On the man advantage, the Senators tied up the game. Duchene sniped home a rebound of his own, and the Canucks penalty kill gave up their 5th goal in the past 4 games 12:30 minutes in.
Only took 3 minutes, but the Canucks struck right back with a beautiful passing play started from their own end. Chris Tanev started the rush, left the puck for Pettersson, who then dished it to Edler, who then dished it to Boeser, who then dished it to Pettersson, who then hammered home a shot off Hogberg and in for his 20th goal of the season, and the 2-1 lead.
The Canucks strong play continued right till the final horn, and the boys took their lead into the 3rd period. Great game so far from Vancouver, as through the first 2 periods they looked like the much better team.

3rd Period

The Canucks came out with a vengeance in the 3rd, as they pushed the pace of play right from puck drop. Just a minute into the frame, and Boeser looked to have an easy tap in, but Dylan DeMelo made a great play to knock the puck out of mid air with his stick to save the goal.
3 minutes into the frame, and the Canucks went to their 4th power-play of the evening when Harpur tripped up Schaller in the corner. On the power-play, the Senators manufactured another great short handed chance when Magnus Paajarvi found himself in alone on Markstrom. Markstrom made the stop, and the Canucks rewarded him with a 3-1 lead. Edler put the puck into Pettersson’s wheelhouse, and Pettersson unloaded a cannon of a one-timer past Hogberg for his 2nd goal of the game 5 minutes into the period, and right as the power-play was set to expire.
A huge chance for the Senators 8 minutes in was whiffed when Duchene put the puck into Markstrom’s pad instead of a wide open net, a key moment in the game tonight. Just a few minutes after the Duchene gaffe, Baertschi fed Boeser for another mini breakaway in a game filled with them. Boeser was slashed by DeMelo and was unable to score, but the Canucks received their 5th power-play as a result, and looked to put the game out of reach.
Instead, the pesky Sens again raced down the ice for a scoring chance. Tierney received the puck, and was able to force Hutton to slash him down to the ice and the Canucks power-play ended just like how it started. 9 seconds into the 4 on 4 action, the Senators pulled the game within 1, when Christian Wolanin picked up the puck to the right of Markstrom and fired one home. 3-2 and the Senators still had a power-play on the horizon.
The Canucks were able to kill off the Senators power-play, and still held a lead with 7 minutes left. A few minutes later, Tanev made a terrible decision and tried to throw the puck through the slot to Pettersson. The pass was intercepted, and it ended up on the stick of Stone right in front of Markstrom. Tanev hustled back and slashed Stone to break up the scoring chance, but what ensued was the Senators 4th power-play of the game, and a glorious chance to tie up the hockey game.
Markstrom was the Canucks best penalty killer this time around, and a minute in he made a slick pad stop on Brady Tkachuk right on the doorstep to keep it 3-2. The Senators were unable to capitalize on the man advantage.
However, with 50 seconds to go and the Ottawa net empty, the Senators tied up the game. A couple of nice spin passes led to the puck on Stone’s stick, and he sniped one up high on Markstrom for the equalizer…
There wasn’t any additional scoring for the remainder of the period, and this game saw some overtime action.

Overtime

In overtime, the Canucks put on an offensive clinic, and ultimately pulled out of Ottawa with the win. Pettersson came down the wing, pulled off a nifty toe drag on Stone and unleashed a wicked wrister that fooled Hogberg but nailed the post (4th Vancouver post of the game), and stayed out. The puck floated down the ice, when Tanev made a great outlet pass to Boeser. Boeser fed Pettersson across the ice, and Pettersson made no mistake on his 2nd chance, as he beat Hogberg for his first ever hat-trick, 7th game winning goal of the year, and 22nd of the season to give the Canucks the win!

Advanced Stats

Both photos courtesy of naturalstattrick.com

Wrap Up

The Vancouver Canucks played a great game tonight, but they could’ve easily lost this one with a couple of mistakes they made.
Markstrom was terrific again tonight, another game where he stood tall when he had too and made some big stops. The Canucks badly out-shot the Senators tonight, but they don’t win this game without the goaltending of Markstrom. It was his 6th straight win on the road, and he’s looked great ever since his slump.
I thought Schaller tried to grab the attention of his coach tonight, and didn’t need to fight Harpur when he did, but he wasn’t bad. He threw his body around, and created some havoc when he played.
Pettersson did Pettersson things… that is all. He also made over $400,000 today in signing bonuses (Making the all-star game and 20 goals).
Boeser was snake bitten tonight. So many chances for #6 to pot a goal, but in the end he came through clutch with another great assist in overtime on the game winner.
The Canucks need to keep their foots on the pedal when they have the lead like they did tonight. Good teams don’t let the basement dwellers of the league back into games late, and the Canucks almost let a winnable game slip away. Another good game for Green to teach this young roster with, but it’s good to see the boys pull out with the win.