The Warmup

Just 72 hours after the Bo Horvat captaincy ceremony, the Vancouver Canucks faced off against the Philadelphia Flyers—and they found themselves faced with two possible paths. They could ride the momentum of that historic 8-2 win to their second consecutive victory—but it was just as likely that the Canucks would suffer an emotional comedown and flounder against their Eastern opponent.
Whatever the result may be, it would come at home on Saturday night—and on Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC, no less.
The occasion of the second home game of the 2019/20 season also marked the first appearance of the Canucks’ new third jerseys.
Predictably, coach Travis Green chose not to mess with success and dressed the same lineup he did Wednesday night—and he kept Jacob Markstrom in net to counter Philadelphia’s Carter Hart.
The Flyers, for their part, were undefeated under head coach Alain Vigneault heading into the matchup.

1st Period

Captain Bo Horvat took the opening faceoff, lining up with Tanner Pearson and Josh Leivo—and the revamped second unit generated a genuine scoring chance right off the bat to get the crowd into it.
And Kevin Bieksa was in the house to keep the positive energy flowing.
Jacob Markstrom put his improved puckhandling skills on display a couple of times in the game’s opening minutes, putting an end to a few early Philadelphia attempts to build some offensive momentum of their own.
Five minutes into the game, the Canucks’ top line struck—and each member played a vital role in the go-ahead goal. JT Miller dug the puck out of the corner and fed it to Chris Tanev, who fired the puck on net—where it was deflected by Elias Pettersson and ultimately banged in on the rebound by a sliding Brock Boeser for his first of the season.
The goal came against the Flyers’ own top line, centered by the defensively-renowned Sean Couturier—making for a strong early statement from the Pettersson unit. The secondary assist also marked the 100th point of Tanev’s career.
Shortly after going ahead by one, the Canucks found themselves on the penalty kill with Alex Edler in the box for tripping—but the thus-far unbeaten Vancouver PK corps killed their 11th straight penalty thanks to some timely goaltending from Markstrom. The return to five-on-five was followed by the first real period of extended pressure from the Canucks, predicated by some clever play from Quinn Hughes—but the home team was unable to extend their lead as the period reached its halfway mark.
The chippiness of the game continued to build until Scott Laughton took a post-whistle shot at Jake Virtanen—and was put on his ass for his efforts. Carsen Twarynski took offense and nailed Virtanen with a crosscheck up high—and following a brief scrum, the Canucks were on their first powerplay of the night.
Boeser nearly nabbed his second of the night, but put the puck just over Carter Hart’s head and the net—and that was the only real chance the Canucks produced on the man advantage despite maintaining possession for most of Twarynski’s time in the box.
The Canucks kept up the physical play for the rest of the period—punctuated by a Jordie Benn slam on Ivan Provorov along the boards—but neither team generated much more in the way of offense as the period reached its end.
The teams were even on the shot-clock after 20 minutes with seven shots apiece—but the Canucks remained ahead on the scoreboard 1-0 and it was a period in which they controlled the majority of the play. So far, so good.

Intermission Highlight

Anything other than listening to Brian Burke go to bat for the Flames’ acquisition of Milan Lucic because he “started two fights.”

2nd Period

The second period opened up much like the first—with Vancouver earning a legitimate scoring chance, this time via an odd-man rush that Tyler Myers nearly finished. Unfortunately, the Canucks put too many men on the ice in all the excitement and earned a two-minute bench minor—their fourth such penalty through three-and-a-half games.
After a few nice saves by Jacob Markstrom and one puck off the post, the Canucks maintained their perfect PK record with their 12th straight—and with Tim Schaller in particular earning praise for his performance on the penalty kill.
The celebration would be short-lived, however, as Carsen Twarynski caught a stretch pass and snuck it past Markstrom soon after the game returned to five-on-five—tying the game at 1-1. It was Twarynski’s first NHL goal—and one that was problematic for the Canucks for a couple of reasons.
The tie did not last longer than a couple shifts—with Tanner Pearson redirecting a Chris Tanev shot from the point past Carter Hart off an offensive zone faceoff win by Bo Horvat just 1:36 later. Josh Leivo picked up the secondary assist on the play.
It was Pearson’s second goal and fourth point in four games.
As of the game’s halfway mark, the Canucks were dominating the play without pulling further ahead—and #Canucks twitter was taking notice.
Meanwhile, Markstrom put a quick end to any Flyers opportunities that managed to break through the Canucks’ stingy defense.
The second period ended much like the first—with the shots close but the Canucks ahead by one goal, this time to the tune of 2-1.

Intermission Highlight

The official kickoff of #TooManyMenGate for Travis Green.

3rd Period

The Flyers came out buzzing in the third, racking up several shots in the period’s opening minutes and putting the Canucks on their heels for a time. Fortunately for Vancouver, Jacob Markstrom remained sharp. All this, despite the realities of Philadelphia’s recent schedule.
From a Vancouver perspective, the game grew a bit stagnant and dull—and #Canucks twitter grew a little distracted as a result:
The most exciting moment in the third’s first half came when a helmetless Tyler Myers hammered James van Riemsdyk to the ice—an undeniably hardcore move from the Canucks’ own not-so-jolly giant. According to a brand-new rule regarding helmetless play, Myers should have received a two-minute minor on the play—but he escaped unpunished.
The game began to progress quickly, with a couple long stints between whistles—perfect for a home team hanging on to a one-goal lead.
With a little more than six minutes remaining, Jordie Benn took a questionable interference minor—putting the Canucks on the man disadvantage again and providing one last test for Vancouver’s perfect penalty kill. Unfortunately, it was one they would not pass.
Oskar Lindblom tied the game by finishing a fabulous pass from Travis Konecny—cousin of Bo Horvat. Markstrom had little chance on the play, but the Canucks’ streak of consecutive kills to start the 2019/20 season was over—and the scored was knotted 2-2 with five minutes left on the clock.
At the time of the goal, shots were 29-18 in favour of the Flyers—and they had clearly controlled the puck for the majority of the period. Philadelphia continued to pour on the pressure through the final minutes of the third—including a Travis Sanheim wrister that caught the post with less than a minute remaining—but Markstrom and a handful of shot-blockers proved equal to the task of preserving the tie long enough to see the Canucks through to three-on-three overtime.

Overtime

Saturday night marked the Canucks’ first overtime game of the 2019/20 season—and Travis Green wasted no time in icing a trio of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes. The rookie defenseman broke up a Flyers rush and gained the offensive zone, but the Canucks’ core triumvirate failed to generate any scoring chances on their first shift. Hughes did the exact same thing on his next shift and set up Josh Leivo for a chance, but Carter Hart made the save.
Pettersson, Boeser, and Hughes converted that Leivo opportunity into a shift of sustained pressure in the Flyers’ end, but they were again unable to crack the Philadelphia defense and earn their own shot on net.
Bo Horvat cut loose on a breakaway shortly thereafter and was stymied by Hart, but Sean Couturier threw his stick on the play—though early enough in the sequence to avoid a penalty shot and just pick up a two-minute minor.
Vancouver iced a powerplay of Pettersson, Boeser, Horvat, and Hughes—but they were unable to convert any of their setups and the game went to a shootout after 65 minutes of action.

Shootout

Brock Boeser made the Canucks’ first shootout attempt of the season—electing to make a backhand move that Carter Hart easily turned aside with the pad.
Jakub Voracek also went with the backhand for the Flyers’ first attempt—but Jacob Markstrom spread out to make the save.
Elias Pettersson was up next, and he put on a deadly display—hitting the brakes at the hashmarks and cruising through a deke that ended with a shot off the post and in.
Claude Giroux tied the shootout at one goal apiece immediately after, beating Markstrom with a smooth wrister.
Tanner Pearson rounded out the Canucks’ first three shooters, and he made no mistake in beating Hart with a rather simple wrist shot through the five-hole.
Kevin Hayes finished off the shootout with a rather unremarkable attempt that Markstrom had no problem solving—and that sealed the deal on a 3-2 shootout victory for the Vancouver Canucks.

The Wrap-Up

This game can be looked at a bunch of different ways. On the one hand, a win is a win—and the Canucks looked great in their first crack at three-on-three overtime and the shootout. On the other, they had control of the game for 40 minutes and then let Philadelphia back into it with a lackluster third—and that’s not something they can afford to get used to if they really hope to make a run at the playoffs in 2019/20.
At the end of the day, it’s probably best to think of this one as an overall positive outcome for a game that could have easily represented a massive emotional letdown after the events of Wednesday night. It sure wasn’t an 8-2 victory, but it also wasn’t a loss—and it still puts the Canucks two points closer to the postseason in a year when every single point is going to count.

Fancy Stats At A Glance

Gameflow from Canucks vs Philadelphia October 12, 2019 (courtesy of naturalstattrick.com)
Heatmap from Canucks vs Philadelphia October 12, 2019 (courtesy of naturalstattrick.com)

Top Performers

Brock Boeser

Boeser notched his only point of the game early with his first goal of the season—but that was only one component of what proved to be his best game yet of 2019/20. Boeser looked dangerous all night and was one of the few Canucks to put in a consistent effort for all 60 minutes—something that Travis Green rewarded by giving Boeser the second-most minutes amongst forwards.

Jacob Markstrom

Markstrom was the only reason that the Canucks even made it to overtime, standing tall in a third period in which the ice was firmly tilted in the Flyers’ favour. He ended with 29 saves on 31 shots and then stopped two of three shootout attempts to seal the victory—making several highlight-reel saves along the way.

Chris Tanev

It bears mentioning anytime Tanev has a multipoint game, and his two assists is definitely deserving of a shoutout—but there’s more than that to his selection as a Top Performer. Tanev played a big role in several penalty kills and had the sort of flawless game that was common in his prime—and he was on the ice for more minutes than anyone other than Alex Edler and Bo Horvat with 21:44.

Next Game

The Canucks’ next game—and the last of this three-game homestand—comes Tuesday, October 15 against the Detroit Red Wings. The start-time is 7:00PM PST, and the broadcast is Sportsnet.