By Andrew Chernoff
Jan 7, 2017
Vancouver (20-19-3=43 pts) played the second game of back-to-back games tonight against Pacific division rivals, Calgary Flames (22-18-2=46 pts), this time at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Tonight was also the start of a three game road trip that will see them in Nashville on Tuesday, Jan 10 and Philadelphia on Thursday, Jan 12, before coming back to Rogers Arena for a three game homestand beginning on Jan 15 against the New Jersey Devils.
Canucks Win Streak Ends At 6 Games
Vancouver’s win streak ended in Calgary at six games, with a 3-1 road loss, leaving the Canucks with a 5-13-1 road record this season.
With the loss, the Canucks second wild card position in the Western conference becomes short lived, as Los Angeles moved into it, after winning earlier in the day.
Vancouver falls back into 6th place in the Pacific division, with 43 points, a point behind Los Angeles, 3 points behind Calgary; 13 points ahead of 7th, and last place, Arizona.
Bo Horvat scored the only Vancouver goal, his 13th goal this season, assisted by Alex Edler (6) and Troy Stecher (10) at 3:04 of the second period, to pull Vancouver within a goal of Calgary at 2-1, but that was all the Canucks could get against Flames goalie Chad Johnson.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 of 27 shots, and now boosts a record of 8-9-2, with a 2.63 GAA, and .912 Sv% overall.
Horvat, Edler Extend Point Streaks Tonight Against Calgary
Bo Horvat extended his points streak to 3-5=8 pts / 7 games, while Alex Edler extended his points streak to 0-2=2 pts / 2 games.
Rodin Dresses But Sits On Bench, Does Not Play
Anton Rodin dressed as the 13th Canuck forward but did not play at all in the game.
WD says Rodin didn’t play because there isn’t enough ice time to go around. Funny, just watched a tournament that ices 13 F’s every game.
— Blake Price (@BlakePriceTSN) January 8, 2017
Win Streak Highs
The Canucks came into the game having the best record in the NHL since Dec 28th, 6-0-0, including the NHL best faceoff winning percentage, 56.2 percent, in that span; and the NHL best goals against average, 1.5 GAA, on their six game win streak.
Vancouver was in tough against Calgary, with the 2nd worst road record in the NHL; with Calgary 10-10-0 at home; 8-4-1 in their last 13 games at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
So the rubber hit the road, with the second consecutive game between the two playoff hungry teams.
Game Review
Vancouver started the game without Ben Hutton, a late game scratch, who could not play due to an upper body injury, and were left with only five defensemen to play the game.
Then, Nikita Tryamkin left the game after a hit from Michael Ferland, with an upper body injury, and Vancouver was down to four defensemen.
The Flames responded with two goals in 63 seconds late in the first period, to take a 2-0 lead over the Canucks. Goals by Alex Chiasson and Matt Stajan, at 14:26 and 15:29.
Tryamkin returned to the game prior to the end of the first period.
In the first period:
- Canucks out hit 15-3 by Calgary
- Each team had 10 shots
- Vancouver had 10 shot attempts blocked; 4 missed shots
- Alex Edler had 3 shot attempts blocked; 3 missed shots; and had 2 of Vancouvers 3 blocked shots
- Canucks FOW% was 42 percent (8 for 19); Henrik Sedin was 3 for 7.
- Loui Eriksson, Brendan Gaunce led Canucks with 2 shots each
Vancouver came out in the second period, dominating the first 3:04, resulting in a goal by Bo Horvat, his 13th goal this season, assisted by Alex Edler (6) and Troy Stecher (10) at 3:04, to pull within a goal of Calgary at 2-1.
The Canucks battled hard in the second period but would close out the period behind by a goal at 2-1.
In the second period:
- Canucks out shot Flames 13-10
- Each team had 3 hits each
- FOW% for Canucks in the period, 61 percent (11 for 18)
- Canucks had 5 attempted shots blocked; 7 missed shots
After two periods:
- After two periods, Alex Edler had 1 shot, 4 attempted shots blocked, 4 missed shots, 2 hits, 2 blocked shots, 1 takeaway
- After two periods, Jayson Megna and Loui Eriksson had 3 shots each; 6 different Canucks, 2 shots each.
- Canucks faceoff win percentage at even strength, 51 percent (18 for 35)
- Vancouver 0 for 2 on the power play, with no shots registered
Vancouver went into the final period looking for another come from behind win to keep their win streak alive, against a tough opponent, who had physically taken the game to Vancouver, with the Canucks short a defenseman, and with Tryamkin and Sbisa not playing at 100 percent healthy.
The Canucks were in the game until the final 1:50 when Calgary’s Michael Frolik would score his 10th goal of the season, to put the Flames up by two goals at 3-1.
Vancouver pulled Markstrom for a 6th attacker but could not capitalize with the extra man, and lost 3-1.
In Brief:
- Calgary out shot Vancouver 31-29
- Canucks 0 for 3 on the power play; with 4 shots for, all on their last power play of the night in the 3rd period
- Vancouver 1 for 1 on the penalty kill, with 4 shots against
- Canucks out hit 23-10 by Calgary; had 8 blocked shots
- Vancouver were 28 for 52 in faceoffs, for 54 percent
- Canucks finished with 18 attempted shots blocked, 15 missed shots, led by:
- Alex Edler, 4 attempted shots, 4 missed shots
- Nikita Tryamkin, 4 attempted shots blocked
- Alex Biega, 2 attempted shots blocked, 2 missed shots
- Jayson Megna led Canucks with 4 shots; Loui Eriksson, Henrik Sedin, and Troy Stecher, had 3 shots each
- Anton Rodin dressed but did not play a shift
.@BoHorvat continues to put up the points, but #Canucks can’t extend their win streak to seven games in this @BudCanada Game in Five. pic.twitter.com/9S7NJ9hysm
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
They Said It…
Henrik Sedin thinks the team played better tonight, but just didn’t get the result they wanted in Calgary. pic.twitter.com/a29OHixIvb
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
.@BoHorvat recaps the game against the Flames that snapped their 6-game win streak. pic.twitter.com/Poj1gWnFdP
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
“Our line had a lot of chances and we need to find a way to score. We had good looks and so did they, both goalies played well.” – H. Sedin
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
“In the 2nd and 3rd we played better. Tough circumstances being down to five D-men and we didn’t get the bounces tonight.” – Markstrom
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
“I’m proud of our group. I feel better about this effort than last night. We didn’t get bounces, but the effort was strong.” – Desjardins
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 8, 2017
