Canucks Debut New Players, Drop 2-1 Decision to Coyotes in Shootout

By Nelson Daily Sports

Leigh Ramsden lives in Vancouver and is an avid Canucks fan, having been a partial season ticket holder for over 10 years. He's old enough to have witnessed all three Stanley Cup losses, as such, his prime goal is to remove those scars by seeing a Cup brought to Vancouver. Leigh is Fighting For Stanley's (www.fightingforstanley.ca/vancouver) west coast correspondent, and will also blog after all Canuck games for The Nelson Daily.

The Vancouver Canucks completed their brutal road trip on Tuesday night in Phoenix.  It was the Canucks seventh game in the last 11 days, and it showed again as they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Coyotes in a shootout.

The game review section of this blog will be short – because not much really went on in this game.  The Canucks best period was again the first, continuing a trend we have seen for the last three games.  Alex Edler scored 10 seconds into a power play when he double-banked a shot in off two Coyote defenders and past Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith.  The shots were even through the first period, and uncharacteristically, both teams gave up a number of chances.

For most of the first 15 minutes of the second period, the Coyotes were dominant, badly outshooting the Canucks 12-2 and generating the lion’s share of the chances.  The Canucks were able to turn the tide in the last five minutes, getting six shots on goal to the Coyotes’ zero, and the teams went to the dressing rooms with the Canucks still holding the slim one-goal lead.

Vancouver played a better third period as they outshot Phoenix 15-11 and played the Coyotes evenly.  Unfortunately, they were unable to keep Phoenix off the scoresheet, as aging veteran Ray Whitney skated between the Canucks defensive pair of Alex Edler and Sami Salo, and got to a rebound to slip it past Schneider to tie the game midway through the final frame.  The Canucks came on strong after that point, but Smith shut the door on them.

The teams went to overtime and the Canucks were unlucky not to win in the 4 on 4 period.  They generated five shots to the Coyotes’ zero, including a couple of great chances by Daniel Sedin and Kevin Bieksa, the latter one going off the crossbar.

For what seems like the 15^th time in the last 20 games, the Canucks went to a shootout.  The Canucks failed to score on their first two attempts, and Phoenix forwards Whitney and Mikkel Boedker beat Schneider to seal the win.  As a result, the Coyotes finished the month with an unbeaten record of 11-0-1.

Tonight’s game was definitely a goaltending battle as both Smith and Schneider were excellent between the pipes.  That said, even though the Canucks had a decent final 15 minutes of the game, the bigger story is that it is clear they are out of gas when it comes time to vault themselves ahead of an opponent. 

In the last three games of this trip, they held slim, one goal leads through most of the game – and only in the New Jersey game were they able to hold on.  Given their opponents’ struggles to score, an extra goal for would have made the difference in any of these contests – the Canucks just weren’t able to get it done.  The Canucks came into the Dallas game with a perfect record of 26-0-0 when leading after two periods, and they have now lost their last two games with such a lead.

The problem with nursing one goal leads in today’s NHL is that every team can score and hard work usually gets it done.  It just seems like more of than not, a team that is down can really come on and apply pressure to the team in front – and you need more than a one goal lead to guarantee a regulation win. 

At the end of the day, the Canucks have struggled to put distance between themselves and their opponent, which has resulted in a lot of their games going to extra time or a shootout.  This trait has started to bite them now that we have entered the last quarter of the season.

GAME OBSERVATIONS

• After yesterday’s big trade of Cody Hodgson, all eyes were on new acquisitions Sami Pahlsson and Zach Kassian tonight.  Kassian played reasonably well, working his way from the fourth line to Kesler’s second line by the end of the game.  Kassian skates well and had a couple chances to score, in addition, he got into a verbal battle with Phoenix enforcer Paul Bissonnette.
• Kassian was credited with five hits, but none were overly memorable.  He ended up with over 12 minutes of icetime.  Kassian took a bad penalty late in the third and usually coach Alain Vigneault doesn’t like this kind of thing, but Kassian played a few shifts afterward and even got a shift in overtime.  Clearly, AV liked what he saw tonight.
• Kassian’s promotion to Kesler’s line came at the expense of David Booth, a move which I don’t really like.  Kesler and Booth have looked good playing together, and if anyone moves down I would think it would be Mason Raymond.
• Once again, Raymond looked decent and I noticed him a lot – not always for the right reasons, but he really is effective at getting and carrying the puck, gaining the zone, and dishing it.  That said, at this point he’s completely lost his nose for the net.  Raymond tried his spin-o-rama move in the shootout, but it didn’t fool Smith who stuck with it and made the save.
• Pahlsson had a quiet game, but that’s basically his M.O.  He wasn’t that noticeable either offensively or defensively.  He spent most of his shifts lined up against Phoenix’s top offensive line and held them off the scoresheet.  He even had a couple chances himself in front of the net, but couldn’t convert.  He had 11 minutes of icetime.
• The lack of presence in the offensive zone of Pahlsson’s line is somewhat concerning, but only time will tell to see how this works out.
• Smith and Schneider were both extremely good tonight.  Schneider would want to have his goal back, however, as it was caused as a result of a horrible, juicy rebound on a long shot from over the blue line.
• Continuing what is now a consistent theme, the Canucks power play looked extremely good, but again failed to score a “traditional” power play goal.  Edler’s goal came on the PP, but it was more a fluke than anything else.  As a result, the PP finished one for three on the night, but could have scored on each of its opportunities.
• At some point, the PP is going to start scoring again.  And when it does, the Canucks will be able to put some distance between themselves and their opponent in games like we have seen recently.
• I haven’t mentioned it a lot but the Canucks penalty kill has been playing unbelievably well of late, especially on the road.  The Canucks PK is fifth overall and third on the road, and held Phoenix scoreless in four opportunities tonight.  It’s an under-reported story to the Canucks’ success – tonight’s game could have turned on the late Kassian penalty, but, it didn’t.

PARTING SHOTS

Broadcast Observation of the Day:  Canucks nation was out in full force in Phoenix as it seemed like half the crowd was wearing Canuck blue.  Unfortunately, the team didn’t reward them with many goals or a win.

I have enjoyed the last couple of games when Don Taylor runs the intermission coverage for Sportsnet.  Sportsnet’s competitive advantage over TSN was their regional coverage and multiple regional channels.  They seem to have gone away from this over the years, and as I’ve noted in this space before, the home games are much better than the road, because there’s a full complement of media available for intermission coverage in Vancouver. 

However, for road games, Sportsnet relies heavily on the Toronto studio.  As this has increased, the broadcasts have lost some of their regional flair – at times, you get an intermissions segment featuring the eastern-based Hockeycentral panel discussing something completely unrelated to the game at hand. 

In Vancouver, we’re lucky, because we at least get Don Taylor and Garry Valk, who are dedicated to Canucks coverage.  From what I understand, viewers in the prairies aren’t so lucky.

Taylor and Valk were in Toronto to cover the trade deadline, and they remained there for tonight’s broadcast.  It doesn’t matter where they are – but it would be better if Sportsnet dedicated broadcasters to each game, both home and away.

Looking ahead: The Canucks return home for a seven game homestand, and face St. Louis on Thursday night.