The big question heading into this one was how the Canucks would contend with the loss of Filip Hronek. They’ve already been without him for a few games, but tonight was the first game without him since we learned that he’ll be out for approximately two months.
Our first look at that was Quinn Hughes immediately going for a line change after the Canucks won the game’s opening faceoff.
Kevin Lankinen needed to be sharp early, which didn’t come as much of a surprise. The Canucks’ power play got their first chance of the game less than 10 minutes in, and as they’ve made a habit of doing lately, they got a puck through to the net, and good things happened.
1-0 Canucks after another goal from the captain.
The Canucks gave up some chances and allowed the Wild to extend their zone time, but the Canucks did a great job of not compounding their mistakes, which limited the quality of the Wild’s chances against. The Canucks also managed to get a few good looks of their own, including a 2-on-1 with Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson after DeBrusk chipped the puck along the boards in the Canucks’ end late in the opening frame.
All in all, that was a great first period road game for the Canucks. Lankinen needed to be sharp, but the Canucks protected the middle of the ice, waited for and made good on their chances, and of course, did well to cover for each other when someone was caught in the wrong spot defensively.
More of that for the next two periods, and also the next two months, please.
The second period opened with Dakota Joshua drawing a hooking penalty and giving the Canucks another power play early on. This time, however, the Wild’s struggling PK managed to kill this one off.
The Wild tied things up later in the second after a breakdown in the neutral zone in which Elias Pettersson tried to step up and intercept the puck but instead gave the Wild an odd-man rush. Frederick Gaudreau made no mistake in ripping the puck past Kevin Lankinen to tie this one up at 1-1.
Carson Soucy tripped up Ben Jones to give the Wild their first power play chance of the game shortly after. The Canucks managed to kill this one off, but in the process, Kiefer Sherwood wore a big hit from Joel Eriksson Ek.
Did you think there should have been a call on this one? Charging? Elbowing? If you answered “yes”, you should know the officials thought you were wrong.
It didn’t matter too much, because in dying moments of the second, Jake DeBrusk stayed hot as he scored from his office (in close to the net) after Elias Pettersson battled for body position and managed to backhand the puck on net. This left the puck loose, and DeBrusk wasn’t going to miss from there. 2-1 Canucks.
The Canucks entered the third up by one.
The third period started with a clear as day too many men on the ice infraction from the Wild that went uncalled by the officials.
Moments later, the Wild tied the game up.
I rarely ever point out officiating miscues, but when it’s that obvious and when it directly impacts the game, that’s an issue.
As a result of this goal, this game needed overtime. And yes, that’s three straight games that required extra time to find a winner.
Pettersson won the opening draw, but unlike in the past couple of games, the Canucks couldn’t keep possession of the puck for minutes on end. Instead, they needed Lankinen to make a breakaway save off of Joel Eriksson Ek.
Then, when the Canucks could have had a potentially game-sealing odd man rush, the officials decided to let a very obvious Kirill Kaprizov trip on Conor Garland go.
Honestly, this overtime had just about everything as both teams traded blows. This is what you want 3-on-3 overtime to be.
Pius Suter and Brock Boeser moved in on a 2-on-0, but Boeser hit the post, and the puck deflected off the iron and sent the Wild on a 2-on-1 of their own.
And unfortunately for the Canucks and Kevin Lankinen, the puck ended up with Kirill Kaprizov.
3-2 final.
Some more takeaways from tonight:
-Thought it was a decent game for Nils Höglander. He had some good jump in this one.
-Jake DeBrusk stays hot. Now on pace for 36 goals. Not bad at all.
-Vinny Desharnais needs to figure it out at some point over the next two months, right?
-Elias Pettersson has raised his baseline game to the level that the Canucks simply need him to be in order to be competitive, especially without JT Miller. Now it’s time for him to elevate to the level of controlling games like he has in the past.
-This game had some life in it, as both teams didn’t shy away from playing physically. Only one team did something that could have resulted in a suspension, though.
-Is it just me or is Dakota Joshua starting to look like himself? I know the numbers may not be there yet, but he’s starting to find it these past two or three games. His ice time was a bit limited tonight, but he’s starting to look more like himself.
-A solid effort and a solid finish to what turned out to be a very successful six game road trip for the Canucks.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game?
