Canucks drop 5-4 overtime decision to Senators

Look, I know the Canucks’ star players aren’t producing, and that’s undoubtedly a problem. But the lack of quality puck-moving defencemen on this team shows in moments like this. Noah Juulsen is under light pressure from Brady Tkachuk, and throws the puck out of Brock Boeser’s reach and right to Thomas Chabot instead. And in the blink of an eye, the puck is in the back of the Canucks’ net. A legit top four defenceman isn’t going to solve all of this team’s problems, but it might solve more than you think.

Anyway, back to the game.

The Canucks found themselves outshot 5-1 in the first ten minutes, and thankfully Kevin Lankinen was sharp early on. This save on Adam Gaudette may be one of the craziest saves I’ve ever seen at any level of hockey. And not because Lankinen did something miraculous, more so just because I have never seen a save quite like it:

The Senators got two power play attempts early in the first, and were snapping the puck around with so much speed and precision that it was getting exhausting just watching it. With some more solid saves from Lankinen and a little bit of puck luck, the Canucks managed to escape both of the Senators’ power play opportunities unscathed.

They didn’t leave the period unscathed, however, as Shane Pinto put the Senators up by two in the final few minutes of the first.

Brock Boeser got the Canucks a much-needed goal from a top player when he buried a tap-in feed from Quinn Hughes to make it  2-1. 

That was just Boeser’s third goal in 14 games since returning from an upper body injury. He needed that, and the team needed that.

Rick Tocchet perfectly used his advantage of having last change in the aftermath of this goal, as after Travis Green sent out his third line, Tocchet sent the Miller line right back out, changing up the regular rotation of his lines. This paid dividends, as after some great work by Phil Di Giuseppe and JT Miller on the forecheck, Quinn Hughes rifled home a shot through traffic to tie this one up at  2-2. 

That’s about as good of a response you could hope for from the Canucks after a sleepy first period, and even better, it was the Canucks’ best players leading the charge.

The second period opened with Drake Batherson appearing to haul down Quinn Hughes before going back the other way on a breakaway to give the Senators another lead.

3-2 Sens. 

Instead it was the Senators who got the game’s next power play, as Danton Heinen was called for interference, giving Ottawa their third power play of the night at the halfway mark of the second. This time, the Canucks did a great job of disrupting the Senators’ zone entries, not really allowing them to get any sort of rhythm going.

This left the door open for the Canucks to tie the game up before the end of the period, and that’s exactly what Jake DeBrusk did.

Great to see DeBrusk get rewarded with a goal, but even greater to see Quinn Hughes just completely dominate. He’s been the Canucks’ best player all season long, but to lead both on and off the ice the way he did tonight, I’m just not sure you can ask for anything more from your captain. He was on another level tonight.

The Canucks got their second power play chance of the game before the second period came to a close, and what followed was a disaster. After a faceoff loss, the Senators took advantage of JT Miller napping on his defensive responsibilities and Brock Boeser failing to recover for the mistake in time. Josh Norris managed to give the Senators a  4-3 lead heading into the third.

Another thing we didn’t mention on that goal is that Pettersson won the faceoff, but Boeser lost his puck battle to Travis Hamonic, which kickstarted the entire sequence. But yes, Miller’s defensive effort — if you can even call it that — was the most unacceptable thing about this play.

Canucks top players giveth, Canucks top players taketh.

The third period was low-event to start, which the Senators were certainly fine with. There was some physicality, however.

Kiefer Sherwood nearly tied this game up when he moved in, pulled off a nifty little toe drag, and flipped the puck up and over Leevi Merilainen’s pad before Thomas Chabot pulled the trickling puck off the goal line.

With just under five minutes left to go, PDG got back in on the forecheck and helped create another goal for Brock Boeser.

Credit to Pius Suter as well, but my goodness, this was a strong game for Phil Di Giuseppe. 4-4. 

Noah Juulsen got the stick up on Nick Cousins and drew blood, giving Ottawa a four minute power play with just 1:52 left on the clock.

Claude Giroux gave us some four on four hockey when he slashed Elias Pettersson’s stick out of his hand. Shane Pinto put the puck in the Canucks’ net after the whistle, which drew a reaction from both Pettersson and Vincent Desharnais.

Tocchet sent out Pettersson and Miller with 49 seconds to go in an attempt to win this game in regulation, but this one needed overtime to solve.

In OT, it took just 14 seconds for the Sentors to win this one. Six straight for Ottawa. 5-4 final. 

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game?