After a stellar performance from Kevin Lankinen in what was a bit of a lock-it-down snoozefest on Tuesday night, tonight’s first goal came much sooner than it did last night. Arturs Silovs overcommitted on a point shot and couldn’t stop Blake Lizotte’s follow up chance, which made it 1-0 Penguins on Pittsburgh’s first shot of the game.
It’s also worth mentioning this play happened because Filip Hronek made a dreadful cross-ice pass to Quinn Hughes that allowed Pittsburgh to take possession. Not the start they were looking for, to say the least!
After a strong first shift from the fourth line, Max Sasson and Nils Höglander got in on the forecheck, and Aatu Räty scored his second goal of the season after his wingers caused a turnover that ended up right on his tape. 1-1.
The Canucks gave up the game’s next goal after becoming a little too stationary in the defensive end. Rickard Rakell tipped home a Bryan Rust pass past Silovs to make it 2-1 Penguins. Soucy and Juulsen was a trip.
Looking for a spark, Tocchet sent out his new energy line of Höglander-Räty-Sasson, but Räty got his stick up in the neutral zone and was called for high sticking. It also could have been cross-checking, but his stick was certainly high, so the call felt appropriate.
On what was their second power play opportunity of the game, Kevin Hayes buried a loose puck in Silovs’ goal crease to quickly make it 3-1 Penguins.
The Penguins kept coming, as Sidney Crosby set up Rust for a cross-ice tap in to make it 4-1 Penguins.
Here’s my takeaway from each of these goals:
Hronek and Silovs are to blame for the first goal. Carson Soucy is completely lost on the second one. Canucks leave the middle of the ice (or the GOTI, as we call it here) wide open on the third and fourth goals.
And yes, four goals on nine shots just isn’t good enough. Don’t give me the “those are grade-A chances!” excuse either. You’re allowed to stop those ones too, and at the NHL level, plenty of goalies do. With Demko’s return on the horizon, this was likely the last we see of Arturs Silovs for a while.
Now let’s get to the second period…
Bryan Rust let go of a snap shot off the rush that beat Silovs cleanly on the glove side, as this one went to 5-1 Penguins.
Five goals on 13 shots.
Silovs made a save on a breakaway chance from Drew O’Connor after Erik Brännström got caught in a bad spot in the neutral zone. Hey, we had to mention the good stuff too.
Speaking of good stuff, the Canucks didn’t give up despite the wonky scoreline, as Fil Hronek did well to bat down an aerial pass from Pettersson before Hughes found Pius Suter, who ripped the puck past Tristan Jarry to make it 5-2.
That’s Suter’s team-leading seventh goal of the season.
The Canucks had some nice jump in the back half of the second period, and they were likely a bit unlucky to enter the third period down by three goals instead of one or two. Pittsburgh did a great job at protecting the middle of the ice, blocking shots, and playing the bend but don’t break style we saw the Canucks employ against the Bruins on Tuesday.
Quinn Hughes got the third period started off with a bang after he made a coast-to-coast solo dash 40 seconds into the frame on the heels of a strong defensive play from Elias Pettersson. 5-3 Penguins.
Shortly after, Nils Höglander drew a hooking penalty to give the Canucks their first power play of the game.
The Canucks struggled to get set up on this one, and the best chance actually came from the Penguins when Blake Lizotte nearly scored his second goal of the game after a bouncing puck got past Pettersson at the point. Silovs got enough of it to keep it out, keeping the Canucks in this one.
Silovs continued to make some more nice saves in the third, and allowed the Canucks to pull within one after Elias Pettersson won the offensive zone draw before finding the rebound on a Quinn Hughes point shot to make it 5-4 with 1:46 on the clock.
The Canucks’ comeback attempt ended there though, as they couldn’t complete the comeback after making it very interesting. 5-4 final.
Some takeaways from tonight:
-Thatcher Demko can’t come back soon enough. This was likely (and hopefully) Arturs Silovs’ last NHL start for a while, with Demko being close to a game time decision as of Monday. And no, the Canucks shouldn’t be (and aren’t) rushing Demko back.
-Max Sasson with another point tonight. Not a bad start to your NHL career! I liked his game tonight, and thought he showed some strong forechecking ability.
-Erik Brännström seems to be struggling with top four deployment so far. I wonder what he looks like with a better partner or a longer run against tougher competition. The Canucks likely can’t give him the former, but they can certainly give him the latter, because that also means we don’t have to see Soucy-Myers together.
-Nikita Tolopilo is starting to find his stride at the AHL level, and stopped 34 of 35 shots against Bakersfield on Tuesday night. As the OG Silovs truther, it pains me to say it, but I’ve started to wonder if Tolopilo can pass Silovs on the depth chart this season. Maybe I’m being too hard on Silovs given how bad the team in front of him was tonight.
-Nice little bounce-back game for the DeBrusk-Pettersson-Sherwood trio, who were game planned for and effectively shut down in Boston on Tuesday night. They were much better tonight.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game?
