The Canucks shook up their lines heading into this game, elevating Conor Garland and Nils Höglander to play with Elias Pettersson. Erik Brannstrom slotted in alongside Vincent Desharnais, who was playing his second game as a Canuck tonight.
There’s been plenty of conversation already about Brannstrom’s lack of defensive ability, but early on, it was Desharnais that appeared to be the weak link on the pairing. In the first ten minutes, Desharnais had two notable turnovers in the defensive end that resulted in Florida extending their zone time and getting chances off on Kevin Lankinen.
Lankinen was sharp early on, looking to build off his strong start against the Flyers in his Canucks debut last Friday. The Canucks’ starting goaltender job is wide open, and the club would certainly love if one or Lankinen or Silovs could emerge as the no-brainer option to start the majority of games in Thatcher Demko’s absence. So far, it feels like Lankinen has the advantage over Silovs.
Teddy Blueger opened the scoring after picking up a loose puck beside the net after Kiefer Sherwood threw the puck on net from the point rather than looking for the perfect play. 1-0 Canucks.
Just 11 seconds after the Canucks’ goal, Jesper Boqvist tied things up for Florida after Nils Aman had a defensive zone brain fart and left him wide open at the net front. Hopefully that marks the end of Aman’s time in the lineup over Daniel Sprong. 1-1.
The Canucks got the game’s first power play when Carter Verhaege hauled down Vincent Desharnais and was called for slashing. The first unit struggled to get set up, and the second unit’s best chance was a bumper play one-timer that Arshdeep Bains whiffed on.
The Panthers opened the second period with a strong shift that nearly ended in a goal if not for some more strong play from Kevin Lankinen. Elias Pettersson set up Jake DeBrusk for a good chance on a 2-on-1, but the game remained tied after the flurry of chances both ways in a game that was starting to look like river hockey.
Shortly after, Quinn Hughes stepped into a slap shot from the left side that beat Sergei Bobrovsky’s low blocker side for what appeared to be the captain’s third point of the year. 2-1 Canucks… Florida challenged that Nils Aman’s faceoff win went off his glove before it hit the ice, which I knew was a rule, but not something I’ve ever seen challenged before. The goal stood, so the Canucks got a power play out of it as the Panthers were assessed a delay of game penalty.
Quinn Hughes looked hellbent on getting the Canucks’ their first win, as halfway through the game, Hughes had eight of the Canucks’ 18 shots on goal. That was a career high in shots, and it came before the second period was even over.
Filip Hronek took a cross checking penalty with just under two minutes remaining in the second, putting the Canucks’ penalty kill to the test. The PK has been sharp so far this season, but couldn’t withstand Florida this time around. Anton Lundell was afforded time and space to walk in, and beat Lankinen under the blocker for what was already Lundell’s fourth goal of the year.
This game headed for the third tied at two apiece.
Both teams came out of the tunnels guns a-blazing, and after another great stop from Lankinen, Nils Höglander hit the post after a nice feed from Conor Garland to cap off a hardworking shift from Elias Pettersson’s line at both ends of the ice. It was a fast-paced third period, with the Canucks generating plenty of quality chances that Sergei Bobrovsky had to be otherworldly on.
With the way the goaltenders were playing, this one really felt like a “next goal wins” type of night.
The Canucks were pushing hard for their first win of the season, but this one needed overtime, truly becoming a “next goal wins” type of night.
Quinn Hughes took a hit to the numbers from Sam Bennett in the dying moments of the third, and although he needed to head to the dressing room, he was out for the start of overtime.
Hughes led the charge on a good opportunity for JT Miller that Bobrovsky was sharp in knocking away with the blocker. As is so often the case with 3-on-3 OT, the two sides traded chances, but Miller’s stayed as the best of the frame. That was, until JT Miller scored the OT winner on an absolutely beautiful play to give the Canucks their first win of the season by a final score of 3-2.
Some takeaways from tonight:
-Vincent Desharnais is an absolute trip defensively. The Canucks better hope he can improve and simplify his game in a hurry.
-The Höglander-Pettersson-Garland trio was great tonight, and arguably the Canucks’ best line.
-It feels like these line combinations should be here to stay, although it does seem like Arshdeep Bains needs to be moved lower in the lineup.
-It feels almost unfair that Florida loses Barkov and can just immediately replace him with Anton Lundell.
-Kiefer Sherwood was noticeable all night long, and tonight may have been his best game as a Canuck.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game?
