First the bad news. The Canucks no longer have a winning record in the preseason, thanks to a 4-2 loss to the Flames on Saturday night in Calgary. Vancouver has yet to put together an extremely dominant effort in any of their four exhibitions so far, the goaltending has been a bit hit or miss and the defence has looked downright disastrous at points, particularly when it comes to preventing deflections and screens.
But here’s the good news: that’s exactly what these games are for. Discovering the bugs in the system is easier to fix now than it will be in the heat of the regular season, and while some Canucks undoubtedly have work to do, others have impressed in more ways than one.
As far as the scale of good to bad preseasons go, this one still feels like it’s leaning to the positive side overall. While other teams – knock on wood – have already lost key players to injuries or been on the wrong end of some disasterous results, there’s still been a fair bit of good to gather from the Canucks.
Here’s some conclusions you can jump to with two-thirds of the preseason done.
The Rät Pack takes the top line
Right on the first day of training camp, Rick Tocchet introduced us to The Rät Pack: Aatu Räty centering Nils Höglander and Conor Garland, making up a talented line of undersized, feisty forwards. The trio got their chance to shine in Saturday’s contest, and they did not disappoint.
With the Flames on a line change, Höglander sprung Garland and Räty on an odd-man rush with a stretch pass. Garland dragged Dan Vladar and Artem Grushnikov to the left before feeding the puck back to Räty, who rifled it low past Vladar’s outstretched pad.
This line’s efforts were a major plus from the night. Garland made a brave shot block in the second period, Räty hit the post in the third, and their overall intensity and refusal to back down got under the Flames’ skin on a few different occasions.
You don’t want to be completely married to a third line combo when the bottom six is always going to be your most volatile spots, but there is definitely some chemstry forming here. Might as well keep the Räts in the lab a while longer.
Add the Rocket Richard to Lekkerimäki’s shelf
There’s only one way to describe Joanthan Lekkerimäki’s first preseason tally as a Canuck: a goal scorer’s goal.
Lekkerimäki sees his lane to Vladar with only Grushnikov (you again?) standing in his way. Watching the puck smack off Grushnikov’s stick into the air, over Vladar’s head and into the net had to be a bit of a relief for Lekkerimäki, even if he’s yet to look out of place among NHL competition. This just further cements his case.
Funny similar story: back when I was a nine year old rookie winger, my first goal in organized hockey was a shot that ramped up the opposing goalie’s stick, over his head and in. That Minoru rink in Richmond was always my lucky arena. Maybe the Saddledome will become Lekkerimäki’s.
The Perfect Penalty Kill
The Canucks have faced 13 shorthanded scenarios through four preseason games, and they’ve yet to allow a single goal. Based on research done by our statistics department, that would put them on pace for a 100% penalty kill percentage on the season, far eclipsing the NHL record held by the 2011-12 New Jersey Devils (89.6%).
The penalty killing crew’s success has been all the more impressive with how much the roster has flipped over in that time. Speaking of Conor Garland, in a rare PK assignment tonight he performed quite admirably, including earning a shorthanded breakway in the third period.
If the Canucks can turn this into some positive momentum ahead of the regular season, they might not be able to bat 1.000 the entire time but perhaps a more humble .900 is within reach.
