Welcome to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!
Here’s the lineup for tonight’s game:
Right off the bat, Vilmer Alriksson set up Phil Di Giuseppe for a partial breakaway after a nice cross-ice feed. It was nice to see Alriksson get another preseason chance when he very easily could have been reassigned to his junior club already.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki made a nifty one touch pass at the blue line that not only allowed the Canucks to gain the zone, but also gave them the game’s first power play as Lekkerimäki drew a tripping penalty on the play. Aatu Räty had the best chance of the man advantage when he let a one-timer fly low blocker on Dan Vladar.
The Flames opened the scoring on the next shift as Brayden Pachal let go of a point shot that Arturs Silovs had trouble picking up through traffic. 1-0 Flames.
Ty Mueller caused a turnover after he intercepted a bad pass to Mackenzie Weegar and moved in on a breakaway. Weegar caught up to Mueller and tipped the 2023 fourth round pick’s shot wide.
Ryan Lomberg capitalized on a broken play that once again started as a point shot on Silovs to make it 2-0 Flames.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki jumped on a loose puck after some solid work along the boards from Daniel Sprong freed up the puck in the high slot. 2-1 Flames.
That’s Lekkerimäki’s first goal in Canucks colours and another strong play from Daniel Sprong, who continues his already strong preseason. And yes, STRONG preseason. Not SPRONG preseason. Be better.
Dan Vladar made a flurry of saves later in the period after another strong shift from the Räty line. Räty was robbed by Vladar on a tap-in after Vincent Desharnais fed him on a cross-ice feed in close.
The pace was good in this one — anything is better than what we saw Friday night in Seattle — as the Canucks were down by one in the first intermission.
The Flames pulled ahead by two at the tail end of a power play just before the halfway mark of the second period after Blake Coleman tipped a point shot that seemed to beat Arturs Silovs in slow motion. 3-1 Flames.
Point shots continue to be a bit of a problem for Silovs.
The Nils Höglander-Aatu Räty-Conor Garland trio continued to be the Canucks’ best line, and were rewarded for their efforts after Höglander sprung Garland in on a two-on-one with Räty. Garland held the puck, kicked his leg, and made a no-look pass to Räty, who had all the time in the world to let go of the perfect shot to beat Dan Vladar and make it 3-2.
The Flames pulled ahead after letting go of… you guessed it, another point shot! This time it was Adam Klapka who curled around at the point, realized he didn’t have much of a play, and let go of a wrister that found its way past Silovs.
The Canucks entered the third period down by two, with Devin Cooley and Nikita Tolopilo entering the creases for the Flames and Canucks, respectively.
Akito Hirose left the game early in the third after taking an awkward fall into the boards after Adam Klapka finished his check on the 25-year-old defenceman.
Aatu Räty nearly scored his second goal of the game as he moved in on another two-on-one. He was thinking shoot the whole way, but hit the crossbar. Add this to his highlight reel on the night.
The Canucks had over three minutes of consecutive power play time and we got to get another great look at Daniel Sprong, who had himself another strong game. They didn’t manage to score, but Sprong looked dangerous enough to make me realize he’s going to be a legit threat on PP2 this season, if not PP1.
4-2 Flames final.
Some takeaways from tonight:
-The NHL preseason is way too long. Start the season already!
-Aatu Räty impressed once again, and he might just be the right-handed centre this team needs… sort of. His stick flipping on faceoffs is so much fun to watch. More players should do that so I don’t need to hear any more strong side faceoff arguments ever again.
-Another night where I would have liked to see more from Sammy Blais. I’m thinking he won’t make this team at this juncture.
-The Canucks are perfect through 13 penalty kill opportunities so far this preseason. That means they’re on pace for a 100% PK rate this season.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game?
