Canucks Begin Six Game Road Trip with 5-2 Defeat Over Oilers

Leigh Ramsden lives in Vancouver and is an avid Canucks fan, having been a partial season ticket holder for over 10 years. He's old enough to have witnessed all three Stanley Cup losses, as such, his prime goal is to remove those scars by seeing a Cup brought to Vancouver. Leigh is Fighting For Stanley's (www.fightingforstanley.ca/vancouver) west coast correspondent, and will also blog after all Canuck games for The Nelson Daily.

The Canucks started out on a six-game road trip on Sunday night in Edmonton, where they met the Oilers in a Northwest Division clash.  Playing in the second of  back-to-back games, Vancouver was able to carry over the momentum they gained on Saturday to defeat the Oilers 5-2 at Rexall Place.

Coming off their big win against Toronto last night, the Canucks didn’t look past the Oilers as they came out very strong in the first period. Their aggressive start was rewarded just 53 seconds into the game, as a defensive lapse in the Oilers’ zone led to Henrik Sedin being left alone in front of an open net.  Henrik converted the pass from brother Daniel to put the Canucks up early.

Edmonton ran into penalty trouble approximately five minutes later, as Ben Eager and Ladislav Smid took marginal penalties back to back, which gave Vancouver a 5 on 3 advantage.  Sami Salo, scoring his 300^th career point, converted a beautiful feed from Henrik to put the Canucks ahead for good.  The Canucks continued to apply pressure throughout the first period, eventually outshooting Edmonton 17-5.

The Oilers came out with a stronger effort in the second period.  Kamloops Blazers alum Devan Dubnyk replaced starter Nikolai Khabibulin to start the period, the latter suffering from a groin problem.  Edmonton climbed to within one just over a minute into the second, as Shawn Horcoff scored a rare goal, beating Canuck netminder Cory Schneider. 

Edmonton held the Canucks without a shot for most of the next 15 minutes until defenseman Kevin Bieksa scored the eventual game winning goal after some good work in the offensive zone by the team’s fourth line.  Chris Higgins put the game out of reach at 16:40 of the second, when he snapped a wrist shot over Dubnyk’s glove.

Oiler youngster Magnus Paajarvi brought his team back to within two before the period was out, as Ales Hemsky found him on a three on two and his shot found its way through Schneider.

Daniel Sedin scored just 33 seconds into the third period, restoring the Canucks' three goal advantage.  For the balance of the third, the Canucks played a typical road period with a three goal lead in hand, as they didn’t take any chances and attempted to keep the Oilers to the outside.  This led to a lopsided shot total in the period, 16-9 in favour of the Oilers.

In many ways, this game was similar to last night’s tilt against the Leafs.  The Canucks had a very dominant first period, and jumped out to a quick lead.  Edmonton was able to hang around, and for a large stretch of the second period, were within only a goal of the division leaders. 

That said, when the broadcast noted the Canucks had failed to register a shot until approximately 14 minutes into the period, I was floored – the Canucks had their fair share of the play and good possession in the offensive zone on a number of occasions.  Eventually, Vancouver’s top-end talent was able to break through and blow the game open.

Once again the Canucks received contributions from all up and down the lineup.  The first line of Sedin-Sedin-Burrows carried over their strong play from last night, finishing with two goals and four assists.  For the second game in a row, Kesler’s second line didn’t generate a lot offensively, but Kesler was able to register an assist on the Salo’s power play goal. 

Most impressive was the play, again, of the third and fourth lines.  The Hodgson-Hansen-Higgins unit was very good tonight and was the team’s second most dangerous line.  And again, the fourth line of Lapierre-Malhotra-Weise was strong in limited minutes – they scored a goal (which was called back) and also did all the work to create Bieksa’s game-winner.

VIGNEAULT SORTING OUT BOTTOM TWO LINES IN ADVANCE OF TRADE DEADLINE

The state of the Canucks bottom-six forwards has been a subject of much consternation in Canucks Nation.  Many observers feel that rookie standout Cody Hodgson should be rewarded with more ice time, while others take the view that his limited minutes (approximately 12 per night on average) are sufficient and appropriate, and are indicative of coach Alain Vigneault’s propensity to keep Hodgson off the ice in certain critical situations.

Last week in an off-day interview, Vigneault stated that he’s still searching for the right mix with his third line.  In the interview, he contrasted this year with last year, when he said he was able to put out Malhotra, Hansen, and Raffi Torres against one of the other team’s top two lines, which freed up either the Sedin or Kesler line to get out against the opposition’s weaker personnel. 

By contrasting this year to last, it implicitly means that Vigneault doesn’t feel the same way about the current version of the third unit, centred by Hodgson.  This explanation is consistent with the ice time patterns we’ve seen so far this year.

When Chris Higgins came back from his staph infection a few games ago, it freed up AV to put the line combinations together that he wants to assess prior to the trade deadline at the end of the month.  As a result, in the past two games, we’ve seen the Hodgson-Hansen-Higgins unit play three or four more minutes than Hodgson’s line was seeing previously. 

This has also meant that Mason Raymond has benefitted by seeing time back on the second line with Kesler and Booth, time that he hasn’t taken advantage of, at least on the scoresheet (in my opinion, he does a number of other things on the ice are good for the team - but that's another story).

So far, things have worked out well for the team with these combinations.  With only four games left prior to the trade deadline, the Canucks’ braintrust is assuredly watching everyone’s performance with a keen eye in order to assess the mix they have, and if the best solution for the third line is currently on the roster, or if a trade should be made.

TANEV GETTING MUCH BETTER, VERY QUICKLY

Last night in this space, I noted that Chris Tanev wasn’t that noticeable in his 18 minutes of ice time.  Tonight, Vigneault again gave the rookie a decent amount of icetime, as he logged just over 16 minutes, including a shift on the penalty kill.

Tanev made a few plays tonight worth noting, but most impressive was when he rushed the puck down the ice in the second period.  He showed that he has decent speed and can handle the puck with the big boys.  Another notable play was on a great breakout pass, which John Garrett raved about in the booth. 

In short, he was noticeable tonight – and if this rapid rate of improvement continues, the sky is the limit for this kid.

PARTING SHOTS

Quick comments:

• The Canucks benefitted from a couple of marginal calls in the first period when they went on the 5 on 3.  The penalty called on Eager wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen him do, and the second penalty on Smid was a pretty weak call, especially considering the Canucks were already on the man-advantage.  That said, the referees pocketed their whistles on a couple of other occasions when a Canuck was held or interfered with.
• Manny Malhotra had a goal called back late in the first period – it went off his skate and the war room in Toronto determined the puck was directed in the net – even though you are allowed to stop and deflect the puck, which is what Malhotra did.  That said, if I was making the call, I would have disallowed the goal too – however, goals have stood against Vancouver this season that were more obvious kicking motions than this one.  I can’t figure out these guys for the life of me – a sentiment shared by Vigneault, based on his reaction.
• The second period statistics really didn’t tell the entire story.  Although they were outshot 7-5, at a minimum, the Canucks held their own in terms of puck possession, and appeared to be the more dangerous team even during their long shot-less stretch to open the period.  In looking at detailed scoring chance data over at Canucks Army, Edmonton only generated two chances during that 15 minute stretch, one of which was Horcoff’s goal.  The Canucks weren’t as bad as the shot clock indicated.
• Dale Weise returned to the lineup after being sidelined after taking a shot off his foot on the last roadtrip.  In his stead, Byron Bitz drew into the lineup and performed admirably, using his size and showing his ability to skate.  Weise responded with a strong game of his own in limited minutes, his best shift coming when he worked hard on the forecheck, passed the puck back to Bieksa at the point, and then went to the front to screen Dubnyk for Bieksa’s goal.  I think that some competition at the bottom end of the lineup is good to have, as it leaves the players with a sense of urgency when they get on the ice.
• With two points apiece, Henrik and Daniel improved again in the scoring race to fourth and seventh, respectively.  They have found their game again and were unlucky to not get a couple more goals in tonight’s game.  Henrik is now seven points behind league leader Evgeni Malkin.
• The Canucks power play looked very dangerous tonight and was unlucky not to get a couple more goals.  It finished one for five tonight, and the Canucks improved their power play percentage to 17% in the last 30 games, which is when it started going south back in mid-December.  It’s slowly coming around.
• An impressive statistic:  after tonight, it's been 94 games since the last time the Canucks led a game after two periods and suffered a regulation loss, which is best in the NHL.  Clearly, when they are ahead, the Canucks can finish games.
• Given the above, I find it strange (well, maybe I don’t) that the Canucks were named by 24% of players polled as the league’s “Most Overrated Team” in an anonymous player poll conducted by Hockey Night in Canada.  Most disliked I can understand – but overrated?  The team is very good and they prove it game in, game out.
• Much like the Leafs last night, the Oilers’ back end was in disarray for much of this game.  As good as their young forwards are, I can’t see this team going anywhere until they get more NHL-calibre defensemen in the lineup – especially considering the lack of experience up front.

Broadcast Observation of the Day:  Tonight featured Shorthouse and Garrett all over the official scorer in Edmonton – and I have to say, I think they were on the mark, as they continually pointed out errors on the scoring plays (including how Weise wasn’t originally credited with an assist on Bieksa’s goal).  This is yet another area where there is just no consistency throughout the NHL.

I also liked Dan Murphy's fast ascension from ice-level to the rafters in the first intermission, when he went from conducting a player interview at the conclusion of the period to discussing things with Garrett shortly thereafter.  You don't see that kind of thing every day!

Looking ahead: Vancouver continues this important road trip on Tuesday night in the Music City, as they face newly-acquired Hal Gill and the surging Nashville Predators.