Canucks injury woes continue

The Vancouver Canucks’ injury woes continued Saturday night but coach Travis Green still liked what he saw in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Before Green met the media, defenceman Chris Tanev emerged, his lip bloody and swollen and his mouth missing teeth after taking a shot to the face in the first period. His absence left Green with a depleted blue line but for a long stretch Saturday it looked like the Canucks were headed for the win in the opener of a seven-game road trip.

“One of the best games we’ve played in a while,” said Green. “That’s a good hockey team over there and I thought we did a good job limiting their chances. That was just a really good hockey game.”

Leafs coach Mike Babock was also complimentary to Green and the Canucks, saying they were probably the better team for the first 30 minutes.

“I thought they worked real hard. I thought they skated real good,” he said. “Our power play wasn’t good (0-for-4 including a man-advantage in overtime) ... but we found a way to win a game down 2-0. So It’s a real big win, a real big two points for us, but I think you’ve got to give them credit. I thought they did a good job, I thought their coach did a real good job with his bench too, I really did. I thought he knew what was going on, he was dialed in.”

It was a showcase of two of the game’s best young talents in Canucks rookie sensation Brock Boeser and sophomore Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews and they didn’t disappoint.

Boeser helped the Canucks to a 2-0 lead and came close to finishing it in overtime on a rocket that hit one post and then another without going into the goal. But he also took a penalty in overtime and was stopped in the shootout.

Matthews started the Leaf comeback with a goal in the third and scored in the shootout.

Tyler Bozak also scored for Toronto (25-16-2) in regulation and in the shootout. Sam Gagner, who had the other regulation goal for the Canucks, scored the lone shootout goal for Vancouver (1619-6) with Frederik Andersen denying Thomas Vanek to seal the win.