Canucks lose more than a game
Vancouver’s third-period collapse puts a stop to team’s momentum
In the most entertaining four minutes of hockey we are likely to see in Vancouver this season — the four minutes of overtime before the Canucks lost one point and rare momentum on Saturday — Chicago Blackhawk goalie Scott Darling made his second of two breakaway saves against Loui Eriksson and, having lost his catching glove doing so, then stopped Brandon Sutter on the point-blank follow up with one arm tucked behind his back.
Darling said afterward he’d have used his bare hand had Sutter shot to the goalie’s catcher side instead of against his blocker.
While Darling’s catcher wasn’t quite in the rye, the Canucks might have been into it after the game because they needed a drink.
They blew a 3-0 third-period lead and lost when Canuck goalie Jacob Markstrom allowed Marian Hossa’s 30-footer through retreating defenceman Alex Edler to beat him blocker-side at 4:04 of OT.
Earlier in this dismal season, Vancouver surged back from threegoal deficits against the Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars. So if a Canuck team that was 25th in the National Hockey League can storm back on those opponents, they sure as heck can get racked by a powerful Stanley Cup contender like the Blackhawks.
The problem with Saturday’s giveaway is the Canucks lost much more than a single point.
For all of the angst and aggravation they have caused to their nervy fan base this season, the Canucks were actually in danger of being on a roll, riding confidence and a hot streak, as they go on the road this week for winnable games against the Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche.
A victory against the Blackhawks would have capped a challenging four-game homestand at 3-1. The Canucks would have bounded to Phoenix with wins in four of their previous six games and a wave of enthusiasm and confidence.
Instead, they’re spending three days between games thinking about their third-period paralysis, when the Hawks outshot them 17-3, and all the negativity evoked by their 7-10-2 start to the season.
One week earlier, after getting home from a 1-5 road trip that at least ended a nine-game losing streak, the Canucks would have considered a 2-1-1 homestand a glorious step toward recovery.
But it was difficult to feel positive about anything late Saturday when the Canucks were beaten not by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, but by Vinnie Hinostroza and Ryan Hartman — fledgling fourth-liners who drove the third-period comeback.
“We’ve been through some tough stretches already this year and we’ve kept our heads high,” Canuck captain Henrik Sedin vowed. “We’ll do that again. We are 3-2-1 since the Ranger game (Vancouver’s 5-3 win in Manhattan two weeks ago), so we’re on the right track. We’ve played really good for chunks of games, but we have to keep our focus for 60 minutes.
“It would have been nice to go back on the road with a winning streak and playing well. But that’s the Blackhawks — they can come back and hurt you at any time.”
But as is usually the case, much of the pain was self-inflicted.
Canuck defenceman Troy Stecher had a rookie moment that led to Hartman’s tying goal with 4:14 remaining in the third period, turning the puck over just outside the Vancouver blue-line when his team, under siege, needed a dumpin and line change. But Stecher is a 22-year-old rookie straight out of college hockey who was in his 10th NHL game.
Stecher’s partner, Alex Edler, has logged 638 games and is the Canucks’ top defenceman. And Edler didn’t even twitch as Hinostroza, a sixth-round draft pick who was pointless in his 16-game NHL career to that point, blew past him untouched and scored on his own rebound to make it 3-2 just 73 seconds after Artemi Panarin started the Chicago comeback.
It was like Edler was unprepared for the possibility that Hinostroza might, you know, try to score.
Before Panarin’s goal, Daniel Sedin took a lazy hooking penalty 47 seconds into a third period that the Canucks badly needed to start positively and proactively. Panarin scored six seconds after the penalty ended.
With the Canucks’ best and most experienced players making plays like that, it was almost a minor miracle the team hung on until OT before losing.
“Obviously this loss sucks,” defenceman Luca Sbisa said. “We’re doing a lot of the right things. We’re trying our best. We’re just not smart sometimes.”
The standings have been a rallying cry for the Canucks, who after Saturday’s setback were somehow still only three points behind in both the Pacific Division and Western Conference wild-card playoff races. But they benefit from a false economy, as slow starts by better teams have created an illusion that the Canucks might be better than lousy.
Sbisa said the team, to stay focused and generate urgency, treats the regular season like a string of playoff series.
Each time the Canucks win or lose four games, a new “seven-game series” begins.
Under this scoring system, the Canucks’ series so far have gone 4-0, 0-4, 0-4, 3-4. Yes, Saturday was Game 7.
Nov. 19 may be the nearest the Canucks come to playoffs this season.