Canucks power play fizzles in shootout loss in Philadelphia
Canucks score only once in eight power-play chances in 5-4 shootout loss
The Philadelphia Flyers must have been laughing.
They took eight penalties, offered the Vancouver Canucks 14:28 of power-play time, looked vulnerable defensively and seemed at times to be doing everything they could to lose an NHL game.
And still they were denied this by the Canucks, who couldn’t hold a third-period lead, were beaten on special teams despite an 8-4 advantage in power plays and lost 5-4 when Claude Giroux beat Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller for the only goal of a shootout.
If the Canucks can’t win a road game when they score four times and spend nearly one-quarter of it with more players on the ice than the opposition, when can they win a road game? Well, almost never because Thursday’s loss left Vancouver stuck at five wins in 21 road games this season.
Their inability to seize two points even when the opposition is begging the Canucks to take them is a reckless and costly fault.
We’re not saying they “deserved” to win their three road games since the Canucks’ season-high six-game winning streak was built on five home wins, but Vancouver, either by luck or circumstance, was in a position to take at least four of these six points and flew home with just two.
In Nashville on Tuesday, the Canucks lost 2-1 in overtime by creatively surrendering a short-handed winner when Predators penalty killers attacked on a two-on-none rush. Then here against a porous Philadelphia team that had won once over its previous eight games, the Canucks lost the special-teams battle 2-1 despite being bestowed with an advantage in power-play time of 14:28 to 6:30.
The Flyers’ tying goal, a shot by Brayden Schenn that went in off Miller’s shoulder 57 seconds into the third period, came on a power play.
“We scored four goals; that should be enough,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said, deflecting a question about Vancouver’s power play.
“That was the bottom line in this game. It’s not a league where you should have to score four goals to win. But when you do, you should win.”
Just six road games ago, the Canucks scored six goals in Carolina, but lost to the Hurricanes.
Their 1-for-8 performance with the man advantage against the Flyers — Markus Granlund also scored his second of two goals for the Canucks the instant a Philadelphia penalty ended — actually improved Vancouver’s 29th-ranked road power-play efficiency, which had been 10 per cent.
“Normally, we’re a bit better defensively than that,” Canucks winger Jayson Megna said after his two-assist night. “Anytime we score four goals, we should be looking at two points. I thought we battled hard. Anytime you get into a special-teams game, guys get out of the flow. And when it comes to 5-on-5, you’re not as sharp.”
The Canucks were not as sharp, though not as sloppy as the Flyers.
Philadelphia’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Sean Couturier scored goals 18 seconds apart in the middle period after defensive-zone turnovers by Canucks blue-liners Chris Tanev and Nikita Tryamkin, who had a nightmarish game. The Philadelphia power play went 2-for-4.
In the first period, the Canucks had 8:37 of power-play time, which included a continuous advantage of 7:10 created by overlapping double-minors for high-sticking to Brandon Manning and Michael Del Zotto. Yet the period ended 1-1.
Daniel Sedin picked the corner for Vancouver’s only power-play goal — during a two-man advantage.
“You see it all around the league; the team that wins the special-teams battle usually wins the game,” Megna said. “Especially on the road, if we’d been able to pop in a couple more early, it could have been an entirely different game for us.”
Canucks defenceman Luca Sbisa said: “We haven’t had a game like that in a while where we lost 5-4. That’s not how you want to try to win games. At the same time, I’m sure all the penalties had something to do with it. (Losing) 2-1 in the special-teams battle is not great considering how many power plays we had.”
Brandon Sutter also scored for the Canucks. Couturier led the Flyers with a goal and an assist, although the best Philadelphia player may have been relief goalie Michal Neuvirth, who made 14 saves and closed the net on the Canucks when he replaced starter Steve Mason after two periods.
“I feel like that’s the way it’s been going for us on the road,” Sbisa said.
“We’re really close. Tonight we were really close. The (game) before in Nashville, really close. There are things we need to do better on the road. You’ve got to win the special-teams battle to give yourself a chance to win on the road.”
So, in a way, the Canucks lost twice on Thursday.