Canucks enjoy holiday one day early
There was a point when even a point looked out of reach Sunday. Playing with all the urgency of having travel brochures stuffed in their pants — the NHL’s mandated fiveday break starts Monday — the Vancouver Canucks took bad penalties, got some surprisingly suspect goaltending and dug a three-goal hole against the Philadelphia Flyers at Rogers Arena.
All this from a club within four points of a Western Conference wild-card berth?
It brought up questions of fatigue in the second half of back-to-back games, the rationale of giving Ryan Miller the starting nod again after an energy-zapping 35-save outing Saturday and how they were going to climb back into a game against the Flyers, who hadn’t played since Thursday.
What couldn’t be questioned was finding some level of resolve with a pair of second-period goals by Markus Granlund and Jannik Hansen that would draw the Canucks close. They were impressive.
Granlund got drilled to the ice yet still managed to redirect the puck home from the slot. And Hansen got where you need to be — at the net — to benefit from a bold Bo Horvat one-handed feed off the wall.
Yet, their undoing in a 3-2 loss wasn’t surprising. A pitiful, predictable and plodding power play was once again the stake to the heart.
On four advantages, the Canucks mustered but two shots. They held a crucial advantage early in the third period and the closest they came to an actual shot was when Chris Tanev shot wide from the wing on a rush. That was it. It only raised questions about why Jayson Megna was on the first unit and what Reid Boucher was doing at one point on the second unit when he was far from a cornerboards puck battle in which the Canucks were outnumbered — on the power play.
With Nashville and Winnipeg winning Sunday, the race for the playoffs is going to get as clogged as Highway 1 at rush hour. The Canucks have tried every conceivable combination to help spark a 28th-rated power play that will keep them from the post-season.
They have tried four forwards, they have tried back-door plays that were eventually closed shut. What they have continued to do is rely on structure and stellar goaltending to be in an improbably playoff hunt.
And in going to that well yet again Sunday, they found out what happens when circumstances change.
Miller has not played back-to-back games this season, but is 2-2-1 over his career as a Canuck in the second of back-to-back games with two shutouts and a .923 save percentage. So there was that.
The only time Jacob Markstrom went back to back this season was when Miller was injured. Markstrom made 38 saves in a 4-2 loss in Florida Dec. 10 and 26 saves the next night in Washington in a 3-0 setback.
So when Miller was beaten for three goals on 15 shots by the Flyers — including a generous rebound to Jakub Voracek and a Brayden Schenn power-play effort — it forced the Canuck to play catch up again.
It also negated a strong night for the line of Alex Burrows, Horvat and Hansen, who looked dominant on shifts and certainly caught the eye of scouts with the trade deadline nearing. In what turned into a playoff-style battle of wills, the line looked comfortable and effective.
That wasn’t lost on those who believe Hansen and Burrows could help their club in a push for the Stanley Cup.
OF NOTE: Henrik Sedin missed a late shift after taking a Brandon Manning slash to the right calf.