Road warriors
Virtanen, Horvat, Dorsett, Markstrom among players on a roll
The Vancouver Canucks improved to 3-1 on their road trip with a 4-1 win over the Red Wings in Detroit on Sunday.
— The Vancouver Canucks are on a roll.
They won their second straight, riding a breakout performance from Jake Virtanen.
He had a goal among what felt like 100 shots while Bo Horvat’s line chipped in two more.
The Canucks won easily and this is what we learned:
That was a breakout game for Jake Virtanen
You could feel it building. Virtanen was the surprise pick to play on the Sedin line in Buffalo Friday. He responded in a pretty great way.
Green mused it may have been Virtanen’s best game of the season. Turns out, it wasn’t even close.
Virtanen’s best game as a Canuck went down Sunday in Detroit. His separating speed was apparent early. He beat guys down the wall. And he took shots. Lots of them.
When he scored late in the second period, batting in his own rebound, it was his eighth shot of the game.
But it wasn’t the shots or the goal or even his third period ice time on the power play with the Sedins that people will remember most.
It was him trucking Niklas Kronwall in the third period. Few ever get the best of Kronwall. Virtanen made him look like a grade school kid with his Halloween mask on backwards running into a closed door.
The best part is the hit led directly to Henrik Sedin’s best scoring chance of the season.
Bo Horvat rises to challenge
It’s not fun being called average. Just ask Horvat.
But Horvat didn’t recoil when the coach critiqued his play. Instead, he agreed.
“There were things I had to get better at,” Horvat said. “We talked and I thought I was average. I didn’t want to be average anymore. I wanted to make a difference every night in the lineup. So far, I’ve been getting better every game.”
Green shared similar enthusiasm. He thought Friday was one of Horvat’s better games and Sunday in Detroit, Horvat got assists on the Canucks first two goals.
“There has been (a marked improvement),” Green said. “He was all over the puck (Friday).
“I liked how he was starting, stopping and getting after the puck. He was a lot harder to play against in that game maybe than any other game I’ve seen him.”
Horvat’s line finally plays a nickname-worthy game
When Brock Boeser was put on a line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi, Vancouver immediately went to work trying to find them a nickname.
That process was made to look foolish because the line really wasn’t all that good, and it didn’t last long.
Things changed Sunday. The trio helped create a couple goals which was nice. But more telling is the way they dominated possession. The line had the Wings pinned regularly.
Derek Dorsett’s luck and his goal-scoring is continuing
Is he the new Alex Burrows? A bottom six checker who explodes for 30 goals?
What about Jannik Hansen? Labelled a grinder without hands, Hansen proved nearly everyone wrong when he became the team’s top even strength goal-scoring threat.
Now, there’s Dorsett who is on one of the better runs of his career. Yes, opportunity is part of it. “But so is puck luck,” Dorsett said. He scored his fifth goal of the season Sunday when a Bo Horvat pass hit something but still managed to find Dorsett’s stick.
Just trying to get shot on net, Dorsett’s shot rattled around in the crease before it drifted over the goalline.
That’s just the way it’s been going for him.
Coach Green sure likes starting Jacob Markstrom in goal
One bad goal against Buffalo didn’t deter Green from going back to Markstrom who has started six of the Canucks first eight games.
Mostly, Markstrom made his coach look good too.
He didn’t get beat too early, and that’s an encouraging development. Detroit still got a goal in the first period, but it wasn’t soft.
An Anthony Mantha shot ticked off Troy Stecher’s stick and then got by Markstrom.
Sure, it wasn’t a shutout. Markstrom is still looking for one of those. But it was a solid complete performance and that’s about all the Canucks can hope for these days.
Stecher forced to leave game with an apparent knee injury
Stecher has been slowly earning more ice time with some good, under-the-radar performances.
That looked to come to a stop late in the second period when he had to leave the game after a knee-on-knee collision with Tomas Tatar.
Sven Baertschi ends a prolonged slump
His game is generally subtle, in a good way, and when he’s not scoring it can be quiet.
Before Sunday, there had been too much quiet around Baertschi. He’s the 25-year-old winger in a contract year.
He also started the Canucks eighth game of the season Sunday without a goal.
Some will pin Horvat with blame. And it’s probably no coincidence that Baertschi ended his goalless run just as Horvat’s game has improved.
The first Baertschi goal was about being in the right place at the right time. The second was a great snipe.