An OT choke job, with Barrie on top
Avs defenceman plays role in all five goals, including the final blow in extra frame
The Vancouver Canucks blew a 4-1 lead Tuesday at Rogers Arena, giving up four consecutive power-play goals.
The last one came in overtime and it gave the Colorado Avalanche a 5-4 victory.
In all, the Avs went five for six on the power play and Victoria native Tyson Barrie had a five-point night for the winners, including a goal at 16:59 of the third period that forced the overtime.
This is what we learned:
Bo Horvat is quietly putting together an impressive season
Despite all the losses and a broken ankle, Bo Horvat is threading together some season.
His 16 goals in 42 games puts him on a 31-goal pace. If you pro-rate his 15 assists over the course of a season, he’s been churning out points at a 61-point clip.
In the fall, when he signed his extension, many believed his US$5.5-million-a-year salary was a bit much. The consensus was that he’d grow into the salary during his first couple of seasons.
Turns out he’s already there. Most impressively, he didn’t miss a beat after losing seven weeks of playing time due to that broken bone in his foot.
Since returning to action, Horvat has 12 points in 16 games.
Boeser is playing through pain
Canucks super rookie Brock Boeser has been a little Clark Kent lately and that wrist injury is a reasonable explanation why.
Boeser was seen wincing on the bench in the game, shaking out that wrist, which he admits has been causing him some issues.
Gudbranson received a mixed response from the fans
They weren’t chanting “Three more years! Three more years!” when Erik Gudbranson was announced in the Canucks’ starting
lineup. In fact, we’ll call the crowd’s response muted.
Gudbranson played like the physical player we’ve seen in the past few weeks, but he also got burned on plays that led directly to two Colorado goals.
On the first, he had the puck on his stick while killing a penalty. But he softly cleared it off the boards and right to Barrie. A breath later, the puck was in the net.
Less than two minutes later, he got pushed easily out of the way setting up the Avs’ third goal. Gabriel Landeskog shoved Gudbranson out of the net front area before taking a pass from Nathan MacKinnon and punching it in.
It wasn’t a good look for the defenceman, whose extension was announced Tuesday morning.
The Golden boy can play
It was a big night for the forward who has been among the Canucks’ oddest fits this season.
For whatever the reasons, Nikolay
Goldobin has never looked comfortable playing with the Canucks and it’s unclear how much of that is on him and how much is on the lack of trust head coach Travis Green seems to have in him.
That changed Tuesday. Goldobin set up a Brandon Sutter goal and scored one of his own.
On the power play, he showed some poise, waiting with the puck before picking a corner short side, top shelf. It was Goldobin’s third goal of the season.
The Canucks may be just fine without Dorsett
It probably shouldn’t surprise anyone Darren Archibald is excelling with Green.
In Utica, he did everything for the Comets. He killed penalties. He scored on the power play. He was the team’s MVP.
If Green had his way, he probably would have started the season with the Canucks, but he didn’t get an NHL contract until this month.
He’s made the most of his opportunity. He’s taken the place of Derek Dorsett on the Canucks’ checking line, and that’s where he scored his first goal of the season.
If this continues, there’s a great lesson to be learned by everyone. Archibald is tough, hard to play against, and he’s cheap.
With Vanek, you get the good and you get the bad
Pending unrestricted free agent Thomas Vanek looked pretty unhappy when a scoring chance was taken from him because he was slashed cutting through the ice, nearly on a breakaway.
He responded by taking a couple of wild whacks of his own, drawing a penalty. On the ensuing power play, the Avs cut the Vancouver lead to 4-3 just before the second period ended.
This was a low point for Vanek, but he nearly made up for it with a ridiculous scoring chance in the third period when he handled the puck from between his legs.
Tanev is still weeks away
Any hopes that defenceman Chris Tanev will be traded this week for a massive haul took a hit with the news that he’s out another three weeks and quite likely more.
What the Canucks first thought was a bruise in his leg is actually a fracture. There is no timeline for his return.
Anders Nilsson starts again
Has all the playing time caught up to Jacob Markstrom? The Canucks’ No. 1 netminder missed his second straight game and this time Markstrom wasn’t healthy enough to back up Anders Nilsson.
The Canucks recalled Richard Bachman from Utica, and that suggests Markstrom could miss more time.
Nilsson was good early but got beat cleanly by Mikko Rantanen on a third-period play he’d probably like to have back.