Red-hot Flyers have just enough to defeat the visiting Canucks
Canucks lose valuable defender as rally falls short against red-hot Philly crew
They needed something. They needed anything.
What they didn’t need was an injury to Alex Edler in the third period as they tried to rally from a 2-1 deficit on Monday night against the Flyers. The Vancouver Canucks defenceman caught his stick in the skate of Jakub Voracek, and as he twisted at the top of the crease, his face hit the ice. He was dazed and bloodied, and left the ice on a stretcher.
Edler was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital for X-rays and further evaluation.
“Any time a guy goes down like that, you worry about him,” said Canucks coach Travis Green. “He cut his face and guys are used to it (injuries), and it may sound a little barbaric, but Eddie doesn’t go down too often, so you knew he was hurt.”
“It’s obviously scary when you see something like that happen,” said Voracek. “You don’t want it to happen, but unfortunately it happens sometimes. I was just driving the net and I felt his stick on my skate and after that I didn’t even see him fall. It was not a good look after. Hopefully he’s all right. “
The injury became the big story because the storyline had been digging a two-goal hole against the NHL’s hottest club and climbing out of the deficit was going to take something out of the ordinary. The Philadelphia Flyers had strung together seven straight victories to turn their frenetic followers from doubters into believers.
Carter Hart, the seventh stopper to man the net for Philly this roller-coaster season, was rookie-of-the-month for January, yet the 20-yearold from Sherwood, Park, Alta., looked like a kid in a pickup game when he let the Canucks back in it.
With the Flyers comfortably up 2-0 in the second period and having their way with a struggling defence — especially the pairing of Erik Gudbranson and Derrick Pouliot — Hart bolted from his crease to negate a long lead pass. And with Brandon Sutter barrelling down on him, the Flyers’ new starter put the puck off the wall and right onto the tape of Brock Boeser.
A flick of the wrist and Boeser had his 18th goal of the season. Suddenly it was 2-1 and the Canucks had life. They were without Sven Baertschi, who returned to Vancouver after feeling out of sorts right after Saturday’s game in Denver — but they developed a sustained attack and fired 42 shots at Hart. Boeser had seven shots and 11 attempts and had ample opportunity for more than just the gift goal.
“We felt like we played a pretty solid game and props to Hart — he played a heck of a game,” said Boeser.
“Once I saw him leave the net, I knew Sudsy (Sutter) had enough pressure and (Hart) only had one choice to go up the wall. I got everything on that (late second-period shot) and he came out at least 10 feet to cut the angle down.”
The Canucks were still in it, but couldn’t convert on a late third-period power play as Hart robbed Nikolay Goldobin at the side of the net by diving across and getting his arm on a rebound.
Then a mosh pit erupted on the ensuing rush as Jake Virtanen tried to jam home the equalizer that appeared to go in, but was reviewed and disallowed.
“It definitely went in the net and wasn’t covered, but it’s not an easy call for the refs,” said Green. “We played a hell of a game and you could argue that we played better tonight than the Colorado game.”
Bo Horvat was then stopped at the side of the net on a rebound with 1:16 left to make it an agonizing ending for the Canucks.
Here’s what we learned as the Canucks fell 2-1 on the second stop of a four-game trip:
TOO MANY ADVENTURES ON THE BACK END
Whether it was Pouliot having trouble making that first good pass, Gudbranson having trouble containing forwards in the corners, or in front of the net, or Chris Tanev blowing a tire at the offensive blue-line, the size, speed and strength of Flyer forwards was intimidating.
After Sean Couturier opened the scoring with a first-period power play goal to give the Flyers seven man-advantage goals in the last three games, they put the Canucks in a two-goal hole for the first time in a month. When Tanev lost his balance, Voracek sped away and used a forehand-backhand-forehand move on goalie Jacob Markstrom, with Edler tugging at him in pursuit.
PETTERSSON TAKES A PLUNGE
The Canucks got an early power play and an early scare.
As Elias Pettersson hustled back to help break up a shorthanded chance, Edler slid across to take the shooting angle away from Couturier. Pettersson and Edler got tangled up and the Calder Trophy front-runner slammed heavily into the corner boards with Edler on top of him.
Pettersson, who has already missed six games this season with a concussion and five more with a knee sprain, got up slowly and went directly to the dressing room, but returned a short time later. He said he was only winded on the play.
OVERTIME: Thatcher Demko suffered a tweak of the lower body in the warm-up Monday and Mike DiPietro, the Canucks’ 2017 thirdround draft pick, is on his way to Washington to join the Canucks.