A night of redemption for Canucks
Vancouver’s key players deliver improved performances to knot series with Wild
EDMONTON — They changed the lineup, their start and the game plan.
More importantly they changed the result.
Here’s what we learned from the Vancouver Canucks’ 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night which evened their best-of-five qualifying round series with the Minnesota Wild at a game apiece.
REDEMPTION TIME
It was a night of collective and individual redemption for the Canucks following an indifferent performance in a 3-0 loss on Sunday night.
For starters, Jacob Markstrom won the goaltending duel with Alex Stalock, stopping 31 of 34 shots in recording his first career NHL post-season win.
But Markstrom wasn’t the only Canuck with a bounceback game. Tanner Pearson, who took two bad penalties in Game 1 and failed to record a shot on goal, opened the scoring just 24 seconds in.
J.T. Miller, who had a quiet offensive night in Game 1, gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead in the second frame when he ripped a wrister over Stalock’s glove hand. And Brock Boeser scored the first post-season goal of his career later in the middle frame on a play started by Elias Pettersson, with his first career post-season point.
It was Boeser’s first goal since Jan. 11.
The Canucks’ penalty kill, meanwhile, went six-for-six after surrendering two power plays goals in Game 1.
The Canucks’ power play, finally, scored an insurance goal in the third on their seventh try of the night when Bo Horvat tipped in Quinn Hughes’ point shot.
They had one power play in Game 1.
Kevin Fiala scored two late goals for the Wild, the last with seven seconds left in the game.
The news wasn’t all good for the Canucks. Michael Ferland
suffered an injury late in the first period and didn’t return. Antoine Roussel also took a puck to the head in the third period.
ROSTER MOVES
Canucks head coach Travis Green made a couple of roster moves for Game 2, one by design, the other out of necessity. Jake Virtanen and Loui Eriksson slotted into the lineup after missing Game 1 for Adam Gaudette, who was a healthy scratch and Tyler Toffoli, who suffered an injury in Game 1. Toffoli was reportedly seen in a walking boot on Tuesday.
As a result, Boeser took Toffoli’s spot on a line with Pettersson and Miller and Eriksson slotted in with Horvat and Pearson. Virtanen played largely with Brandon Sutter and Roussel.
HOT START
Pearson’s goal 24 seconds in gave the Canucks an early lead but they squandered whatever momentum they’d earned with two brutal power plays late in the frame.
After they were shut out in Game 1, Pearson beat Stalock with a professional snipe over his glove hand. The Canucks then killed back-to-back penalties in the early going —
which meant their first two lines barely saw the ice over the first seven minutes — before they were awarded three straight power plays.
The first one was OK with Stalock making saves of Boeser and Horvat. But the last two were amateurish with turnovers galore and no zone time. With 16 seconds left in the second power play, Zach Parise picked out Luke Kunin with a cross-ice pass and his so-so wrister beat Markstrom.