Horvat’s line learning ‘average’ doesn’t cut it
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Average can be OK.
You can be an average team when star players predictably pull you from the muck. They can turn a certain loss into sudden victory because that’s what the elite do. The Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin lives for that moment.
The Vancouver Canucks can’t do average.
They don’t have that killer quality where one line can consistently carry them. And even a subtle lineup change — rookie Nikolay Goldobin could join Thomas Vanek and Sam Gagner today against the Nashville Predators, while the unproductive Alexander Burmistrov sits — won’t have much of a ripple effect.
Goldobin has seven goals and 12 assists with the Utica Comets, but it’s a team game that has been lacking for the Canucks the last three outings of their six-game NHL road trip.
“When you’re trying to find a way to win, you’re always looking at different options,” Canucks coach Travis Green said Wednesday. “For our team game, we don’t win at 75 per cent. Some can win at 75. I don’t know if we can.
“Sometimes, that’s a mental thing: ‘I’m not quite there tonight,’ but get somewhere that allows us to win.”
When structure is suddenly as big a problem as improving the 24th-ranked offence in the NHL, being more than average in every conceivable category is vital for the Canucks to finish this telling six-game trip with a 3-2-1 record.
It’s why Burmistrov could sit. He got the Madison Square Garden matinée call Sunday after being scratched for six straight games and didn’t muster a shot or a point in 8:59. He stayed in the lineup Tuesday in Brooklyn and it was bagels across the board.
Teams are now taking time and space away from Brock Boeser. They’re finding chinks in the goaltending armour and they know the Canucks can’t afford to run and gun.
“Playing well is defending well,” added Green. “It takes young, offensive players time to be consistent. That’s part of maturing. How do they score in the middle of a six-game trip when they don’t have their jump?
“You’re probably seeing that a little bit with Brock and Sven. They’re playing against top players a lot and getting matched up a lot.”
The alignment of Bo Horvat, 22, between Sven Baertschi, 25, and Boeser, 20, has tremendous potential, but little pedigree. And even though the Predators are third on the power play, only six teams are giving up more goals than the 2.75 they’re allowing per game.
So getting them to play in their own zone today will be crucial to rekindling some offence.
Horvat’s line had an 11-point effort against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 4. Boeser followed up a hat trick in that outing with two goals against the Stanley Cup champions on Nov. 22 and became talk of the NHL as the rookie scoring leader.
He went pointless in his last two road stops, but that’s a rite of passage and you can cut him some slack. His five points (4-1) are better than Horvat (2-0) and Baertschi (1-1).