LABANC CASHES IN WITH OVERTIME GOAL TO SPOIL CANUCKS’ COMEBACK
Plenty of positives to take away from loss as Green’s squad grows with experience
“Safe is death.” Remember that beauty? A classic John Tortorella clip-and-save from his reign of error.
You can say this much about that former Canucks coach and this Vancouver club — never dull. Whether battling injuries, begging for better goaltending or nursing penalty kill problems in the absence of Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter, these Canucks refuse to crawl into a hole.
No trapping. No chip-and-chase and hope for the best. They push the pace in a high-risk, high-reward system and the results are either alarming or amazing.
“We have to be committed to skating,” stressed Canucks coach Travis Green. “That will create a lot of chances.”
And it did.
For the second consecutive visit to The Shark Tank, the Canucks put up more than 40 shots. They also gave up three power-play goals and took lazy hooking, tripping and holding-the-stick minors.
But they never gave up in rallying from a 3-1 deficit before Kevin Labanc of San Jose snapped a 4-4 draw at 1:53 of overtime for a 5-4 NHL victory.
Here’s what we learned:
THE EDUCATION OF JAKE
The beauty of committing to an entertaining style of play — and having a coach willing to live with mistakes — has allowed Jake Virtanen to emerge from a cloud of self-doubt and methodically grow his game.
Virtanen could always skate. He could always shoot. But he couldn’t always process the game and doing something positive on every shift — and not becoming a liability — has been a work in progress.
Class has been in session all season. On Thursday, Virtanen got some good grades.
He figured in the opening goal on an impressive bull rush. Just as he was a about to circle the net, he feathered a cheeky backhand pass through the legs of goalie Aaron Dell that found a pinching Erik Gudbranson.
His shot went off Brendan Gaunce for his second goal in 97 career games.
Virtanen then did his best Horvat impression. He went end-to-end. He blew out of his own zone and blew past defenceman Tim Heed before shoving a one-handed effort under Dell for his fifth goal of the season. All have come on the road.
BOESER’S BACKHANDER IS BOSS
It was looking like one of those rare nights for Brock Boeser. He had one shot attempt in the first
period, a power-play effort that sailed way over the net.
In six minutes of power-play time, he logged but 2:49 and the Sharks did a good job clogging up passing lanes.
The rookie hasn’t gone more than two games without a point and he made another point off his multi-dimensional game Thursday.
When Alex Biega drove the net and had his jam job stopped, it was Boeser who calmly found the spot before whipping a wicked backhander up top to make it 3-3 for his 19th goal and the rookie scoring lead.
You can’t teach that stuff.
HUTTON’S GRIN NOW A CHAGRIN
Would Ben Hutton have made a difference Thursday? Hard to say. Probably not. The way the Sharks were beating a path to the goal, he probably would have had containment issues.
Simply stated, Hutton has lost his confidence.
He was minus-3 against Montreal on Sunday and a healthy scratch Tuesday and Thursday. Biega has taken his spot and doesn’t look like he’s going to give it up after his first two-point game of his career Thursday.
Hutton is now seeing the game from a distance. Is that good?
“For sure, you can gain something when you don’t play,” said Green.
“The obvious one is when you’re not playing good enough. With Hutton, it’s a fine line. The fact he doesn’t have the points — or the points he’s used to getting — sometimes that will affect a player over the long haul.
“That has creeped into his mind a little bit. When he competes hard and is closing in his own zone and eliminating bodies, his whole game is strong.”
DOWD LOOKS DOWN AND OUT
In six games since being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Jordan Subban, Nic Dowd has become a centre of attention for all the wrong reasons.
He has taken six minors and been in the box for five power-play goals against.
He is also pointless. Dowd took a lazy hooking minor on Brent Burns in the opening period and a dozen seconds later, Joe Thornton moved into a tie with Doug Gilmour for 18th on the NHL all-time points list (1,414) when he whipped a cross-ice feed past Jacob Markstrom who had dropped to his knees.
Thornton’s second goal broke the Gilmour tie and then he added another helper when Dowd took a faceoff violation minor to give the Sharks a 5-on-3 advantage.