Flames topple Canucks in lightweight bout
The night after Elias Pettersson made a tantalizing debut was always going to be step down in energy.
Add in the reality that because of the Flames having their main squad in China and the Canucks having put most of their veterans in the previous night’s game, both lineups were always going to be of the lightweight variety.
The Canucks lost 4-1 to the Flames in the second game of Vancouver’s exhibition schedule on Wednesday at Rogers Arena and it’s fair to say it’s an NHL contest most won’t remember.
There was a burst of energy over the game’s final dozen minutes, as the Canucks finally found some rhythm to their play and the inexperienced Flames showed some unsurprising cracks, but it wasn’t enough to pull back the 3-0 lead the Flames built over the game’s first half-hour, one which had little from the Canucks to write home about.
Calgary got goals from Matthew Phillips, Spencer Foo, Andrew Mangiapane and Juuso Valimaki (empty net). Brendan Leipsic scored the Canucks’ lone tally midway through the third period.
TREAT IT WITH TREMCLAD
You couldn’t hide any of the early rust on the men in blue. Through two periods, the Canucks, almost to a man, looked like a group of players who a) hadn’t played much together and b) hadn’t played a meaningful game in months.
Somehow the home team managed 16 shots in the first period. It was difficult to recall a threatening one.
In the second period, Brandon Sutter got a penalty shot and both Adam Gaudette and Reid Boucher rang shots off the post, but there was little else to speak of on this night. The first half of the third felt often more like a beer league game than an NHL contest, with lots of individual rushes and plenty of missed passes. There was finally some energy in the final 10 minutes, but the overall theme was rust, rust and more rust.
No Canucks defenceman played well — veterans Alex Edler and especially Derrick Pouliot had disappointing games.
Both struggled to handle the puck and made more than a few bad decisions, especially surprising given the Calgary lineup read more like one iced in the AHL.
HANDSUP?
With a lot of names in the mix for one, maybe two spots at forward, it’s with keen eyes we’re keeping track of guys who are in the mix.
Guys such as Leipsic, Reid Boucher and Brendan Gaunce.
Until Leipsic and Boucher teamed up on a thrilling four-onfour shift midway through the third — Leipsic cutting through the slot and backhanding the shot through the legs of Calgary goalie Tyler Parsons to score the Canucks’ only goal — neither player had much to write home about.
A TALE OF TWO GOALIES
Thatcher Demko started. Mike DiPietro played the third period. Unlike the night before, when Anders Nilsson struggled, neither came out of this game with any dents to their reputation.
The Flames found the net three times against Demko, but the young Canuck didn’t get much help from his defence.