Canucks’ Pettersson pots three points
VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks have talked a lot recently about standing strong in the face of adversity.
Words became action on Tuesday when the team withstood a late push to collect a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
“That’s all we’ve really talked about lately, that we’ve got to be the team that doesn’t go away,” said forward J.T. Miller.
“We’ve got to be able to man up and respond. Things aren’t gonna go our way down the stretch here every day. We’ve got to understand that it’s gonna take a mentally tough group to win hockey games in the latter part of the season.”
The win kept Vancouver atop the Western Conference standings, one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche.
Buffalo fell to five points back of the Detroit Red Wings, who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet blended his lines Tuesday, playing star centre Elias Pettersson with Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander.
The move paid off, with Pettersson scoring twice – including into an empty net – and notching an assist. Garland added a goal for the Canucks (43-188), while Miller and Quinn Hughes each contributed a pair of helpers.
Rasmus Dahlin replied twice for the Sabres (33-32-5), who were coming off a 6-2 thrashing of the Kraken in Seattle on Monday.
“We gave it our all. It’s a good team over there, (we’re on) back-to-backs, we played our (butts) off,” Dahlin said. “We should have scored when we had a chance on the power play. We had a ton of chances. It’s the little thing right now, so we got to be better.”
Dahlin cut the visitors’ deficit to 2-1 during a stretch of four-on-four play after Vancouver’s Tyler Myers and Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner were sent to the box for slashing midway through the third period.
The Sabres defenceman wove his way past a pair of Canucks, then fired a backhanded shot past Vancouver netminder Casey DeSmith for his 16th goal of the season at the 9:53 mark.
“He’s just highly skilled – the shot fakes and the toe drags, he’s got he’s got it all. He’s got the hard shot, too,” DeSmith said. “That was a world-class play by him and I would have liked to have it but, you know, at least we got the W.”
DeSmith made 15 saves on the night and earned his first victory since taking over the net from Thatcher Demko, who was sidelined by a lower-body injury last week.
Making his first NHL start since Jan. 24, Buffalo netminder Devon Levi stopped 31 of 33 shots. He was recalled from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
The young goalie admitted there was some pressure in taking the net when his team was fighting for a playoff spot.
“You can feel it a bit but that’s what makes it fun. That’s what makes this game meaningful,” Levi said. “Coming in, you know it’s a big game and the boys are relying on you and there’s no better feeling than having that on your back and being able to give everything you’ve got for the team in a special moment.”
Tocchet liked the way his team refused to relent after Buffalo got on the board.
“I thought we protected the guts,” the coach said. “That’s a good hockey team over there, a lot of talent. And I thought we managed the defensive part of the game really well.”
The Canucks went up 2-0 with a power-play goal midway through the second after Owen Power was called for hooking.
Levi stopped a blast from Miller and the rebound bounced out to Pettersson in front of the net. He backhanded the puck up and over the Buffalo netminder at the 13:48 mark for his 32nd of the season.
Moments earlier, Levi stymied Ilya Mikheyev with a highlight-reel save.
With teammate Nikita Zadorov in the box for tripping, Pettersson created a short-handed two-on-one going the other way, then sliced a pass to Mikheyev. The Russian winger tried to wrap a shot around Levi but the goalie made a diving stop.
Power caught Mikheyev from behind on the play and was called for holding.
The Canucks were 1-for-5 with the man advantage Tuesday while the Sabres failed to score on four power plays.
Cashing in on the power play was “a step in the right direction,” Pettersson said.
“We had looks to score on every chance that we got tonight. So that’s a good thing,” he said. “And just keep building on it.”
WELCOME HOME
Zach Benson, who hails from Chilliwack, played his first NHL game in Vancouver, with dozens of friends and family members in the stands. Buffalo selected the 18-year-old left-winger 13th overall in last year’s draft and he’s registered nine goals and 14 assists through the first 59 games of his rookie campaign.
DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m 79 and can move around without any problem. However, it seems that many people – some younger than I am – have mobility problems. I wonder what causes this problem: lack of exercise, genes, weight, etc.? I walk five days a week, and my weight is normal.
– E.G. ANSWER: Be very grateful that you can move around without a problem, as most people in their late 70s do have mobility issues. The most common reason is osteoarthritis, but there are many causes.
Neurological diseases, cardiovascular issues and other types of arthritis are additional causes. While it is true that not exercising can lead to poor tolerance, most of the time, it isn’t a person’s fault that they have difficulty with mobility. Arthritis can happen to a person of any weight and any level of exercise.
Exercise helps the vast majority of people improve their mobility, but there are exceptions. Many people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome are intolerant of exercise, and overdoing it can lead their condition to worsen. This syndrome has also been known as systemic exertion intolerance disease. Well-meaning physicians, friends and family could have recommended exercise, which may have caused the person to have a flare-up.
Although being very overweight increases the risk of arthritis, having a normal weight doesn’t prevent development of arthritis. Genetic influences are very complicated, but they also have a role in the development of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis can also come about as a result of significant trauma to a joint.
DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 80-year-old woman who recently had a right hip replacement. Shortly after surgery, I required aroundthe-clock oxygen support at home. I am able to go all day without needing supplemental oxygen and only occasionally use the spirometer.
How do I go about not needing oxygen at night? Is there something more I could be doing? When I use the spirometer, I can bring the oxygen level up. Is this all I need to do when the oxygen level drops?
– S.R. ANSWER: This is very concerning to me, and I am worried that something happened at the time of surgery. A sudden change in the ability to breathe or maintain your oxygen level at the time of joint replacement surgery is suspicious for a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot to the lungs. With great care, the risk for this has decreased to about 1 in 200 people.
Pneumonia is always a concern after surgery, and in 80 year olds, the common symptoms and signs of fever, cough or shortness of breath are sometimes absent. You need an evaluation for both of these possibilities (and other less-common causes of post-operative low oxygen that I don’t have the space to go into).
However, the fact that your oxygen level goes up when using the spirometer (a device that encourages deep inhalations) suggests that part of the problem is a collapse of some of the tiny air sacs of the lung.
You should start with a visit to your regular doctor right away.
Readers may email questions to: toyourgoodhealth@med.cornell.edu