Streak was nice while it lasted
Canucks suffer first regulation loss since Anaheim Jan. 15
NASHVILLE — The last time the Canucks lost a game in regulation time, Americans didn’t yet know that gazillionaire Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney pays only half the tax most of them do.
To put it in perspective, back then, in midJanuary, Newt Gringich was still being taken seriously by Republican primary voters as their candidate-of-choice to take on Barack Obama.
They say a month is a long time in politics; it’s a long time in hockey, too.
The Canucks, in dropping a 3-1 decision Tuesday night to the Predators, lost outright for the first time since, well, you take it away Alex Burrows.
“I remember, it was Anaheim at home,” Burrows said after playing his 500th career NHL game. “I remember that game [Jan. 15] we weren’t good. Since that game, some games we weren’t very good early in the streak, but we found ways to win.
“The last seven or eight games we’ve been much better, doing good things.”
And they didn’t play badly last night — if you exclude special teams.
The third line on Tuesday, centred by Cody Hodgson, created most of the Canucks’ evenstrength chances in the first two periods.
But they finished with nothing to show for it: Hodgson has one goal in 10 games, Jannik Hansen one in 16 and Chris Higgins one in 15 games since coming down with a staph infection.
“It’s tough, we were on a roll the last 10 or 15 games or so,” Hodgson said. “I feel like we didn’t find a way to win, that we didn’t deserve to win.
“We have to find ways to pull it out. Our line had some good chances; it would have been nice to capitalize on a couple of them.”
The Canucks gave up a goal to the Predators’ power play that put Nashville up 1-0 early in the second period, then gave up a shorthanded goal at 13:36 of the same frame.
Dale Weise scored his fourth goal of the season on a Nashville turnover, but David Legwand’s one-timer iced it for Nashville with just under three minutes remaining.
It’s been an impressive run, the Canucks going 12-1-3 since their emotional win in Boston. And in that span, they were 5-0-1 on the road.
It’s one game. But it’s the kind of game that, were the Canucks to meet Nashville again in the playoffs, we should come to expect.
It’s clear that if Ryan Kesler or the Sedins aren’t at their very best, Nashville is a team the Canucks will want to avoid in the playoffs.
“I really liked our first two periods, it was a hard-fought game by both teams, battling for every inch on the ice,” Alain Vigneault said. “Both goaltenders were doing a good job.
“But in the third period, they took their game up a notch and they were the better team.
“At the end of the day, they deserved to win.”