SHARP SHARKS
San Jose beats Canucks 3-2 in shootout
Good thing Keith Ballard has fortified his mental toughness.
Looks like he’s going to need it.
After emerging from a contemplative, frustrating couple of days, in which he was a healthy scratch for two games, Ballard was committed to being the best he could be.
Actually, that’s impossible in Vancouver. Make it, the best No. 6 defenceman he could be. It didn’t last long.
For his comeback against San Jose last night, Ballard was safe, smart, and hustling. He even had a scoring chance in the third period. He didn’t skate with the puck. Instead, he skated with the puck and dumped it in.
He knows what head coach Alain Vigneault likes. It just doesn’t come easy. Nothing ever does for Ballard.
He plays the wrong side on a blueline too loaded with lefties. And too often, he plays the wrong way. But late in Thursday’s game, he wasn’t playing at all.
Going all-in for a puck battle with Scott Gomez, Ballard got tangled up with the centre, suffering a charley horse, believed to be a groin. He never returned. Just his luck.
So is Cam Barker being the reason the Canucks got a point. With 2:19 left, Vigneault trusted Barker on the ice with Jason Garrison. It proved to be a good call, because when Ryane Clowe fired a wrist shot into an open net, Barker made the save of the game.
“I took it in a tough spot, right in the junk,” said Barker, stoked Vigneault had him on the ice for the critical shift.
“I know what I’m capable of. Obviously, it’s about the coaches being familiar with me to to have the confidence to have me out there. That trust takes time.”
But even if something shocking happens, like Barker passing Ballard on the depth chart, don’t expect Ballard to ask out of town. He has not asked for a trade, and said he won’t.
It either makes Ballard a mature, well-adjusted professional, or it suggests he’s prone to masochism. It depends on your point of view. “I like it here,” Ballard said. “It’s been hard. It’s been difficult. It’s been up and down. There have been a lot of adjustments. But the more I think about it, and I’ve thought about it a lot the past couple of days, I enjoy it here.
“This is the longest I’ve been anywhere in the NHL, three years.
Ballard in Vancouver has been quite the ride. Or is that slide?
He has gone from playing 22 minutes a game in Florida to 15-16. He has gone from 30 points a year to seven. He has moved from the top four to No. 6. From the outside, it hasn’t looked pretty, especially when you consider the Canucks traded a first-round draft pick and Michael Grabner for him. But, in Ballard, the Canucks bought an SUV, customized it with four spare tires and then parked it every time it didn’t handle safely on the highway in the rain.
They didn’t want to see the creative, risk-taking, puck-carrying defenceman they acquired. They wanted safe.
Ballard didn’t play himself onto the bottom pairing, Vigneault pigeonholed him for it, never allowing him the chance to play up the lineup. Or allowing Edler the chance to play his way down.
There are different rules for Edler. And, you can argue, there should be. But Edler’s inconsistent, bumbling game sure looks like it could use some of the tough love Ballard gets.
On his second shift, Edler misplayed the puck got owned by Andrew Desjardins, then got up only to trip Michal Handzus. It was ugly. But Edler will always get the kid-glove treatment because of what he can do offensively.