Canucks draw first blood against Blues
Be careful what you wish for. From the outside, that was the advice to the Vancouver Canucks, but they obviously weren’t listening.
The Canucks made their first playoff appearance in five years on Wednesday night against the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. And if you thought a club that iced numerous first-round newbies was going to succumb to the strength and stamina of a seasoned NHL champion, you haven’t been paying attention.
Whether it was getting better with each qualifying round victory, or youthful skill having as much impact as playoff-starved veterans, the Canucks are hungry for more. And a 2-0-1 regular-season record against the Blues should accelerate that appetite in the best-of-seven series.
However, these aren’t the Blues who couldn’t create urgency with an 0-2-1 mark in the meaningless round robin Nobody was going home. Nobody was selling out on every shift.
Until now.
“They know what it’s all about,” Canucks coach Travis Green said in advance of Game 1. “There are no secrets how they play. It’s going to be a hard test and a good challenge, but I’ve said many times, when our team is challenged, you find out a lot about your group.
“And I’ve never had a doubt because they have a lot of belief in themselves.”
Here’s what we learned as the Canucks claimed a 5-2 victory in the series opener at Rogers Place in Edmonton:
STECHER PROVES TO BE A PROPHET
Troy Stecher knows his contract status and that the Canucks have roster options next season.
It’s why the Richmond native wanted this playoff sojourn to mean so much, after losing his father, Peter, on Father’s Day and knowing his club has so much to prove.
“I’m aware of my situation and my contract is up at the end of the year,” he said before Game 1. “Who knows what’s going to happen? I’m excited and want to take over and help this team win.”
And he did just that. With the clubs tied 2-2 in the third period, Stecher let loose a slapper that beat Blues goalie Jordan Binnington between the arm and body. He then looked to the heavens and screamed in joy.
Captain Bo Horvat then followed up with his second goal of the night on a bull rush.
MARKSTROM’S REST BEST
Two days off and two days of practice and video worked wonders for Jacob Markstrom.
He was sharp early and often and the starter had to be. The Blues kept coming, kept putting pucks through traffic and crowding his crease, taking extra whacks after he made the save.
Zach Sanford tested the short side early before Markstrom made back-to-back saves off Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly, who first tried to go five-hole and then attempted to score from the side.
The Blues finally got to him when David Perron, who now has a dozen career goals against the Canucks, found a small opening on the glove side with a half-slapper slot effort on the power play.
Jaden Schwartz then sped away on a breakaway — after Chris Tanev tried to play the puck at the opposition blueline and fell — before tucking a puck between the goalie’s pads on a deke.
POWER IN THEIR PLAY
The Canucks went 1-for-12 with the man advantage in the season series.
In their playoff opener, there were better entries, better passing and a few new wrinkles in striking three times on the power play.
Horvat worked the bumper position to perfection to open the scoring and found open ice to take a feed from Quinn Hughes in the slot and whip a shot home.
The Canucks struck again in the second period when Elias Pettersson, who was playing down low on the first advantage, got to his sweet shooting spot on a rotation and whipped a shot high glove side while falling backward.
J.T Miller added the third late in the third period.
THE MILLER MYSTERY
Miller didn’t take the warm-up as Adam Gaudette took line rushes with Pettersson and Brock Boeser, but was then a late addition to the lineup at bottom of the roster card. He didn’t look quite right at the bench to start the game.
Whether the winger is a little dinged up or was sick, he proved fit enough to play with a strong first period.
The club’s leading scorer started the passing sequence on the opening goal, won four of six faceoffs, and logged the most ice time of any Canucks forward at 7:33.
HUGHES NOW A TARGET
First is was Troy Brouwer mugging Hughes and then it was Perron.
The Calder Trophy finalist started getting extra attention in the second half of this shortened season and had to learn to channel his anger.
He learned that hacks and whacks come with the territory as a dominant rookie who attacks, spins, shoots and drives the opposition crazy. The best revenge for him on Wednesday was playing even better.