CANUCKS: Vancouver makes it close but can't beat Winnipeg two straight
Canucks strive to unleash `A' game on Jets, but power play rally proves to be too little, too late
The margin of error was going to be minimal Tuesday. The Vancouver Canucks knew to sweep back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets, they had to play better than they did Monday in a shutout victory. And they would have to get to goalie Laurent Brossoit, who had yet to lose to his home province club and posted two shutouts in three previous meetings.
Travis Green sounded the alarm before the puck was dropped.
“We better bring our `A' game or we're going to be in trouble,” predicted the Canucks coach. “We're going to have to elevate our game if we want to win.”
To do that, the Canucks couldn't surrender an opening odd-man rush goal that came with coverage confusion. They couldn't put the puck on a platter off a slot turnover for another goal with less than three seconds left in the first period. And their goaltender couldn't give up a goal he'd like to have back.
The Canucks committed all of those offences through two periods and, even though the first power play unit finally struck late in the second period, they simply didn't have enough push in the final frame to fall 5-2.
Here's what we learned as the Canucks fell to 9-15-2 and face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday:
HOLTBY'S UPS, DOWNS
Braden Holtby saw 39 shots and didn't get much support when beaten for two first-period goals. And he could have beaten himself up for allowing a second period power play goal.
After making a series of early saves — getting a piece of a hot Nikolaj Ehlers shot off his blocker before it pinged the post and then denying Mark Scheifele — he was left to defend an odd-man rush and defensive confusion on the opening goal.
With Quinn Hughes and Travis Hamonic crossed up on opposite sides and with the forwards slow in retreat, it was left to Holtby to stop Adam Lowry off a redirect before a charging Mason Appleton jammed the rebound home. And when Brandon Sutter turned the puck over while falling to the ice in his own zone, Mathieu Perreault pounced on the bouncing puck and buried a backhand to make it 2-1.
Then a mea culpa goal came in the second period.
Jay Beagle was late on the power play block and Holtby allowed the puck to slip through him as the Jets built a two-goal cushion. Ehlers then rang one off the post and Blake Wheeler did the same in the third period that got Holtby scrambling. That allowed Paul Stastny an easy dagger goal with Alex Edler and Tyler Myers scrambling to defend. Wheeler then added an empty-netter.
BAR, BODY AND IN
For statistical purposes, it was the ninth time Elias Pettersson heard iron this season on a shot release.
However, on this first-period occasion, another wicked wrister by the centre went off the far post, struck Brossoit in the back of his pants and trickled in for the centre's 10th goal of the season and seventh point (5-2) in the last five games.
Brock Boeser deserves props for the play by beating an icing call, wheeling and spotting Pettersson in the high slot. The two were so delighted with the outcome, they went straight to the iPad on the bench to see if they could find another dent in the Jets' armour.
It was a good response for the Canucks, who needed less than three minutes to avenge the opening goal because they were 0-12-0 heading into Tuesday when scored upon first.
In the second period, Pettersson put another hot shot off the goalie's stick before Boeser hit the outside of the post on the same shift.
MILLER RIPS IT
A lot of trees have been sacrificed to document how a plodding and predictable power play with so much first unit potential has plummeted and is ranked 23rd with a paltry 16.7 per cent success rate heading into Tuesday's test. And the Canucks had the second most man advantages.
From fourth overall last season to J.T. Miller's promise of pushing for the top rung this season, all the tools are there to be the difference on any night and keep the Canucks talking playoff push.
The opposition obviously adjusts to take away options, but it was bordering on bizarre.
The Canucks had been blanked in five of their previous nine outings.
Then Miller struck Tuesday when it mattered most late in the second period. He took a feed from Hughes and unloaded a one-timer far side to draw the Canucks to within a goal. It was a flashback effort because the Canucks had talked of getting greasy to score with the man advantage.
“You've got two shooters (Pettersson, Boeser) coming down the flanks and getting pucks toward the net and they have lethal shots and can pick their corners,” said Bo Horvat.
“If me and J.T. are by the net to get the puck in that area, we can score dirtier goals.
“It's just trying to funnel pucks to the net so we can get those second and third opportunities.”
And, sometimes, you just have to hammer the puck.