WON FOR THE ROAD
The Vancouver Canucks open their NHL regular season in Calgary with a 4- 2 win.
The best thing about the Vancouver Canucks on opening night was the score. They beat the Calgary Flames 4- 2.
Actually, there was more good than just that. But in the first game of a new era, the start of the Willie Desjardins- Jim Benning partnership in Vancouver, the Canucks gave up a couple of dodgy goals, chased the puck at the start of most shifts because they couldn’t win any faceoffs and retreated dangerously in the third period.
Still, they beat the Flames, as most teams expect to do, and left their National Hockey League opener with a little momentum and a lot of positive feelings.
“I really liked our battle level,” Canuck captain Henrik Sedin said. “You could see guys were playing hard for one another, supporting each other. That’s a really good feeling.
“I think this year the opener is even a little more important because we have so many new guys, new lines, a new coach. And if you lose a couple at the start, doubts start to creep. Now we have something to build on.”
Especially Sedin and his brother, Daniel, and their new best friend, Radim Vrbata, who was signed to a two- year, $ 10- million- US contract to play on the top line and has looked like a bargain since training camp began.
He and the Sedins were terrific against Calgary, spending chunks of ice time in the offensive zone and creating space and shooting opportunities with their deft short passing.
Some of that led to Vrbata’s first goal as a Canuck, which made it 3- 1 at 11: 07 of the second period. It was awarded on a video review after referee Tim Peel initially ruled Vrbata had bunted in Henrik’s deflected, goalmouth pass with a high stick.
“I knew my stick was high and the blade was over the bar,” Vrbata said. “But I hit it with the shaft and was pretty sure the goal was going to count.
“I’m not going to lie, of course it feels good. It always feels good to start off the season with a goal. If you score right away, you don’t have to think about it.”
Other good signs for the Canucks included goals from three different lines and a distribution of ice time that saw no forward play less than 9: 35 ( Derek Dorsett) nor more than 19: 42 ( Henrik).
Hank Sedin, with an emptynetter, Alex Burrows and Zack Kassian, after nice passing by Linden Vey and Brad Richardson, scored the other Canuck goals. Burrows didn’t score his first goal last season until Game 36.
New goalie Ryan Miller, GM Benning’s other big free- agent signing, was fooled by Paul Byron’s shot through his pads on a 2- on- 1 but finished with 23 saves and did his best work in the third period when Calgary outshot Vancouver 9- 7.
Canuck penalty killing also held the Flames to 0- for- 4, which included a 64- second, two- man advantage for Calgary early in the first period.
Both Calgary goals came from Canuck turnovers.
Defenceman Alex Edler was on for both. Minus- two was all it took to spark a social media backlash against Edler, who was an NHL- worst minus- 39 last season. But the ricochet off him into the slot on Jiri Hudler’s second- period goal was more bad luck than bad play, and Edler actually made a clever play before Byron’s goal, allowing the puck to slide to the point where Jannik Hansen had time and space to make a play. It was hardly Edler’s fault that Hansen needlessly turned it over at the Calgary blue- line, creating the outnumbered rush that Byron finished.
Still, Edler hasn’t the advantage of latitude after his awful campaign last year and it would be better for him and the team to get some positive results early on.
Hansen’s mistake, by the way, gave us an interesting glimpse of new coach Desjardins’ sense of accountability.
Next time Hansen’s line was up, he watched Zack Kassian take his spot alongside Shawn Matthias and Dorsett. But the benching lasted only the one shift; Desjardins gave Hansen the chance to play better.
As a team, the Canucks will need to play better than they did Wednesday when they step up in competition. But they played well enough against the Flames, and this bold new era for the Canucks is still perfect with 81 games to go.