BENCHED BOSS
CALGARY VISITS:
Willie Desjardins didn’t see Flames on Friday, but he might tonight.
CALGARY — Jake Virtanen hopes the Scotiabank Saddledome can be a building he visits this season.
He’d rather it not become his hockey home again with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen.
If he scores more goals like the one he netted Friday, he may get his wish.
Virtanen snapped a beautiful wrist shot past Calgary Flames goalie Jonas Hiller early in the first period to gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead. The goal came on the power play and Virtanen beat Hiller high to the blocker side from the left faceoff circle. Defenceman Frank Corrado drew the assist and Brendan Gaunce set a nice screen in front of Hiller.
Unfortunately, that was perhaps the highlight of the night for the Canucks, who after a nice start faded badly and fell 4-1 to the Flames.
Virtanen’s goal is the only one scored in regulation time by the Canucks in three National Hockey League pre- season games.
“We were on the power play there and I saw Frankie walk the line and I knew I had some room on the boards there, so I just grabbed it,” Virtanen said. “I saw their forward kind of over-extend on Frankie so I just brought it to the middle and just let her go.”
Virtanen will either remain with the Canucks or return to Calgary for another season with the junior Hitmen.
“I want to be in Vancouver this year, for sure,” he said. “The Hitmen are a great organization and it was great being back here and seeing some familiar faces, but I definitely want to be here (with the Canucks) this season.”
The Canucks dressed a much younger and less experienced lineup than the Flames and it showed.
Virtanen and Hunter Shinkaruk played with centre Blair Jones and were Vancouver’s best line. Gaunce played alongside centre Wacey Hamilton and Carter Bancks.
Brandon Sutter centred Sven Baertschi and Ronalds Kenins, while the line of Linden Vey between Brandon Prust and Derek Dorsett remained intact.
On defence, it was Luca Sbisa with Corrado, Yannick Weber with Matt Bartkowski and Andrey Pedan with Taylor Fedun.
Richard Bachman and Jacob Markstrom split the goaltending duties. Bachman surrendered three goals on 18 shots, while Markstrom was beaten once on 14 shots.
Of the Canuck youngsters, Shinkaruk might have had the best game.
“I thought Hunter played well,” said Vancouver assistant coach Glen Gulutzan, who ran the Canuck bench in the absence of head coach Willie Desjardins. “He played with lots of energy and you expect that a little bit with him being a kid from the area. But I thought he played well. He played hard and had a couple of really noticeable shifts. I was happy with his game.”
Gulutzan also liked what he saw from Gaunce, who did lots of penalty-killing.
“Brendan Gaunce stuck out for me,” he said. “We are bringing him along as a guy we are putting on the PK and I thought he did an excellent job. He has picked up on the subtleties of our penalty-kill. He had a strong game, has a great stick and gets in on the forecheck. He was a noticeable player for me.”
Lots of Canucks struggled. The Flames dressed a lineup that included most of their top players, including Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, Johnny Gaudreau, Jiri Hudler and defencemen Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman and Dougie Hamilton. The Canucks spent much of the night in their own zone and considerable time chipping pucks out.
Baertschi, who is being given every opportunity to win a second-line spot, was minus-two on the night. So was Sutter, who struggled in the faceoff circle against Flames centre Monahan. Vey won only three of his 15 faceoffs.
Bennett, Michael Ferland, Monahan and Michael Frolik scored for the Flames.
ICE CHIPS: The teams played a 3-on-3 overtime session and the Flames won that, too. Defenceman Kris Russell beat Markstrom at 1:25 of OT. ... The Canucks and Flames meet again tonight at Rogers Arena. ... Prust had his first fight as a Canuck. He tangled with Calgary’s Blair
Riley early in the first period. ... Sutter’s dad, Brent, was at the Saddledome to watch his son play.