MOTOWN ‘MAGIC’
Motown magic: Minor call-up has major input in helping his spirited squad register rare but impressive win
SLUMP DISAPPEARS: Linden Vey ends a wild night for Vancouver with a shootout goal.
It was quite a night here Friday. Pigs flew, hell froze, Donald Trump said something smart and the Vancouver Canucks scored three times and blew two third-period leads before finally beating the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout with a shot from a guy who was in the minors that morning.
Well, at least one of these events actually occurred, and it might have been the most unlikely.
Wallowing in a six-week slump, unable to score goals or win on the road, the under-manned Canucks had one of their most impressive nights of the National Hockey League season, ending a six-game road losing streak with a outburst of offence powered by unlikely sources.
Linden Vey, banished to the minors by the Canucks in October but recalled Friday to replace injured captain Henrik Sedin, was the unlikeliest hero as his wrist shot in the seventh round of the shootout gave Vancouver its first road win since Nov. 25 and just its third since October.
Suddenly, everyone can breathe again — at least until the Canucks, 1-3 on this road trip and dangerously close to the bottom of the NHL, visit the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
“It gives you some ease,” veteran winger Radim Vrbata said in a dressing room that was more relieved than jubilant.
“You can sleep better, you don’t have to worry about hockey for a day. It puts better thoughts in your head and gives you a little jump maybe for next game.” Vrbata scored for the first time in five games. Equally importantly, young Canucks Jared McCann, Sven Baertschi and Bo Horvat, all in danger of being crushed by the weight of expectation and scoring slumps, also broke out offensively as Vancouver beat a good Detroit team despite missing its best two centres and one-third of its defence because of injuries.
Defenceman Alex Biega, a career minor-leaguer recalled amid the blue-line crisis, played a terrific game. So did defenceman Matt Bartkowski and Canuck goalie Ryan Miller, who surrendered a questionable tying goal by Henrik Zetterberg with 1:07 remaining in regulation but kept his team from capsizing as it blew 2-1 and 3-2 leads in the third period.
It was the kind of night beleaguered coach Willie Desjardins has been imploring his team to produce, with secondary players stepping up to play primary roles.
Do we make too much of one win?
Of course, we do. It’s not like they happen every week for the Canucks.
Shut out four times in the last three weeks and with only five goals in their previous six road games, the Canucks could post zeros across the scoreboard again when they face Roberto Luongo and the Panthers on Sunday. But there was a lot for the Canucks to cling to by beating the Red Wings the way they did, and it has been a while since this many Vancouver players felt good about themselves.
“Honestly, you have no idea,” Horvat, the 20-year-old centre who logged 19:59, said after his beautiful setup of Baertschi gave him his first point in 12 games.
“It just frees up everything. It’s confidence for everybody. Secondary scoring is huge with Hank out of the lineup. To get some guys finally stepping up and getting on the scoreboard definitely helps. To get a point finally on the board boosts my confidence a little bit. Now I’ve just got to keep it rolling next game,” said Horvat.
Baertschi’s pretty goal, on a 3-on-2 rush with Horvat and Vrbata, was his first point in 14 games and made it 2-0 for the Canucks at 17:08 of the second period.
McCann’s goal at 18:57 of the first, sniped top-corner after a puck off the end boards eluded Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard, was his first in 15 games.
Nothing for the Canucks, even on nights like Friday when they can scarcely play much better (shots were 27-10 for Vancouver after two periods), will be easy in the weeks ahead.
Joakim Andersson’s goal for Detroit at 18:53 of the middle period collapsed the Canucks’ lungs and, sure enough, Pavel Datsyuk made it 2-2 at 3:29 of the third when he beat Horvat off the side boards and scored into an unguarded net after both Miller and defenceman Chris Tanev played Brendan Smith to shoot instead of pass.
But Vrbata responded with a rebound goal at 5:33 and even after Zetterberg tied it with a near-post laser over Miller’s shoulder, the Canucks dug in again and survived three-onthree overtime so Vey could win it in the shootout.
“You know what, for some reason, I didn’t get that amped up,” Vey said of his nerves as he skated in on Howard.
“If you make it more of a big deal, it can get you. So you just go out there and do your job. The team is relying on you and I was just lucky it found a way in.
“I’ve come up here and I’ve got to try to win a spot back, even if it’s just for a short period of time. I’ve got to make sure I’m ready every shift.”
Words to live by for each Canuck these days.
Linden Vey, banished to the minors by the Canucks in October but recalled Friday to replace injured captain Henrik Se din, was the unlikeliest hero.