Iain MacIntyre
Road rally: Etem scores late winner as surprising Canucks take two straight on the road
In the second week of their National Hockey League season, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings on consecutive nights. In the second-to-last week of the season, they made another California sweep, beating the Ducks 3-2 Friday, one night after dumping the San Jose Sharks 4-2.
Watching the Canucks these four nights, you would never have guessed what transpired in the five months in-between.
At the end of their worst season in nearly two decades, the Canucks are suddenly on a winning streak.
“Yeah, it’s a little bit of a different feeling,” Canuck Bo Horvat said Friday. “We’ve been playing so well of late, it’s great to get on a so-called winning streak. We’ve had this team all year and just couldn’t put the puzzle together. It’s not like we’ve been playing badly ... we were just finding ways to lose. Finally finding ways to win is nice.”
Emerson Etem, who hadn’t scored in 17 games, broke a 2-2 tie with 6:37 remaining in the third period, forcing a turnover by Cam Fowler, then muscling his way past the Anaheim defenceman to score on the rebound from Alex Biega’s point shot.
The Canucks had pulled even only 2½ minutes earlier when defenceman Dan Hamhuis took advantage of a retreating defence and somehow forced a sharp-angle, short-side shot past Anaheim goalie John Gibson at 11:02.
And the Canucks, who have blown 12 games this season when leading after two periods, orchestrated their thirdperiod comeback against a formidable opponent while playing with only nine forwards. Sven Baertschi, injured on Thursday, didn’t start the game for Vancouver and Chris Higgins and Linden Vey didn’t finish it.
“It’s pretty cool because this team had every reason to doubt that we were going to win that game,” Hamhuis said. “We’re playing a strong team, Anaheim, back-to-back and down a goal in the third. Maybe that’s the thing about not being in (the playoff race) — you don’t get stressed out and just stay in it. We just kept playing our game.”
Asked how the Canucks can sweep the Sharks and Ducks on the road after losing nine straight games, how they can look so good some nights but be on their way to the franchise’s worst season since the 1990s, Hamhuis said: “We’re way out of it and it looks like we didn’t have a chance. But if you break down our season, it was a very fine line. Right up until mid-February we were right there. And we were terrible in overtime; if we’d gone .500 in overtime we’d have been in a playoff spot. Then we just got obliterated with injuries and things spiralled from there.”
Tied for last in the National Hockey League when they left for California three days ago, the Canucks climbed to 25th among 30 teams in a span of 24 hours. They’re probably not going to finish any higher — the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes are four points ahead of them — but Vancouver is suddenly four points clear of last place and the best chance to win the draft lottery.
“We’re playing games that have little meaning standings-wise, but there’s a lot of work here for a young team,” Canuck Jannik Hansen said after his two-assist night. “We’re getting ready for next year; a lot of guys are getting tested in tough situations.”
Everyone on the Canucks failed in the first minute Friday.
They seemed to be pretending to play when they stood around in front of Markstrom, thrashing on the ice like a grounded tuna, and watched Duck Josh Manson collect a loose puck and easily score after only 48 seconds.
Horvat tied it 1-1 at 4:22 of the second, shooting between Gibson’s pads after jumping off the bench and skating on to Hansen’s outstanding breakaway pass.
With Baertschi out and Jake Virtanen suspended, the Canucks chose to dress extra defenceman Andrey Pedan as their 12th forward on Friday. Higgins and Vey didn’t survive the second period.
And it looked like the Canucks would not survive the third when Nate Thompson’s rebound goal put the Ducks up 2-1 at 8:42, a few seconds after Horvat skated the puck into a turnover at the Vancouver blue-line.
The Canucks were down to three forward lines, down by a goal, and playing a big, brawny Stanley Cup contender on the road in their second game in two nights. Naturally, they rallied to win.
Why on Earth would you doubt them?
Maybe that’s the thing about not being in( the playoff race) —you don’t get stressed out and just stay in it.
DAN HAMHUIS
CANUCKS DEFENCEMAN