Canucks end long trip on a sweet note in Nashville
Daniel hits 1,000 career points as Canucks adjust to life without Dorsett
VANCOUVER 5 NASHVILLE 3
NASHVILLE, TENN. Emotionally invested or emotionally spent.
There was no middle ground Thursday for the Vancouver Canucks. Not on a day when the NHL club announced Derek Dorsett’s career was over after a Monday examination in Los Angeles revealed he sustained a recent cervical disc herniation.
And not on a night when the Nashville Predators, the league’s hottest club in November, was primed to push its home-ice win streak to seven games and send the Canucks packing. But the visitors refused to go quietly into the night.
There was an early emotional push and then the expected pushback by the Predators. And then the 999th career point by Daniel Sedin was followed by his 1,000th, just in case there wasn’t enough on a drama-filled day. The winger fittingly scored from the slot in the third period to make it 3-3 and then got to 1,001 with an assist on an empty-net goal by Loui Eriksson, who scored twice on this memorable night.
“Derek was on everybody’s mind before the game and the only way we can honour him is to play hard every night — that’s the way he played,” said Daniel. “I said it before that it would be great to get it (1,000 points) and for it to be a goal and in a huge win for us and both happened today.
“This was a good lesson for us. If every guy digs down deep, we’re hard to beat.”
And if that wasn’t enough, Brock Boeser’s backhand-to-forehand deke of Pekka Rinne, his second goal of the night and team-leading 13th, made for a magical winner on a mystical night.
Here’s what we learned as the Canucks won 5-3 to finish 3-2-1 on this telling road trip:
GREEN WINS DAILY DOUBLE
Travis Green placed the right bets. Looking for something to stimulate his club, he put the recalled Nikolay Goldobin on the top line with Bo Horvat and Boeser and dropped the suddenly ineffective Sven Baertschi to an alignment with Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek.
It sent the right message. It gave Goldobin an opportunity, the fan base something to get excited about, Baertschi a motivational nudge and Gagner a chance to be a playmaker in the middle.
Not only did the decision force Goldobin to adjust when up against the Predators’ top line, but he didn’t look out of place. Pace wasn’t going to be a problem. Decision making was. He started on the left side and then switched to his off wing. On an early scoring chance at the left hash marks, he dropped the puck to Ben Hutton instead of shooting from the prime spot. Chalk that up to nerves.
“He’s got a good mind for the game offensively,” said Green. “He made good, subtle plays and hung on to the puck to buy a little time. He’s good at slowing it down when he has to and he managed the puck well.”
Said Goldobin, who sprung Boeser on his second goal: “It feels great. I had fresh legs and we had a good start. I wasn’t nervous at all and I just tried to stay calm. I’m just trying not to worry too much and this means the coach trusts me a little bit and he wants to see what I can do.”
As for Baertschi, he had one assist and two shots in his previous four outings and nothing gets a player’s attention more than a
demotion. He nearly tied it up on a third-period power play.
BOESER’S BEST ON DISPLAY
You can’t teach this stuff. Boeser knew his compete level had to be higher and it was. But what the winger did on his first goal of the game was something you could seldom execute.
Boeser had to first buy time and space to get into scoring position in the high slot after taking a feed from Horvat. He moved to his left and went to the toe-drag before unloading a wrist shot that went between the legs of defenceman Roman Josi and beat Rinne to the blocker side.
He also got Rinne moving, which was the final part of the play because the stopper couldn’t pick up the puck quickly.
“I thought he (Josi) was going to bite a little more, but he didn’t and I just tried to get it through at that point and it went through his legs and hit the net,” said Boeser, who had three two-goal games on this trip. “And being out there for Daniel’s 1,000th was really cool. The smile on his face gives you goosebumps down your whole body and I had chills. It was a special moment.”
NOT DOING THE DORSETT
Last season, Jim Benning thought his club was easier to play against when Dorsett and Erik Gudbranson had their respective seasons cut short by surgery. With Dorsett forced to call it a career, there’s a void.
The Canucks’ general manager said he doesn’t plan on finding a Dorsett type of player and expects the return of Gudbranson next week will help team toughness.