The Vancouver Canucks have mostly been known for scoring goals this season. So have the Carolina Hurricanes.
So of course neither team managed to score in regulation on Thursday night at Rogers Arena, a game won by the home team 1-0 in an overtime goal off a spectacular backhand shot by Elias Pettersson.
The happiest person, no doubt, about Pettersson’s goal, which came after he collected the puck that had caromed off a loose stick, was Jacob Markstrom, who made 43 saves to record the shutout.
“Guessed right,” Pettersson said of the carom, speaking modestly of his feat. “That was great. We got the win.”
We don’t talk much about the Hurricanes here in Vancouver but we really should.
“You say they’re not a high profile team but they’re really good,” Canucks defenceman Jordie Benn said pre-game. He put strong emphasis on “really good.”
The Hurricanes move the puck when they have it, which is most of the time, and when they don’t, they make it really hard to get to the middle of the ice.
On offence, they’re in constant motion, every player deft and moving the puck through traffic, forcing the defence to endlessly react.
On defence, they make it hard for their opponents to break out, they make it hard for their opponents to carry the puck through the neutral zone with control and in their own end, they are masters at driving the play to the boards and into the corners.
The way they’re playing hockey, which has them somehow fourth in their division — oh wait, they’ve got the Capitals and Islanders and Penguins in as hot a division as you can find — this is the kind of team the Canucks aspire to be.
“They were always annoying to play against,” said Canucks winger J.T. Miller, who knows the Hurricanes well from his days skating with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
“Nothing’s really changed, but they’ve added some obviously some really skilled players.”
Here’s what we learned…
Fortress Markstrom
Markstrom never looked bothered. He made 42 saves through the end of regulation but nearly every one looked easy, that’s how dialed-in he was when looking at Carolina’s shooters.
More than once, the crowd roared with “Mark-y Mark-y” in praise of their netminder.
There are plenty of examples where teams would be nowhere without their goaltender; this was a game that no matter the result, the Canucks will be able to point to one of the finest examples of their goalie giving them their best chance to win.
Markstrom threw credit the way of his defence. He said he saw the Carolina shots really well.
“The guys did a great job. You know, if the the goalie sees the puck, our D is doing a great job,” he said.
Asked if he likes lots of shots or fewer shots, Markstrom went a whole other way.
“I like to win,” he said, flatly.
His teammates were in awe of his performance.
“He can always play better but today he didn’t let a goal in,” Elias Pettersson joked. “Just kidding. He was awesome.”
Hurricane Damage
The Canes came into the night with one of the league’s most dominant offences, getting roughly 15 more shot attempts per game than their opponents.
As expected, the visitors attacked the offensive zone with vigour, turning pucks over left and right, making life miserable for the Canucks in their efforts to break out.
“They skate well, they get good stick on puck, they create a lot of turnovers, they’re really good in that department,” Miller said.
At one point, the Canucks’ second power play unit struggled to break out from their own end, needing four attempts just to get the puck to centre ice and that was because Jake Virtanen simply flipped the puck out.
In the first period, the Canucks generated just six shot attempts on Hurricanes goalie Petr Mrazek. That said, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Canes only out-chanced the Canucks at even strength 5-4.
The second wasn’t much better, as the stifling Hurricanes forecheck made life difficult for the Canucks’ attempts to break out. The Canucks managed just seven shot attempts at even strength in the middle frame.
The Hurricanes, on the other hand, got 22 shots on net in the second period alone.
The Canucks’ breakout continued to struggle in the second, their breakout once again having moments of difficulty, exemplified by turnovers on the side boards from Pettersson and Quinn Hughes. Those are rare sights.
The Canucks did pull it all back together in the third, and had some very nice chances. Like the first period, the actual scoring chances were tight, tied 5-5 at even strength over the final 20 minutes.
“I thought we did a good job keeping the puck to the outside when we had to,” Travis Green said post-game. “I liked our first period and I liked our third period.”
Power outage
Despite a trio of first period power plays, the Canucks couldn’t connect.
The Hurricanes didn’t have any better luck in the second period, when they had three power plays of their own.
They were unlucky not to have tallied a goal on a delayed penalty that came right after their second power play had expired as Sebastian Aho, who has 15 goals since the beginning of November, 18 on the season, whacked a loose puck past Markstrom and into the Canucks net, but the referee had already blown his whistle in anticipation of a Canucks gaining control of the loose puck moments before.
Jordan Staal said post-game that the officials actually apologized to him. He said they told him it should have been a goal.
Stand still
The puck bounce wasn’t fair for Tyler Myers nine minutes into the first. He thought he was going to fire it on the Hurricanes’ net.
Instead the puck fluttered over his stick and the Canes’ Julien Gauthier accelerated away the other direction, leaving Myers waving at dust.
Gauthier moved from left to right on Markstrom, but the Canucks’ netminder was cool as a cucumber, snatching the puck out of the air with his glove.
First Nations Celebration
It was First Nations Celebration night Thursday, which made some fine pre-game pageantry with representatives from the the Musqueam, Squamish, Tlowitsis and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations forming a drum line and then taking part in a ceremonial faceoff.
Gino Odjick was also part of the ceremonial faceoff, which of course drew a huge roar from the crowd.
Here’s an idea: recognize that this is the land of the the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples before every game.
NEXT GAME
Saturday
Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks
7 p.m., SAP Center , TV: CBC, SNET, CITY; Radio: SNET 650 AM
LISTEN: In this week’s White Towel podcast, beat writer Ben Kuzma and columnist Ed Willes join Paul Chapman to discuss the Canucks “microcore” and the challenges they face going into the rest of the season. The group also looks at the job Jim Benning has done, the increased social media presence of owner Francesco Aquilini and whether that places any extra burden on Benning, as well as the dilemma of what to do with the goaltending situation looking ahead to the off-season. The podcast finishes off with a look back at the 1982 Canucks team that caught fire and rode it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
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