Playoff hockey is fierce stuff.
If the St. Louis Blues were guilty of being a bit sleepy in the series opener on Wednesday, they were “woke” in Game 2 on Friday. Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat, though, continues to be the most dominant player in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The defending Stanley Cup champions came on strong Friday, but still didn’t have enough to beat the Canucks, who blew a 3-1 third-period lead but still won the game 4-3 in overtime, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Horvat scored the winner, his second goal of the game, on a breakaway. It was nearly as spectacular a play as the one he netted to open the game’s scoring.
Canucks head coach Travis Green called his captain “a horse” after Game 1. After Game 2 the coach said he played “a monster game.”
As a team, the Canucks spent much of the night making it difficult for the Blues to get to the scoring areas, limiting most of their 37 shots to the outside.
NEXT GAME
Sunday | Game 3
Vancouver Canucks vs. St. Louis Blues
(Canucks lead best-of-seven series 2-0)
7:30 p.m., Rogers Place (Edmonton), TV: Sportsnet, Radio: Sportsnet 650 AM
The Canucks’ winning equation this season has been to get solid goaltending from Jacob Markstrom and a strong performance from their special teams.
In the playoffs they’ve shown superb improvement in their defensive work in front of Markstrom.
That said, they started strong in this game but the Blues found their mojo as the game wore on, tying it with only seven seconds left in regulation time.
The other Canucks goals were scored by Tanner Pearson and Elias Pettersson, while the Blues got goals from Ryan O’Reilly, Sammy Blais and Jaden Schwartz.
Here’s what we learned in Game 2:
Like a Bowie knife through butter
Horvat channelled some incredible energy in scoring his scorching short-handed goal at 7:23 of the first period. He collected a loose puck in his own end and then made the Blues look silly as he roared up ice, before lofting the puck over Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
As he did on his highlight-reel goal in Game 1, he again made some very good players look like minor leaguers. On Wednesday it was Vince Dunn who got schooled after being deked out of position by Horvat.
On Friday, it was forwards Brayden Schenn and Schwartz, two of the finest skaters the Blues have, who were left in the Canucks captain’s dust.
It was a superb night for the Canucks’ special teams, as they scored two goals on the power play and one while short-handed.
Horvat smiled after the game when asked at what point in the short-handed sequence he thought he might have a scoring chance.
“You notice that there’s two forwards back … luckily I got through the two of them,” he said.
His winning goal was nearly as thrilling as he burst into the neutral zone while Quinn Hughes collected the puck in the corner to the left of Markstrom, then fired a beautiful banked pass off the side boards to his wide-open teammate.
Blues coach Craig Berube said neither defenceman Carl Gunnarson nor winger Schenn, who was covering the other point for the pinching Alex Pietrangelo, realized that Horvat had sprung from the zone.
“We couldn’t get back in time. That’s it. That simple,” Berube said.
Saving the day
In overtime, the Blues nearly scored on a wild goalmouth scramble that saw Markstrom slide out of his crease, but Pettersson first swept the puck off the line then blocked a shot while lying on the ice to preserve the game.
“Not very good thoughts,” Markstrom said of what he was thinking while he was stuck out of his crease. “It’s not a good feeling when you’re out of your net and the puck is behind you. … Luckily Petey was there.”
Pettersson played it cool.
“All of us just trying to play hard defence. I know all my teammates would put their body on the line,” he said.
Thorn in the side
David Perron is a great hockey player. He’s also a master pest.
He goaded Jake Virtanen into a second-period slashing penalty. He was quick to give anyone, including Markstrom, a little shot whenever he could. He was one of the Blues’ best on the night.
Smart rotation
It’s not often we see Pettersson as the net-front player on the Canucks’ power play, but he was when he scored the crucial third goal for the Canucks.
Since Tyler Toffoli hurt his leg or foot in Game 1 against the Minnesota Wild, Brock Boeser has been filling the role during the post-season. He’s done an excellent job.
Pettersson ended up as the net-front player after the Canucks entered the zone, filling the first spot available to him.
“I just tried to volley it,” he said of his mid-air striking of the puck.
Next year that’s onside
J.T. Miller’s gorgeous goal that wasn’t would be a good goal in 2020-21.
The league announced just over a week before the COVID-19 pause that the offside rule was being revised that a player would remain onside while his foot was in the air over the blue-line.
Miller was whistled for offside after a video review showed his right skate was in the St. Louis zone and his left skate was above the blue-line when the puck entered the zone ahead of his deke on Binnington.
Huh?
Late in the second period, there was a bizarre moment from the officials. Blais drove Brandon Sutter from behind into the boards, what most assumed would be a boarding penalty.
Jay Beagle came to Sutter’s defence and somehow drew four minutes for roughing while Blais was handed just two for roughing. It was as if the nasty hit on Sutter never happened.
It made no sense for the Blues to come out of the fracas with a power play. Two minutes each way would have made sense.
The Blues took advantage of the strange call as O’Reilly scored on the ensuing power play, pulling the Blues to within one.
Watch that matchup
O’Reilly remains a force for his team. Jaden Schwartz was shifted onto his line for Game 2 and the trio went up against Elias Pettersson’s Lotto line again.
O’Reilly and company dominated 5 on 5 play against Pettersson in Game 1 and it was a repeat story in Game 2.
When O’Reilly and Pettersson were on the ice against each other — a total of 7:25 on the night — the Blues directed the puck towards the Vancouver net 13 times. The Canucks got just three attempts off at Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
Alex Edler and Troy Stecher ended up against O’Reilly’s line for much of that as well, a turn around for them from Game 1, when they faced Vlad Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn and Schwartz. They dominated the Blues trio in that matchup.
It will be interesting to see if the Canucks rejig their matchups in Game 3 on Sunday, when they’ll be the home team and will have last matchup.
For his part, Pettersson said he and wingers J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser need to be better.
“I think our line, we definitely want to play better 5 on 5, we spend too much time in our d-zone,” he said.
Bench time is no fun
Hughes didn’t see a lot of action for long stretches on the night. Normally he’s on the ice every 90 seconds or so, but in the second period he sat out for a three-minute stretch and again for four minutes. In the third period, he didn’t see the ice for the final six minutes.
A lot of that was because of penalties against his team.
He admitted that that can be hard, but he understood how circumstance forced those situations.
“I didn’t really feel like I was in it today,” he said. “Definitely a little bit challenging when you’re sitting for five or six minutes. … but that will happen once in a while, it is what it is.”
ICE CHIPS — Tyler Myers was injured early in the first period and after lying prone on the ice for a time, was able to skate off. He didn’t return and was declared “unfit to play,” by Green after the game. … The Blues have yet to win in Edmonton, going winless in their three round-robin games last week and now losing the first two games against the Canucks. They had the best record in the Western Conference when the season was paused in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. … Green said he didn’t receive an explanation for any of the controversial plays on the night, be it the Sutter-Blais-Beagle sequence or the Perron goal, which was initially ruled no-goal due to a high stick but was overturned on review.
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