After quiet trade deadline, resilient Canucks grind out another low-scoring win
The Canucks generated another low-scoring victory Friday night over the Minnesota Wild to move back into a playoff position in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference.
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VANCOUVER — Fielding questions after Friday’s trade deadline about the Vancouver Canucks’ challenge to score, general manager Patrik Allvin asked aloud: “Is it going to be hard to win 2-1 every night and get into the playoffs? Probably it will be.”
But winning 3-1 with an empty-netter? Now, that could be a path to the playoffs.
The Canucks generated another low-scoring victory Friday night over the Minnesota Wild to move back into a playoff position (and within seven points of the Wild, with a game in hand) in the National Hockey League’s Western Conference.
Elias Pettersson, continuing to use this week to re-launch his troubled season, blistered in a power-play one-timer — remember those? — for his first goal in 16 games. And Kiefer Sherwood broke an equally-long scoring drought in the third period as Vancouver survived Minnesota to win 3-1 while being outshot 38-20.
This is not a sustainable winning strategy, as Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves, 14 of them in the final period when Vancouver, yet again, played in retreat.
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It did demonstrate the resiliency that is one of the positive traits the Canucks have established in a season that so far has been like a blindfolded walk through a 62-game minefield.
But it also reminded us of something else that Allvin said about the difficulty in trying to win 2-1: “I do think we have players that are capable of scoring goals here.”
Obviously, Pettersson is one of them. Friday’s first-period laser was just his 12th goal this season. He’s talented enough to double that total over the final 20 games.
But Sherwood is also capable of contributing goals, and so are his fourth-line partners, Teddy Blueger and Nils Hoglander. Blueger scored a one-handed empty-netter with 54 seconds remaining to extend the Canucks’ winning streak at Rogers Arena to four games.
It took Vancouver two months to win four home games at the start of the season.
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Against the Wild, the Hoglander-Blueger-Sherwood line was noticeable all game, spending as much time in the offensive zone and the defensive one.
Despite his recent slump and slide down the lineup, Sherwood has 14 goals this season. Hoglander has scored only five times, but had 24 goals last year. Blueger has 19 points in 62 games and spent most of last season as an effective third-line centre.
Allvin’s decision to neither add nor subtract players at Friday’s deadline left a couple of holes among the top-six forward group, from which J.T. Miller was traded in January.
But the bottom six forwards on the Canucks can make a difference.
“I think we probably just think of ourselves as more of a line that can contribute,” Blueger said when asked about the “fourth line.” “Even today, before we scored it felt like, for the most part, we were in their zone. We feel connected and we try to play hard, try to make plays, too. I don’t think we put too much into where we are in the lineup or what (order) we go out to start a period. It’s just a matter of working and competing.”
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Sherwood said: “I think we just want to feed the identity of the team. I think me and Hogs can use our speed and our work, and Teddy’s really responsible. We’ve just got to continue to build and create those O-zone, buzzing, energy shifts for the rest of the team. The beauty of it is, when you play the right way, a lot of times you get rewarded.”
After Brock Faber’s power-play one-timer tied it for Minnesota at 7:12 of the third period, several seconds after Vancouver defenceman Tyler Myers snapped his stick trying to play the puck out of the zone, Sherwood scored the game-winner at 16:45.
Wild defenceman Jon Merrill cleared the puck directly to Canuck Filip Hronek, whose hard pass to the back post was deftly handled by Sherwood off his skate before the winger shot short-side on goalie Filip Gustavsson.
Blueger scored by reaching past Faber, who thought he had the puck shielded, to poke a one-handed shot into the empty net. The goal was assisted by Pius Suter, one of three impending Canuck free agents who survived the trade deadline in Vancouver.
The marquee holdover, Brock Boeser, had five shot attempts and assisted on Pettersson’s power-play goal at 16:14 of the first period.
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“Your head’s in a blender,” Boeser said of his trade-deadline experience. “Like, you hear so many things, you don’t know what’s true and what’s not true. It was a long week and I’m just happy that it’s over with.”
What does it mean for the longest-tenured Canuck to remain in Vancouver — at least until July 1.
“Yeah, it means a lot,” Boeser said. “Some of my best friends are on this team, and we have such a good team, so many great guys here, and we’re right in the hunt for a playoff spot. I think that’s our main focus right now. You know, obviously, it’s kind of tough to focus on that with all that noise, but now I’m just so happy that it’s over with and I can really just focus on helping our team win games and being better for our team.”
“I think it’s a bit of relief because all the guys are well-liked in the locker room,” Sherwood said. “It’s also probably a message of camaraderie or whatever you want to call it — just that they believe in us to keep the group together and give us a chance to go forward and see what happens. I think if anything, it’s empowering.”
Suddenly Stanley Cup favourites with their deadline addition of Mikko Rantanen, the Dallas Stars visit Rogers Arena on Sunday. The Canucks need to keep winning.
“I think we’ve got good players with a lot of talent, and still some big players missing,” Blueger said, referring to injured defenceman Quinn Hughes and goalie Thatcher Demko. “We’ve just got to execute, stick together. Obviously, everyone (outside Vancouver) thinks we’re not very good, and probably the odds are against us. If we get in, we’ll surprise everyone. And if we get in, everyone will probably still have us out in four games. In a way that’s good. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
