Canucks squander opportunity to gain ground on Golden Knights
The Vancouver Canucks squandered a sizable opportunity Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
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LAS VEGAS — By definition, any National Hockey League game on Saturday night was going to feel small compared to the sport’s generational moment on Thursday when Canada beat the United States in the Four Nations final.
But the Vancouver Canucks squandered a sizable opportunity Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights.
On a 6-1-1 tear heading into the NHL’s two-week schedule break, the Canucks were finally at least in the Knights’ rearview window as they chase a playoff spot in the Pacific Division.
A regulation victory would have moved Vancouver within seven points of Vegas, with a game in hand. Despite a sloppy and sluggish opening two periods for the Canucks, they were getting another brilliant goaltending performance from Kevin Lankinen. And they were tied going into the third period on the road against an excellent opponent.
And then they surrendered a gift goal to the Knights 18 seconds into the final period, before dominating much of the last 15 minutes without scoring. They lost 3-1 and fell 11 points behind the Knights, which, with 26 games remaining, looks like an insurmountable deficit.
This was a far bigger game for Vancouver than it felt.
“In the first two periods. . . we wouldn’t make plays when they were there, and we tried to make plays when they weren’t there,” Canucks defenceman Marcus Pettersson said. “It cost us momentum. A lot of sloppy play from us, really. I thought they saw our best in the third, so that’s encouraging that we could have a push. But, yeah, kind of sloppy from us to throw that game away.
“For sure, it was a missed opportunity against a good team. To have a 1-1 game going into the third when we haven’t played our best, yeah, a missed opportunity.”
On the first shift of the third period, the Canucks gave Knights defenceman Zach Whitecloud an open look from the high slot, which forced Lankinen to challenge the shooter. Whitecloud shot wide, but the puck catapulted off the end boards, missed Vancouver defenceman Filip Hronek, and was slung into a largely open net by unchecked Brandon Saad.
“It was a 1-1 game, and we gave them that freebie to start the (third),” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “And then obviously, the first period, we can’t give them three penalties — two for too many men. That hurts you. There’s moments there. . . we didn’t come through.
“Lanks was great tonight in net. (But) the game is about moments, and we had some moments there that we didn’t capitalize. And we need some guys to capitalize on it for us.”
Tocchet especially lamented his players’ shot choices when the team skated six-on-five late in the third period and had the Knights tired after killing an intense Canucks power play. Interestingly, Tocchet left Elias Pettersson on the bench for most of that power play, when Filip Chytil and Jake DeBrusk had excellent chances to score, but sent on his struggling star when Lankinen came off on the fly for an extra attacker.
Pettersson, who was a game-time decision to play due to illness and a knock he sustained playing for Sweden at the Four Nations event, had a shot blocked. Hronek fired high on another chance.
“I thought we had them when we had six-on-five,” Tocchet said. “They were tired, and. . . we didn’t make some smart plays. We shot the puck over the net, we hurried some of our shots. I don’t know if that’s rust over the two weeks.”
Tocchet said his team looked nervous in the first two periods, when the Canucks were outshot 25-15. In the third period, they peppered Knights goalie Adin Hill with 19 shots. Tomas Hertl sealed the game with an empty-net goal.
“I still think we could have some more net front (traffic),” Tocchet said. “There were some rebounds there, laying there, we just didn’t get to. But, yeah, I mean, make a play, grab a puck.”
Hills’ best saves were a pair of point-blank rebound stops against Pius Suter when the goalie was down and without his stick halfway through the final period.
“Yeah, quite a bit (of net),” Suter said. “On the first (chance), he was almost on his ass and it hit his arm. And then the second one, he’s just whipping over, and I think it hit his other arm. Obviously, I wanted one of those to go in. I’m pretty upset about that.”
The Canucks should be upset they didn’t generate more support for Lankinen, who, with the duress he faced on Saturday, probably won’t be chosen to play Sunday’s game in Salt Lake City.
When the Knights finally beat Lankinen at 11:02 of the second period, the goalie had no chance.
The Canuck was moving to his right as he made a reaction save on Victor Olofsson’s deflection, and was in no position to stop Ivan Barbashev on the rebound that tied it 1-1. Shots at that point were 20-10 for the Knights, and Lankinen had made several five-star saves, including post-to-post stops on Olofsson and Pavel Dorofeyev.
The Canucks held the lead for less than five minutes after Jake DeBrusk scored his 20th goal of his first season for Vancouver at 6:22 on a beautiful setup by Kiefer Sherwood.
Sherwood was one of the few Canucks who showed no signs of a two-week layoff. He was energetic, fast and physical, as he usually is. But the team was clearly struggling to string together passes and play at pace.
The sloppiness was exemplified by a pair of too-man-men penalties in the first period, both involving Tyler Myers and the defence. Including a puck-over-glass penalty to Myers, the Canucks were shorthanded for six of the first 20 minutes.
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“We gave them, like, three penalties,” Marcus Pettersson said. “They gained a lot of momentum from that, even though they didn’t score. We were a little bit disconnected, and we didn’t keep that speed up that we want to play with.”
“We’ve got to make more plays, I think,” Sherwood said. “I know Lanky is world-class, but we left him on an island too much. We need a better 60 minutes. It’s not good enough, especially on the brink of the playoffs right now.”
After this weekend’s games, the Canucks face another back-to-back against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, starting Wednesday in Los Angeles. Their five-game excursion ends next Saturday in Seattle against the Kraken.
Canucks defenceman Quinn Hughes missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury, but could play Sunday.
“This whole road trip is big,” Sherwood said. “We’re playing against teams that are all fighting for playoff spots, and every game is worth double now. I mean, it’s more than two points at this time of year. We need to be better.”
And seize their moments.
