Ryan Gurevitz
December 6th, 2022
Well, that was unexpected...
The Canucks pulled off the improbable last night in their victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Amidst yet another sea of rumours surrounding the team, Vancouver looked slow and sluggish for the opening 30 minutes of the game but stormed back impressively. The Canucks closed two Canadiens leads in the third period to force overtime, where Elias Pettersson played the hero and buried a chance in close encounters to secure a big two points.
The Canadiens controlled the game through the first frame. A rocket off the stick of Cole Caufield opened the Canadiens' chequebook in the first period before his teammates scored three more to chase Spencer Martin from his crease in the first period. The Canucks turned to third-string Colin Delia in what looked to be a lost cause of a game for the boys in blue, who made his first appearance of the season in place of the injured Thatcher Demko. The dreadful first period ended at the mercy of the Canucks, who went to the room down four nil in what looked to be a disastrous start.
The Canucks answered Montreal's flurry of goals with two of their own late in the second period. The first came off the stick of Conor Garland, who utilized his silky mitts to earn his first tally since October 27th vs Seattle. Ilya Mikheyev followed up two minutes later, combining with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser to cut Montreal's lead in half going into the final twenty minutes.
Canucks fans were unphased by the team's late effort, as they've become too familiar with "too little too late" efforts this season. Most did not believe this team had the potential to pull off the steep task of pulling even after going 4-0 down.
What followed was nothing short of spectacular from a team that has become known for its spells of deadness and uninspired hockey. A fluid team effort filled with grit and skill led the Canucks to three unanswered goals in the first half of the third. The captain jammed home his twentieth goal of the campaign to bring the Canucks within one, effectively bringing Canucks faithful back to life in time for Ilya Mikheyev's equalizer two minutes later. From 4-0 down, the Canucks found themselves in a tie game with their opponent backpedalling. The Canucks grabbed their first lead courtesy of Sam Montembault passing the puck into the body of the approaching Jack Studnicka. Studnicka wrapped the net and beat a desperate diving Montembault to give Vancouver the lead with roughly eleven minutes left in the game. Despite the Canucks effort to bring themselves back into the game and into their first lead, they could not put the game to bed just yet. Montreal made things interesting by pulling ahead once more thanks to a pair of tallies from Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson, meaning the Canucks had 3 minutes to tie the game in hopes of forcing overtime. The Canucks got some assistance, as a late trip from Johnathan Kovacevic gave the Canucks 7th ranked power play a chance to equalize. Andrei Kuzmenko understood his job, and executed it well, tipping a long-range shot from Quinn Hughes past Montembeault to tie the game at 6.
After 20 minutes of play, the Canucks trailed four goals to zero, and statistically had a 0.02% chance of emerging with a win (Moneypuck.com). After 60 minutes, they found themselves in a tie game.
It only took the Canucks 13 seconds to get their winner, the fastest regular-season overtime goal in franchise history. Mike Matheson slipped on a banana peel with Elias Pettersson forechecking, and Pettersson made Matheson pay.
The Canucks somehow escaped with two hard-earned points in perhaps their best effort in years. The stunning effort brings them closer to the playoff bar amidst a sea of uncertainty regarding multiple futures. Be on the lookout for an opinion piece on the rumours soon.
3rd-Colin Delia 15 SV 2 GA .882 Sv% 0.75 GSAx W
Delia's first Canucks appearance was nothing special on paper, but coming in midway through a game with a 4-0 deficit is not a scenario where a win is expected. Delia was solid enough to allow his team to come back and win a game that looked out of reach, and for that, he earns my third star.
2nd-Ilya Mikheyev 2G 4SOG 17:00 TOI
Mikheyev had another great night, notching two goals, including the first equalizer to close the four-goal gap in the third period. Mikheyev was only outshined by his centre Elias Pettersson, who set Mikheyev up for his second goal with a fantastic assist.
1st-Elias Pettersson 1GWG 2A 1SOG 19:13 TOI
Elias Pettersson registered assists on both of Ilya Mikheyev's goals before scoring the fastest regular season overtime winner in Canucks history. Pettersson's three-point night moved him up to 12 goals and 20 assists for 32 points in 26 games to start the year, a decent start for Vancouver's star Swede.
Luke Schenn once again proved his value as the team's spark plug last night, laying a colossal boom on 1st overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky. Schenn followed up his hit on the 6'4 power forward by dropping the gloves with Arber Xhekaj, who stood up for his fellow rookie teammate Slafkovsky. (Video Credit: Jens95)