November 16th, 2022
Ryan Gurevitz-The Canucks picked up 4 of a possible 10 points on their annual east coast road trip, tough fixtures against Toronto and Boston headlined a disappointing 5 games for a team looking to turn their season around. The Canucks went into the trip having gone 3-1-1 over their last five games. The Canucks were lucky to get out of their disastrous implosion against Nashville with a point in their last home game before packing their bags and heading to the nation’s capital.
The Canucks squared off against the Ottawa Senators to kick off their road trip, an early goal from Drake Batherson gave the Senators the lead for most of the third period. Bo Horvat struck back in the last minute to level it before Travis Hamonic gave the Senators their second lead with 37 seconds to go in the period. In the second period, Ilya Mikheyev scored the only goal to level the playing field going into the third and final frame. A chaotic four-goal effort from the Canucks including a second from Bo Horvat and Jack Studnicka’s first goal as a Canuck eventually proved too much for the Senators, who attempted a late comeback with late goals from Claude Giroux and Tim Stutzle. A 6-4 win backstopped by Spencer Martin was all she wrote as the Canucks packed up and headed further east for the second leg of a back-to-back.
The Canucks turned to Thatcher Demko to play the second half of their doubleheader at Centre Bell in Montreal. Much like a slew of his other starts, this one got ugly quickly for Demko, the Canadiens jumped out up 4-0 in the first two periods including a power play marker from captain Nick Suzuki. The Canucks responded with two goals early in the third in a frantic attempt to make something out of the game, but a Kirby Dach dagger in the final 5 minutes of the game shut down any hope of a comeback for the Canucks. Another tough outing for Thatcher Demko brought the Canucks record to 1-1 on the road trip going into their primetime matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Following the defeat in Montreal, Vancouver shifted their focus to their primetime matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Before the game, Oliver Ekman-Larsson took part in a ceremonial puck drop following a deeply emotional salute to Maple Leafs legend Borje Salming. Salming, who is now fighting ALS, was one of the first Swedish players to play in the NHL. He became one of the greatest players in Leafs history and an icon to Swedish players, his move to North America inspired countless other swedes to follow suit. Borje’s contribution to the hockey world was monumental and his legacy will live on forever.
After the tears were shed, the carpet was rolled back up, and both teams were ready to dance. Toronto versus Vancouver is a matchup that never fails to entertain no matter the skill gap between the two sides. The first of the two annual matchups was no exception, Vancouver opened the scoring when Bo Horvat caught a point bomb from Luke Schenn with the tip of his stick to baffle Erik Kallgren and make it 1-0. A power-play snapshot from JT Miller later on in the frame put the Canucks up 2-0 going into the second period, but even as the first period came to a close Toronto’s superior quality shined through. The Leafs made it 2-1 on the power play thanks to phenomenal penalty-killing tactics leaving Auston Matthews wide open on the power play. A second goal came later in the frame when a chaotic sequence in front of the net left Pierre Engvall with half an open net to jam home a rebound. Once again the Canucks found themselves on their heels back pedalling as another lead looked like it was surely gone, and sure enough, former Canuck Jordie Benn would give Toronto the lead with his first goal in a Leafs uniform. The Canucks had now surrendered the lead entirely in one period, going into the break needing a goal to draw even. The Canucks did not get their goal as the Leafs dominated third-period possession and time on attack with Erik Kallgren easily stuffing any scoring chances the Canucks developed thereon. A 3-2 loss would be the result of this game, leading rumours of change within the organization back to life. The Canucks took their L’s from Montreal and Toronto across the border for their next two games, the first of the two against the Boston Bruins.
Boston has been spoiled to start the season, enjoying a comfortable lead atop the Atlantic Division table while welcoming superstars Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy back from their surgeries earlier than expected. Their spoils continued into their matchup with the Canucks as a goal from Connor Clifton put them up 1-0 early. JT Miller retaliated on the power-play, where he levelled the score 2 minutes after Boston’s opener. Boston captain Patrice Bergeron answered with a power play marker of his own to give Boston the lead back going into the second period. Boston widened their lead in the second courtesy of Pavel Zacha and Brad Marchand, meaning the second period concluded with Boston cruising with a 4-1 lead. A second Canucks power play tally came early in the frame off the stick of Sheldon Dries, but the Canucks could not muster the effort to bring the game back within reach. An empty net goal was the eventual finisher for Boston, who cruised to the finish line with a 5-2 win. It was now onto Buffalo for Bruce’s men in what could be his final away game as head coach
An impressive October put the Buffalo Sabres at 7-3 on November 2nd following a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins, at the time they sat second in their division and hot on the tail of the division-leading Bruins. Since that win, things have not been looking up for the Sabres, who entered Tuesday’s matchup against the struggling Canucks on a five-game losing streak. With both teams looking to turn it around, the stage was set for an interesting and competitive Tuesday night game at KeyBank Arena.
Vancouver opened the game with a pair of good chances being fielded by Sabres netminder Craig Anderson before a team goal from the Canucks fourth line broke the deadlock near the midway point of the period. Shortly after, Ethan Bear opened his Canucks account to make it 2-0. Just a couple of minutes after Vancouver jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, a blazing Jeff Skinner caught a fine pass from Alex Tuch and put it into an open net to cut the lead in half. The score was held at 2-1 until Elias Pettersson made it 3-1 with a silky deflection in the opening minute of period two. Jeff Skinner yet again answered following a nifty toe drag and feed from Tage Thompson. The Canucks didn’t sit back and let the Sabres back into the game like they normally would, rather they answered with two power-play tallies from JT Miller and Bo Horvat. Their goals would ultimately put the game out of reach despite two more Sabres goals later in the game. The Canucks closed this game out winning 5-4 to push the Sabres losing streak to six games.
The roadtrip saw a multitude of peaks and valleys for the Canucks. Defense and goaltending faltered in every game of the trip, yet the Canucks only lost games where the offense couldn’t get going. 5-4 and 6-4 wins against two struggling teams aren’t games worth writing home about. Amidst rumours of coaching changes and trades, the one certainty is that this team will go nowhere with this defensive core. If the Aquilini’s are seriously against a rebuild, then trading for a D-man (or two) is absolutely necessary. I enjoyed the play of Luke Schenn this weekend, having watched the Toronto game in person I can attest to how valuable he is on this team. Schenn is the only defenseman this team has who plays every shift with heart and grit, always willing to throw the body and the hands around to give his team the edge. One thing this road trip hinted towards was the end of the Bruce Boudreau era in Vancouver; everyone around the organization sounds frustrated with the current state of the team, whenever this happens with a team, the coach is usually the first domino to fall in the teams attempt to turn things around. Boudreau himself has voiced frustration with the team’s recent performance, citing a recurrence in the teams “10 minute lull” when answering media following the loss in Toronto on Saturday. Fans who once loved Boudreau have already started to turn on him, and the reception he and the team get in their upcoming home game Friday night could prove a catalyst in his fate as Vancouver’s bench boss.