November 25th, 2024
JC Clemas
There’s no place like the road when you’re a Vancouver Canucks fan. The team made the trip to Ottawa for Hockey Night in Canada after a brutal 6 game homestand that saw them go 2-4. Heading into the matchup, the Canucks boasted a road record of 6-1-0, with their best efforts coming in arenas that aren’t their own. Combine this with their recent history in the nation’s capital (3-0 since the Canadian division disbanded), hopes were high going into this. Unfortunately, the lack of Miller, Boeser, and Demko made it a much more even matchup than it would’ve been otherwise.
Despite being across the country, Ottawa has a lot of Canucks fans living in it,
including yours truly. I of course made the atrocious journey to Kanata, Ontario, with two Senators fans. This is the 4th straight season I’ve seen the Canucks in Ottawa, and I’m kind of glad they don’t come more often so I don’t have to get to the arena more than once a year. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how brutal it is to get to the Canadian Tire Centre. I took a school bus with some random bar and we still only barely got there in time for puck drop. Anyway, with some of the Canucks’ most important players not being present in the lineup, their perfect record in the arena with me in attendance was certainly in jeopardy. This jeopardy was increased pretty much immediately into the game.
About 13 minutes in, Quinn Hughes cross-checked Senators’ forward Josh Norris right into the boards. After some deliberation, the officials determined that it was worthy of a major penalty and a game misconduct. Now, there will obviously be some disagreements from Canucks fans on the decision. I feel it was a little bit weak. But seriously, what was Quinn even doing there? The hit was clearly a penalty and a stupid play from a guy who doesn’t do that often. It was definitely more an unfortunate result than it was a dirty action, though. It was weird to see Quinn play the body instead of playing the puck for once though, and given the result, maybe he should just never try it again. 13 minutes into the game, the Canucks were already missing Miller, Boeser, and Demko, and now there’s no more Quinn Hughes. I definitely wasn’t nervous or anything (I pretty much gnawed my fingernails down to nothing).
Besides that penalty, the 1st period was relatively uneventful for a while. The Canucks managed to kill off all 5 minutes of the major, a wonderful effort from the penalty killers that we’ve come to grow used to so far this season (did not hold up all game). Towards the end of the period, debut-maker Max Sasson drew a hook from Artem Zub, sending the Canucks to the man-advantage. We’ve all heard “if you throw the puck to the net, good things happen” before, and this power play proved the theory correct. Garland came in with the puck from the left wing and fired it towards a screening DeBrusk, who deflected it into the net to make it 1-0. At this point, my friends had gone to get a jumpstart on the bathroom line, and I was left with nobody to brag to that the Canucks got a rare icebreaker. Maybe Quinn Hughes has been the problem for the first power play unit all along (I’m kidding).
I have previously written about Nils Höglander taking a lot of unnecessary penalties. That’s one of the main issues I’ve seen from him this season, and I think he needs to work on his discipline. The slashing penalty he took on Tim Stützle early in the 2nd period will not be included in the evidence of this claim. It likely saved a goal. Unfortunately, it was all for nothing, as Brady Tkachuk scored on the ensuing power play. The 1-0 lead had settled my heart rate a little bit, and the tying goal brought it right back to where it was. Luckily, the tie did not last for too long. Tyler Myers beautifully read the Senators’ breakout at centre ice to intercept the puck and send it to Max Sasson before the opposition could check him. I’ve advocated for Sasson to be called up multiple times, pushing the idea that he is a smart player who makes good decisions. He made me look like a genius halfway through the 2nd. Streaking down the right wing after taking the Myers pass, he stopped up along the boards in the faceoff circle, weighed his options, and sent a hard pass to an undefended Teddy Blueger. Blueger made no mistake, sniping it past Ullmark to give the Canucks their lead back. The play from Sasson was underrated and demonstrated unbelievable patience and poise from a player making their NHL debut. I actually had a similar reaction to his father.
I didn’t have too long to admire that play, though. 4 minutes later, Kiefer Sherwood made a nice play along the boards to spin the puck past an over-committed Tyler Kleven, who then proceeded to get absolutely burned by Jake DeBrusk. Streaking in from the left wing, DeBrusk received a nice pass from Sherwood. Artem Zub committed too hard to blocking the pass, leaving DeBrusk with the ability to walk in on Ullmark all alone. He calmly strolled around the Senators’ goalkeeper, slid the puck into the net on the backhand,
and padded the Canucks’ lead. The line of DeBrusk - Pettersson - Sherwood has been huge for the Canucks, especially in the past 2 games since Miller took a personal leave. They’ve needed to be. With an 83.3 expected goals percentage (according to moneypuck.com), there is no forward line in the entire NHL that has both a higher xG% and more minutes played than the trio.
Speaking of Kiefer Sherwood, he’s easily been my favourite Canuck so far. He leads the league in hits with 125 through just 19 games. That’s 26 higher than 2nd place Jeremy Lauzon, who has played 2 extra games. Chief Kief has been an absolute bull on the forecheck so far, and added solid defensive play. The most shocking part is his production, as he is on pace for over 50 points so far this season. Going into this game, I knew I had to be outspoken with Kiefer Sherwood support. I brought a sign that said “I’m just here to see Kiefer
Sherwood.” I spread the word to everyone wearing blue that we would have to chant his name if he scored. I promised my friends they would hate me if he managed to get one. My favourite player used to be Andrei Kuzmenko, and in the 4 games I saw him play in person, he failed to score a single goal. I was told I was a curse for my favourite players. 8:41 into the 3rd period, that all changed. Sherwood pressured Chabot, forcing a bad pass that Elias Pettersson was able to collect. He brought it over the blue line, swinging it over to DeBrusk looking for the hat trick. DeBrusk fanned, backhanding it to the net on the second attempt. The puck bounced off Ullmark’s pads and ended up in the blue paint, where a crease-crashing Kiefer Sherwood was able to poke the puck in. At first, I wasn’t sure if he or Pettersson had gotten it, but when I saw his celebration, I knew. I made sure that every Senators fan in section 103 absolutely hated me. My friends had their heads in their hands. I broke out the Sherwood chant, which was sadly only faintly audible over the broadcast. Sportsnet likes turning down crowd noises. Either way, it was a major triumph for me over anyone who has ever called me a jinx.
I briefly had to forget about the Sherwood goal towards the end of the game. Giroux scored with 3 and a half minutes left, making it 4-2 off the Senators’ 2nd power-play goal of the game. I’m not sure Höglander deserved the double minor in that scrum, but it is what it is. Following this, Tim Stützle scored on a nice one-timer to bring Ottawa within 1 with 40 seconds left. I was pretty much ready to cry real tears at this point. Luckily, the Canucks stood tall in the dying moments of the game, and I was able to scream a cheer of relief. The Canucks had improved to 4-0 in games I’ve seen them play in Ottawa. More important than that, they achieved their best road start to a season in franchise history at 7-1-0. It was a gutsy effort from a Canucks team that was missing their captain for the majority of the game. Filip Hronek played 27 strong minutes as the first option, and the supporting staff was solid as well. The team showed a lot of heart from top to bottom, which is exactly what they need while Miller is out.
Looking ahead, the Canucks face a back-to-back against Boston and Pittsburgh. Brock Boeser appears to be ready for his return against the Bruins, which will be a huge addition to this lineup. The problem lies in where to slot him in. Obviously, the current Pettersson line is not going to be touched. I’d think the most realistic option is to put Boeser with Suter and Heinen as the 2nd line and move Joshua and Garland down to join Blueger on the 3rd line. Max Sasson should not be the guy to scratch after his strong debut, and I’d
instead opt to leave Bains out of the lineup. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tocchet has Höglander sit for a game, though. Whatever it is, if they show as much heart as they showed in front of my eyes in Ottawa, I think they can put up strong results in Miller’s absence.