The Canucks have a couple of incredibly exciting prospects at centre in the system. Elias Pettersson is currently destroying the Swedish Hockey League. His 35 points in 26 games not only leads the SHL in scoring, it puts him on-pace for the second-best SHL season all time from a player under-20.
Meanwhile, Adam Gaudette is tearing up the NCAA for Northeastern University. He’s tired for 8th in NCAA scoring with 11 goals and 23 points in 16 games, and he’s 6th in points per game. Combined with Bo Horvat, Pettersson and Gaudette should provide a solid core down the middle for the Canucks to build around.
There’s just one problem when your best centre prospects are playing in the SHL and NCAA: you end up with Nick Dowd and Michael Chaput playing in the NHL.
Since the Canucks couldn’t just call up Pettersson or Gaudette with Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter injured, the Canucks centres in this game were Henrik Sedin, Sam Gagner, Dowd, and Chaput. Their centre depth was shallower than Hal Larson when I watched this game.
- It’s easy to be frustrated with Travis Green’s decision to scratch an offensive talent like Nikolay Goldobin when the team is already missing Bo Horvat. It’s a little like a one-armed man saying he could beat someone in a fight with one arm tied behind his back. But Green clearly wasn’t happy with the performance of his centres against the Flyers. He wanted to see what the Canucks had in the newly acquired Dowd, as well as shore up the penalty kill with Chaput, so bringing them into the lineup did make some sort of sense.
- Chaput, for what it’s worth, had a solid game, combining with Jake Virtanen and Brendan Gaunce to form arguably the Canucks’ most effective line. He also won 50% of his faceoffs and played a bunch on the Canucks’ penalty kill, which was perfect on the night. He had no shots on goal and was never a threat to score, but he came in and did exactly what he was supposed to do with a minimum of fuss. He was fuss-free.
- Dowd, on the other hand, struggled. I covered this already in Stick-taps and Glove-drops, but it’s still remarkable to me that he went 0-for-4 in the faceoff circle to go with getting badly out-shot and taking a bad penalty. It’s just one game, but everything fans might have been hoping for from Dowd was missing like Amy Dunne.
- Like Thud Butt from Hook, Jake Virtanen was rolling in this one. He was constantly on the puck and seemed more intent on getting to the net than he has all season. He got a fortunate bounce to open the scoring when Michael Del Zotto’s point shot hit his skate, but he had the finish to go with the bounce.
- The penalty kill was rolling too. Markus Granlund and Ben Hutton led the way, playing over 3:20 each and actually out-shooting the Flames when they were on the ice shorthanded. With Hutton on the PK, the Canucks actually out-shot the Flames 5-0, and the Flames only managed one shot on goal in total on their four power plays. They were like Death in the Final Destination movies, with perfect kill after perfect kill.
- Michael Del Zotto had a rough game, frequently getting pinned down in the defensive zone, but it was a mistake in the offensive zone that allowed the Flames to tie the game. Del Zotto lost the puck after a won faceoff, then took himself out of the play by diving out for it. Anders Nilsson had no chance to stop the 3-on-1 and Troy Brouwer one timer that ensued.
- The worst news of the game: Sven Baertschi is probably going to be out for a while. The puck he took in the face from a Mark Giordano clearing attempt seems likely to have broken his jaw or orbital bone. He left the game and didn’t return and has now flown back to Vancouver to be evaluated. To lose Horvat and Baertschi a couple games apart, potentially long-term, is a brutal blow.
- Even without his two B-Line bros, Brock Boeser came through for the Canucks. He nearly scored on one power play chance, waiting out MIkael Backlund’s shot block, but Backlund spun around and got his wrist on a shot labeled for the top corner. I assume Backlund’s hand is now shattered into a million pieces, if not utterly vaporized.
- Boeser kept pushing, drawing a penalty on Giordano that the Calgary crowd and one of the rfs was sure should have been a penalty on Boeser. That made it particularly grating that Boeser scored on the power play. Granlund took a pass from Daniel Sedin off his right skate and up through his legs, then slipped the puck under TJ Brodie to Boeser for the tap-in.
- This was actually the first time all season that the Canucks lost in regulation after heading into the third period with a lead. The Flames put relentless pressure in the third: shot attempts were 23 to 6. It seemed inevitable they would score.
- They did: Hutton has a great game, but when he does make mistakes, they seem to be costly ones. When he got the puck with time to move it, his clearance attempt had less mustard on it than a Japadog. Expecting a better outlet pass, the Canucks all missed their assignments, giving Matthew Tkachuk the room he needed to backhand the puck past Nilsson.
- Sam Gagner’s defensive issues came as advertised. He ended up chasing Sam Bennett around the ice, Thomas Vanek and Markus Granlund could only wave their sticks while Bennett beat Nilsson on the backhand. With the way the Canucks were scrambling, it would have taken a miracle to keep the puck out of the net, but a big reason for the scrambling was because of who was on the ice.
