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I Watched This (Preseason) Game: Canucks 3, Flames 1

Anton Rodin wasn’t supposed to play in this game. He was a late addition to the lineup in place of Scottie Upshall. It came out during the game that Upshall was, in fact, getting signed by the St. Louis Blues to a one-year contract.
Daniel Wagner
I Watched This Game

Anton Rodin wasn’t supposed to play in this game. He was a late addition to the lineup in place of Scottie Upshall. It came out during the game that Upshall was, in fact, getting signed by the St. Louis Blues to a one-year contract. Jim Benning claimed to know nothing about the deal, which is odd, as in my experience Scottie is usually the one who doesn’t know.

In any case, this removed one potential obstacle for the Canucks’ young wingers in their bid to make the Canucks’ opening night roster. Rodin is one of those players looking to get noticed, but he wasn’t the one who took Upshall’s place alongside Brandon Sutter and Derek Dorsett in the lineup.

Instead, it was Darren Archibald, and he took advantage of the opportunity by scoring his first goal of the preseason. I saw Archibald become the most likeable Archie filmed in Vancouver when I watched this game.

  • Everyone knew the Flames were looking to upgrade in net this offseason, but no one expected them to acquire Mike Smith from the Arizona Coyotes. It was the most unexpected upgrade since Upgrayedd showed up after the Idiocracy credits. Only, I’m not sure that Smith is really that much better than Elliott. The Flames might have been better off banking on a bounceback season from Elliott than spending assets on the 35-year-old Smith.
  • Jake Virtanen continued to make his case for a roster spot, scoring his third goal of the preseason. It was a lovely heads-up play by Virtanen off the rush: instead of just dumping the puck ahead and trying to skate onto it, he made a nice pass to Sam Gagner in the neutral zone, then crossed behind Gagner as he gained the blue line. Gagner dropped the puck to Virtanen, taking two Flames out of the play in the process. The remaining defenceman, TJ Brodie, was too slow to pick up Virtanen, giving him plenty of time to nutmeg Smith.
  • Virtanen nearly added another in the first period, pinging a puck off the inside of the post on a 2-on-1. He was super-visible on the ice in this game, which made it particularly noticeable in the third period when he went to go off on a change and didn’t actually leave the ice, leading to a too-many-men call and the Flames only goal of the game. If he had been more invisible all game, he might have gotten away with it.
  • Sven Baertschi left the game after the first period, but it reportedly was due to illness, not injury, which is odd. If he was sick, why did he start the game at all, seeing as it is a meaningless preseason game? Did he come down with something in the intermission? Did he let Hogarth Hughes make him a landslide? Did he actually get injured and this is a cover-up? How far does the conspiracy go?
  • With no Henrik Sedin and no Bo Horvat, it was interesting to see Brandon Sutter skating on a third line that was essentially a fourth line with Derek Dorsett and Darren Archibald. Markus Granlund and Alexander Burmistrov centred the top two lines ahead of Sutter and I’m wondering if this is a preview of what we’ll see this season: Sutter centring a “fourth line” checking line that gets about the same amount of ice time as the “third line.”
  • I will never get tired of hockey players looking incredulous about blatantly obvious penalties. In the second period it was Freddie Hamilton looking absolutely flabbergasted that he was getting a roughing minor for literally punching Andre Pedan in the face. I mean, at some point you just have to admit that you did a dumb thing and accept the consequences.
  • The Canucks went up 2-0 just 15 seconds into that power play. Brock Boeser and Anton Rodin worked the puck to Michael Del Zotto at the point and his slap shot deflected off Michael Frolik’s stick and arced over Smith into the top corner. The puck took so long to go in that Smith had enough time for an anime-style inner monologue about how he needed to train harder.
  • Brandon Sutter made it 3-0 not long after, tipping in a Troy Stecher shot on the Canucks’ only other power play of the game. Unfortunately, it was ruled no-goal for being touched with a high stick and, with no video replay in the preseason, the Canucks had to abide by the blatantly wrong call. It was outrageous, egregious, preposterous!
  • The Canucks didn’t make it 3-0 for real until the third period, when Darren Archibald came out of the penalty box and Sutter sent him in on a breakaway. Archibald kept things simple, going backhand-to-forehand to open up the five-hole, then sliding the puck under Smith's stick and through his legs. Smith really needs to watch some Red Green reruns.
  • Anders Nilsson was as sharp as a good cheddar in this game, making 30 saves on 31 shots, only giving up the shutout bid on the Flames’ seventh power play of the game. Considering there were over six minutes left in the game, it was a little early to be giving up a snack goal (the morsel that keeps the opponent from getting too hungry in the future), but he’s new to the Canucks and has time to learn.
  • I don’t want to alarm Flames fans, but this was basically their starting lineup on opening night. Up against a Canucks lineup that was missing their top-two centres and two of their top-four defencemen, the Flames looked decidedly mediocre and needed seven power plays just to score one goal. Who am I kidding, I totally want to alarm Flames fans. Be alarmed Flames fans! BE ALARMED!