chicago blackhawks | Andrew Phillip Chernoff

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff November 21, 2015

According to the Canucks (8-7-6), home never looked so sweet as they returned to familiar surroundings after a disastrous 7-game road trip.

Tonight’s opponent, the Chicago Blackhawks (11-8-2), were expected to be no pushover, but Daniel Sedin (3-1—4 +3) and Henrik Sedin (1-4—5 +3) had a total of 9 points, and Ryan Miller was solid (after allowing 2-goals on the Blackhawks first seven shots), stopping 26 of 29 shots, as they led the Canucks to 6-3 home win against the defending Stanley Cup champs.

The Canucks were looking to end a season high 4-game losing streak, and the Blackhawks were looking to get back to winning ways after having their 3-game winning streak come to an end, against the Calgary Flames on Friday night.

After winning three of their first four games to start the season, the Canucks had only four wins in their last 16 games. They had lost four straight and seven of their last eight.

First Period

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews (7) opened the scoring with a power play goal to make it 1-0 Chicago at 6:17, off the goal post on the short side.

Jannick Hansen had everyone worried when he was crosschecked into an on coming shot by Dan Hamhuis and he left the game, to return later. The Canucks did get a power play on the crosscheck. Fifty seconds after the Canucks started the power play, the Blackhawks got penalized again, setting up a 5-3 advantage.

Henrik Sedin (6), assisted by Daniel Sedin (12), and Alex Edler (6) made it a 1-1 tie on the power play at 9:32. It was Daniel Sedin’s 900th point of his NHL career.

Jannick Hansen (6) gets an even strength goal, set up by Henrik Sedin (11) and Matt Bartowski(5) at 15:18, and the Canucks had their second consecutive goal to take the lead 2-1.

Chicago quickly responded back, tying up the game at 2-2 on a goal by Ryan Garbutt(1), assisted by Jonathan Toews (7) at 16:10. And that was the score at the end of one period.

Vancouver out hit Chicago 5-2 in the opening period; had more faceoff wins: 13-9; had more takeaways: 4-1; more blocked shots: 6-5; less giveaways than Chicago: 2-3; and both teams had 7-shots each.

Second Period

The second period started out with both teams trying to dictate the intensity of the game. Canucks got the break they needed with a power play and did not disappoint as Daniel Sedin (8) scored from Henrick Sedin (12) at 7:22.

Both teams picked up the pace of the game with nine minutes left in the second period. Luca Sbisa received a penalty for high sticking and the Canucks responded with an aggressive penalty kill and a great save by Ryan Miller. Canucks 3-2 after the middle period. Chicago out shot Vancouver 11-6.

Canucks out hit Chicago 6-3; faceoffs were:7-7 each; giveaways: 4-0 Chicago; takeaways: 5-3 Vancouver; blocked shots: 5-2 Vancouver. Power Play:1-1 Van; 0-1 Chicago.

Faceoffs: Horvat: 10 for 12; H. Sedin: 5-12; McCann: 1-5; Cracknell: 4-7; Canucks: 20-36 overall after two periods. Even Strength: 12-27. Penalty Kill: 2-2. Power Play: 6-7.

Third Period

Canucks have had trouble hanging on to 3rd period leads, and both teams were playing with urgency early in the final frame. The action in the final frame was frantic, with a good pace to the game.

With less than ten minutes left in the game, Alex Burrows led the Canucks on a 3-on-1 into the Chicago end, as the Blackhawks got caught trying for the tying goal. The chances were there for both teams, the finishing wasn’t.

Chicago finally got rewarded for their tenacious play as Artem Anisimov (9) scored, assisted by Patrick Kane (19) and Trevor Daley (5) at 12:20, with 7:40 left in the game.

Vancouver moved it into a higher gear, and just over two minutes later, Daniel Sedin(9) scored his second goal of the game, to put the Canucks out in front 4-3 assisted by Henrik Sedin (13) and Alex Edler (7) at 14:35.

Chicago played with urgency, and the Canucks stayed disciplined and kept their composure, and two minutes later, Daniel Sedin (10) scored his 3rd goal of the game, and his 6th hat trick of his career to put Vancouver up by 2-goals, 5-3. Assists went to Henrik Sedin (13) and Alex Edler (7).

Chicago pulled their goaltender, Corey Crawford, to get within one goal but were unable to succeed and Alex Burrows scored an empty net goal on a power play as Chicago pressed shorthanded and without their goalie, to cap off the impressive win, their 3rd in 9-home games this season.

Vancouver has little rest as they take on the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night in the 2nd of two weekend home games at Rogers Place before leaving for a 4-game road trip.

GAME REVIEW

Statistics courtesy of the NHL, and the Vancouver Canucks, with thanks.

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff November 21, 2015

The Chicago Blackhawks (11-7-2), in 4rth place in the Central division, come into Vancouver(7-7-6) after a tough game in Calgary on Friday night, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Flames.

Patrick Kane will be trying to extend his 15-game point streak. Crawford will likely start after backup Scott Darling made 35 saves against the Flames. Chicago are 3-6-0 on the road and were winless in the first two games of their “Circus Trip” by the Edmonton Oilers (4-3 overtime win) and Flames but still earning three of four points to start the trip.

“It’s definitely not frustrating to get three out of four points,” Darling told the Blackhawks website. “Maybe we didn’t have our best game [Friday], so we can definitely improve and build off this game … I think we’ll be fine.”

Vancouver starts a 4-game home stand, playing their first home game in over two weeks after a disastrous 7-game road trip that garnered a 1-4-2 record, and helped them fall into 4rth place in the Pacific Division, after starting the road trip tied for first place with Los Angeles.

The Canucks have lost 4-games in a row (0-3-1), and are in need of some urgency as they are plunging further down in the standings while other teams are overtaking them.

“These games are a big test coming up for us,” Prust said. “We’re not pressing the panic button, but we definitely have a sense of urgency.”

Canucks have been injury prone lately, and continue to be faced with a revolving door.

Vancouver will get left wing Brandon Prust (ankle) back from injured reserve after missing 11 games. The Canucks may also get right wing Radim Vrbata back after he missed Vancouver’s 4-1 loss at the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday with a groin injury; Vrbata skated by himself at practice Friday. Defenseman Ben Hutton (lower body), center Brandon Sutter (lower body) and defenseman Luca Sbisa (left hand) are day-to-day but not expected to play, according to the Canucks website.

CANUCKS JOTTINGS

Tonight marks the first of three meetings this season between the Canucks and Blackhawks. The Canucks visit the United Center on December 13th while the Blackhawks visit Rogers Arena again on Mar. 27th.
The Canucks are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games versus the Blackhawks.
Daniel Sedin is one point (334-565-899) from becoming just the second player in Canucks franchise history to reach 900 points (all with

Vancouver). Henrik Sedin became the first Canuck player to reach 900 points when he notched a pair of goals on Mar. 3/15 vs SJ.
Jake Virtanen leads the team and all NHL rookies in hits with 48.
Daniel Sedin has 7 points (3-4-7) in his last 5 games. His four point performance on Nov. 10 at CBJ was the first time since Feb.

18/12 vs TOR that he had four points in a single game. He currently leads the team in points (18), goals (7) and assists (11).
Jared McCann ranks second on the team and t-sixth among rookies in goals (6); he is also the first Canucks player since Dane

Jackson in 1993 to have at least five consecutive goals to start his career (no assists).
McCann currently ranks 9th among rookies in shooting percentage (18.2%) and is t-7th among rookies in shots with 33.
Ben Hutton ranks third on the team and t-second among NHL rookies in assists (8). Hutton had a career-high three game point/assist streak from

Nov. 7-10/15.
Hutton also ranks third among rookies in blocked shots with 22 and ninth in rookie shots with 29.
Ryan Miller ranks t-first in games played/started (17) and first in TOI (1026:13). He also ranks second among all goalies in shots

against with 485 (one behind League-leader Roberto Luongo (486)).
Alex Edler leads VAN in time on ice (24:45) and has led the team in that category in 18 of 19 games he’s played, including 10 games

where he’s led all skaters in TOI. He currently ranks 11th in the NHL in TOI/GP. Last season, Edler ranked first on the team in average ice time

per game (23:58) and led the team in TOI on 59 separate occasions including 26 games where led all skaters in TOI.
The Canucks have had six different players make their NHL debut this season (Grenier, Shinkaruk, Virtanen, McCann, Hutton, and Gaunce).

According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the most number players to make their NHL debut for the Canucks in a single season since six players

did so during the 2007.08 season.
The last season where six or more players made their NHL debut in a single season for the Canucks was in 1999.00 (eight players).
The club record for NHL debuts in a single season is 11 which occurred during the 1973.74 season.
The Canucks have had 18 different goal scorers this season, t-third most in the League with Boston; Nashville has had 20 and St. Louis has had 19

different goal scorers.
The Canucks players aged 23 or younger that have appeared in the lineup thus far (Baertschi, Horvat, Hutton, Virtanen, McCann, Gaunce, and Shinkaruk) have accounted for 20.0% of points (34), goals (22) and assists (22) respectively, for the team this season.
The Canucks are t-12th in the League with 2.75 goals for per game; Their 55 goals on the year are sixth most in the NHL.
Canucks +/- leaders: Jannick Hansen +8, Chris Tanev +6, Alex Edler +5
VANCOUVER’S 2015.16 RECORD WHEN…

Score 4+ Goals: 5-0-0

Score 3 Goals or Less: 2-7-6

Allow 4+ Goals: 0-3-3

Allow 3 Goals or Less: 7-4-3

On 0 Days Rest: 2-0-1

On 1 Day Rest: 2-4-4

On 2 Days Rest: 2-2-1

On 3+ Days Rest: 0-1-1

Score a PPG: 2-4-4

Give up a PPG: 2-5-3

25+ Shots on Goal: 6-6-5

Less than 25 shots: 1-1-1

SEASON SNAPSHOT

Vancouver is tied with Winnipeg for the 8th most points at 20 points in the Western Conference but would be out of a playoff position if the playoff were to start today.