Canucks End Panthers’ 12-Game Winning Streak With 3-2 OT Victory

Posted on January 11, 2016 by CanucksBanter

CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff January 11, 2016

Daniel Sedin Slays The Panthers With OT Goal,

Gets His 346 Goal As A Canuck

The Canucks had a mission Monday night, as self serving as it was, to end the Panthers’ 12-game winning streak in game two of Florida’s Western Canada road swing.

The Panthers’ winning streak, the longest since the Boston Bruins went 12-0-0 from March 2 to March 22, 2014, was put at risk as Florida sought their 13th consecutive win.

The Vancouver Canucks (17-16-10) played the last game of their 7-game home stand against the Florida Panthers (26-12-5) Monday night at Rogers Place.

For the second time this season, Vancouver would be spoilers to teams coming into Rogers Place on long consecutive winning streaks. First it was the Montreal Canadians. And now the the Florida Panthers.

Vancouver got their 6th win in their last 10 games, improving their record to 6-2-2, as they defeated Florida 3-2 in overtime.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 11: Henrik Sedin #33 of the Vancouver Canucks celebrates after Daniel Sedin scores in overtime on Roberto Luongo #1 of the Florida Panthers as Erik Gudbranson #44 of the Panthers watches during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 11, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver won 3-2. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Canucks battled hard, with Jacob Markstrom, the Sedins and the youngsters, leading the way.

Daniel Sedin with two goals; Jake Virtanen, with his first goal since returning to the lineup on Saturday night against Tampa Bay; Henrik Sedin with two assists; and Jacob Markstrom, stopping 26 of 28 shots with a .929 Sv%.

Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi had their point streaks continue, with an assist each on Jake Virtanen’s goal. Horvat now has 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 games; Baertschi, 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 11: Jacob Markstrom #25 of the Vancouver Canucks makes a save beside Jaromir Jagr #68 of the Florida Panthers and Alex Biega #55 of the Canucks during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 11, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

Markstrom is now 5-2-1 with a 2.19 GAA and .927 Sv%, in eight consecutive starts, since Ryan Miller injured his groin Dec. 20 at the Florida Panthers.

Emerson Etem, in his first game as a Vancouver Canuck, had an impressive debut, and drew two penalties, including the one that led to the winning power play goal in overtime.

Vancouver had a shaky start to the game, and a shaky end to the opening period.

Florida wasted little time in getting on the scoreboard, as the Canucks surrendered the opening goal of the hockey game, the 7th opening goal on their seven game home stand by the opposition.

Jussi Jokinen, his 8th of the season, on a wrist shot, assisted by Reilly Smith (11) at 1:20, made it 1-0 Florida.

The Canucks once again were trailing early in a hockey game, where their opponent was dominating them in the play, catching them slow off the mark.

At 4:25, the Panthers’ Steven Kampfer received a penalty for holding Jake Virtanen giving the Canucks a man advantage opportunity to even the score at one apiece. Vancouver’s power play was unable to get a goal against the stingy penalty killing of the Panthers.

The bright spot for the Canucks was the play of the young players led by Bo Horvat, as he was robbed on at least two occasions by Roberto Luongo.

Roberto Luongo continued to stymie Vancouver as he came up on big on Emmerson Etem, Alex Burrows and Daniel Sedin as well, keeping the Canucks scoreless.

A tripping call on Brian Campbell for upending Emerson Etem, put Vancouver back on the power play for the second time in the period at 15:30. Once again, the Canucks came up empty, going 0 for 2 with the man advantage.

Just when you could see the Canucks game getting better and the momentum change, the Panthers scored a last minute goal, that took the wind out of the Canuck sails, going into the intermission.

Jonathan Huberdeau, his 7th goal, on a wrist shot, assisted by Aleksander Barkow (16) and Jaromir Jagr (17) at 19:27, to make it 2-0 Florida after the first frame.

Vancouver out shot the Panthers, 13 to 7; were 8 for 19 on face-offs; had 5 giveaways; were 0 for 2 on the power play; and 1 for 1 on the penalty kill.

Linden Vey was the best Canuck face-off man at 4 for 6; Daniel Sedin led Vancouver in shots with 3; Jake Virtanen, Bo Horvat and Jared McCann, had 2 shots each, in the first period.

In the middle frame, the Canucks came out skating with Florida, who had played the night before in Edmonton. And the Canucks pressure and persistence would pay off.

Daniel Sedin, with his 18th goal, would cut the Panthers lead in half, as his backhand shot would get by Roberto Luongo at 5:41, assisted by Henrik Sedin (26) and Radim Vrbata (9).

Nearing the halfway point of the period, Vancouver was out shooting the visitors 6-3 and 19-10 in the game.

Jared McCann would come close to getting the Canucks even as he had Luongo beaten but the goal post got in the way.

The middle frame ended 2-1 for the Panthers.

Vancouver and Florida had 8 shots each; Canucks were 10 for 22 on face-offs; had 4 giveaways; Florida had 3 giveaways.

Linden Vey was the best Canuck face-off man after two, at 5 for 9; Daniel Sedin and Jared McCann led Vancouver in shots with 4 each; Jake Virtanen, Bo Horvat and Emerson Etem, had 2 shots each, after two periods of play.

The Panthers went into the final period with a great opportunity to extend their consecutive winning streak to 13 games, with the 2-1 lead.

Just a minute into the 3rd period, the Canucks would get their 3rd power play opportunity as Bo Horvat drew a holding call for holding from Willie Mitchell at 1:05. Once again, Florida would successfully kill the penalty, handing the Canucks their third consecutive unsuccessful man advantage without a goal in the game.

Shots were a premium as both teams were struggling in that department which suited the Panthers more than the Canucks.

With 12:22 left in the final period, shots were 4-3 Florida, with the Panthers defensive game continually frustrating the Canucks puck possession.

As the period progressed, it seemed Florida raised their game up a notch as they could sense history in the making, while the Canucks looked like the team that played the night before.

With seven minutes left, and the Canucks seemingly unable to generate any offense due to the Panthers dominating play up and down the ice, it seemed more than likely, the Canucks would suffer a loss in the final game of their home stand.

But Vancouver would not go gently into the night, and after a great stop by Jacob Markstrom on a 3 on 1 by Florida, the Canucks would be inspired and finally put another goal by Roberto Luongo, off a face-off in the Florida end, to knot the game at 2-2.

Jake Virtanen, with his 2nd goal of the season, assisted by Bo Horvat (10) and Sven Baertschi (8), at 17:22.

Markstrom would have to continue to make some great stops in the final 2:38, as the Panthers did everything they could to get the go ahead goal, but time would run out in regulation play, with the game tied at 2-2.

The Canucks battled back and would at least get a point but the question on everybody’s minds: would Florida extend their consecutive winning streak?

Vancouver would go to the power play as Emerson Etem would draw another penalty as Jaromir Jagr would get penalized for hooking at 2:07.

Then for the second time this season, the Canucks would be consecutive game spoilers, as Daniel Sedin would score on the power play, ending Florida’s consecutive winning streak at 12 games.

Daniel Sedin, his 19th of the season, second of the game, on a wrist shot, assisted by Alex Edler (12) and Henrik Sedin (27) at 2:21.

The goal was Daniel Sedin’s 14th overtime winning goal which is a franchise best for the Canucks.

Daniel Sedin is now tied with Markus Naslund for the all-time lead in goals scored for Vancouver with 346.

As the Canucks were celebrating the win, the two benches would get into a scuffle, after words were exchanged.

VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 11: Linesman Kiel Murchison separates Henrik Sedin #33 of the Vancouver Canucks and Willie Mitchell #33 of the Florida Panthers during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 11, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver won 3-2. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

GAME REVIEW

CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS

WESTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD STANDINGS

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE STANDINGS

STATISTICS COURTESY OF THE NHL AND VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Canucks have to do more than knock on the door of the NHL playoffs….Just Saying….

Posted on January 1, 2014 by CanucksBanter

By Andrew Chernoff January 1, 2014

Back on September 11, in this column, on the Vancouver Canucks and the upcoming 2013-2014 season titled Tortorella Has To Be True To His Coaching Style, I wrote:

I am not confident that they have the speed, finesse, the toughness or the depth to match or better most of the teams in their division or in the league at this point of training camp.

I will hold my thoughts of how well the Canucks might size up against the teams in their division, and whether they will make the playoffs until they have played their first month.

My pessimistic side says to wait until the end of January, 2014 to see if the Canucks take a nosedive and their more often than not “seasonal slump” or whether they defy the odds and play at least .500 or better and make a strong playoff run to finish the season on a high note.

I will not wait that long. I will give it 15 games.

Well, I have given it more than 15 games. I have given it until the end of 2013 before making further comment on the Canucks chances and how well the team sizes up against teams in their own division and whether they are a playoff contending team.

Obviously, I under estimated the Canucks, who as of this writing are twelve games above .500 and would have a playoff position today if the playoffs started, as a wildcard team.

So????? How have the Canucks faired:

CANUCK TEAM CHARTS

Vancouver Canucks record as of morning of January, 2014:

On that October 2013 road trip I said in my September 11, 2013 column:

Canucks will play seven road game stretch on the road from October 15 to October 25 which will indicate what their mettle is and how well forged they are as a competitive team and excelling at that high level of expectation or not.

So?? How’d they do? As you can see by the chart below they had 5 wins, 1 overtime loss and 1 regulation loss for 11 points out of a possible 14 points on the 7 game road trip.

The Canucks showed that they were more than prepared for the seven game road trip, and more than impressed, and made a success of their first month of the season.

November was not so pleasant, and provided some adversity and struggles, that impacted the Canucks from having a winning month.

December showed the team come together under the system of their new coach and rack up 10 wins and 1 loss in 13 games for 22 points, putting Vancouver squarely in the hunt for a playoff position at the half way point of the season.

THE CANUCKS LAST HALF OF THE 2013-2014: MY THOUGHTS

So, stats aside, I am left with a three part question: what do the Canucks have to do, what does the future hold for the Canucks and how will it figure in the Canucks success the second half of the season?

Well, it won’t take long to get the answer to the first part of the question. It is simple and quickly answered.

As Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun columnist, in his article Canucks second half must be equal to the first pointed out:

Despite a series of December injuries, including a broken jaw to front-line winger Alex Burrows and a strained groin suffered by starting goalie Roberto Luongo, the Canucks had a brilliant month, which gave them a good opening half of the National Hockey League season. Now, they need a second half that’s equally strong.

A healthy defence would help. So would a power play, which was 0-for-4 against the Flyers and, except for one three-week surge, has had awful results all season.

But, really, there is little for which to fault the Canucks through the first three months of the season, except for taking much of the fall to learn new coach John Tortorella‘s go-go-go system.

“I think we understand how we play and everybody is comfortable with that,” Tortorella said just before the game. “Some of the most important things when you get into the second half of the year and into playoffs – if we’re fortunate enough to get there – is situational play. I talk about it a lot. Everybody asks me: What’s situational play? There are a lot of things. It’s so many things.

“It’s how you win games. Understanding how to get momentum back on your side, how to keep it on your side. Third periods – down by a goal, up by a goal. All those things have to become second nature and we’ve still got a lot of work to do in that area.”

Apparently so.

I concur with Mr. MacIntyre, and that answers the first part of the question.

As for the second part of the question, we won’t have to wait long as January, like October, presents a big challenge for the Canucks, especially in their first eight games:

As you can see by the schedule for January, the Canucks first eight games have some strong opponents, with five games on the road and three at home.

My comments in my column on September 11, I repeat here for the first eight games of 2014, with some slight revision:

Canucks will play eight games from January 1 to January 16 which will indicate what their mettle is and how well forged they are as a competitive team and excelling at that high level of expectation or not, after a one week rest at the Christmas break and a shootout loss on December 30 against the Philadelphia Flyers at home.

I think Iain MacIntyre would agree. I quote from his article previously quoted above:

So December, 2013, with injuries and travel and four back-to-backs was pretty remarkable.

It gives the Canucks an eight-point cushion in the Western Conference playoff race.

“We realized at the time, when we started winning, we had to get on a roll or we were going to be out of the playoffs,” Sedin said. “And a lot of points out of the playoffs. We climbed back in, and now we need to keep going.

“The feeling we have right now is a great feeling. We feel we’re going to win every game. For sure, we’ve won games because of this mindset.”

But confidence and positive energy got them only one point on Monday, giving the 23-11-7 Canucks 53 through 41 games. Their second half starts Wednesday with a New Year’s Day game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Vancouver’s six games after that are against Stanley Cup contenders: the Los Angeles Kings (twice), Anaheim Ducks (twice), Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues.

We’re going to know more about the Canucks two weeks from now, and they’re going to know more about themselves.

Luongo, who had a lengthy practice session Monday morning, should be the first injured player back. Edler, out since Dec. 3, may be ready by the middle of the month.

What else do the Canucks need in the second half?

“More Decembers,” defenceman Dan Hamhuis, who played a staggering 32:30 on Monday, said. “We just have to build off what we’re doing. Our penalty kill has been great, but we’d like better results for our power play. Our goaltending has been great. We just have to continue to play good defence and find small ways to get better.

“You get a new coaching staff with new systems and new ways to play, and a run like this really solidifies everyone’s belief in our style of play and our identity.”

The third part of the question, how will the first two parts of the question figure in the Canucks success the second half of the season?

The Canucks need, as already stated, but emphasized here, need to keep playing as they are, improving as they make a playoff run. That won’t be easy, as the teams they are chasing are playing just as well as they are, and secondly, an Winters Olympic break is coming up.

The conclusion to the Olympic break will test the Canucks, coaches and players alike, to play well enough to make a last push, to not just make the playoffs, but do so with impact, excelling at a high level, being a legitimate threat to go deep into the playoffs.

The Stanley Cup challengers they face in January will give them a few answers as to where they are, what they lack and what they need to do.

In conclusion, with the Canucks game against Tampa Bay just minutes away:

John Tortorella has to do what he does best and which helped Tampa Bay to its first Stanley Cup—be the best coach he can be and get the most out of his players, letting every player know that he is boss,

The players are paid to execute the plan and perform as professionals. Tortorella must be accountable for being outcoached and for misjudgements regarding his assessments regarding each players abilities, capabilities, to execute the plan that he has developed to make the Canucks successful in all areas; and the players must be accountable for not executing that coaching plan, and playing up to that high level of expectation.

The Canucks have to do more than knock on the door of the NHL playoffs. They have to kick it in and live in it like they own it, with a passion only found on the streets, made for hockey on ice. And then the ultimate prize—–the Stanley Cup—–will be theirs.

Just saying…..

The following is a summary of where the Canucks are relative to the league, and play in the two conferences:

Canucks record in October, 2013: 9–5–1 (Home: 3–3–0 ; Road: 6–2–1)