By: Brayden Fengler / January 8, 2024 Game 37: January 2nd vs. The Ottawa Senators
The year started with a little bit of drama as Phil Di Giuseppe drew into the lineup on the second line, and for a moment it looked as if Höglander would once again, be a scratch. However, it ended up being the other Nils, Nils Aman who got the cut for the night.
The Canucks took the ice on Tuesday evening to take on the Ottawa Senators. The first goal of 2024 was scored only 2.14 into the game by Ian Cole. It was also his first goal as a member of the Canucks.
This was Cole’s first goal in 90 outings. Reminder: an NHL season is 82 games. Good for Cole.
All the pregame drama was for not, because early in his return to the lineup, PDG left the game with an injury, putting the lines in an early blender.
The game’s second goal came from a cheeky play from Pius Suter as he caught a puck that had bounced off the glass, dropped it, and immediately shot it into the net. That was Suter’s 7th goal of the season reminding us all that no matter who is on the ice, the Canucks are a threat to score.
Elias Pettersson scored the 150th goal of his career and the third Canucks goal of the game when he banked a shot off Ottawa’s Goaltender, Anton Forsberg. The puck rattled around between the goalie and the net before Pettersson skated around the back of the net and tapped it in.
Shortly following Petey’s goal, the Canucks scored their fourth goal on 12 shots. Zadorov took a point shot that hit Miller, then a Senator defender, finally finding its way into the net. That was the night for Anton Forsberg.
Miller snapped an eight-game goalless streak with his goal. I guess that’s what you get for being in the right place at the right time.
The Chaos didn’t end there folks. Pettersson got his second of the period after scoring on a shot redirected by a Senator defender. That would be five goals on 15 shots against two goalies for those counting.
Miller’s goalless streak wasn’t the only one snapped on Tuesday night as Claude Giroux snapped a 10-game drought with a pretty drag move to beat Demko.
That was all the scoring that came in the second. And 37 seconds into the third period Giroux made a pass to Taraskenko who scored his seventh goal. Taraskenko also broke an eight-game goal drought with his goal.
Nils Höglander, famous for scoring the Michigan goal in the WJC for Team Sweden, has been teasing Canucks fans for years hoping he could score one in the NHL. Tuesday night looked like he might try it, but pivoted to the Dishigan, flipping the puck over the net for Suter to bat in. However, Suter wasn’t on the same wavelength and it didn’t amount to anything but a moment of excitement!
Terasenko scored his second goal of the frame from right in front of the net. But the goal-scoring machine Pius Suter scored his second goal of the night on an ugly knuckle-puck only 18 seconds after Terasenko brought the score within two.
The Canucks ended the night and doubled up on the Ottawa Senators 6-3 on their first win of the year.
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Game 38: January 4th vs. The St. Louis Blues
Thursday night, the Canucks started their season’s longest seven-game road trip in St. Louis. The scratching drama from Tuesday’s game continued as Kuzmenko was scratched for the fifth time in 18 games. Nils Aman and Linus Karlsson drew in for a healthy Kuzmenko and an injured PGD prompting more speculation about what the Canucks are going to do with the sophomore winger.
The Canucks third line combined for yet another goal to open the game. On only the second Canucks’ shot of the night, Blueger and Joshua combined to get Garland his fourth goal of the season.
Unlike the game on Tuesday, the first period of Thursday’s game was rather uneventful besides Garland’s goal early in the period.
The third line giveth, and the third line taketh. The Ice Hockey line was on the ice for a nifty passing play from St Louis and Parayko tied the game at one.
The rest of the second period went down with no more goals, leaving the game 1-1. The biggest L to be taken was the St Louis Blues Twitter page trying to make fun of Demko getting angry while actively employing Jordan Bennington. Anyways, Canucks Twitter roasted them.
The Blues took their first lead eight minutes into the third period with a goal from Robert Thomas. That was the game, that was all of it, a deeply boring game to watch and one that probably wasn’t much more fun to play. The Canucks were ground down to a pulp by the Blues, and unfortunately, no Canuck start was able to rise above and will this team to a victory. If only there was a player in the line-up, who scores, defense be damned. Alas, he was in the press box.
This team is new to winning, and it goes to show that if you want to succeed, you not only need to win games like you saw on Tuesday against Ottawa, but you also need to be able to close off games like this in St. Louis.
Game 39: January 6th vs. The New Jersey Devils
Hoping to bounce back after their first loss of the new year against the Blues, the Canucks entered a historically unfavorable barn to play the New Jersey Devils. Prior to this contest, the last fifteen times these two teams have met, dating back to 2015, the Canucks have only left victorious once.
However, as any Canucks fan knows, there are a lot of differences between the Canucks from 2015 compared to this team. So could this version of the Canucks finally have an easier go in New Jersey?
The Canucks got off to a great start and earned the first goal early as an Elias Pettersson shot from the point rebounded to Boese’rs stick in front of the net and Boeser made no mistake putting away the garbage.
Yet sadly it was determined that Miller caused goaltender interference during the play, and Vancouver’s early lead quickly disappeared, bringing the score back to a pair of zeros.
The Canucks had the bulk of the chances in the opening frame, which was a nice change of pace to witness compared to some recent Vancouver starts. However, the first frame still concluded without the game’s first official goal.
It wouldn’t take the Canucks long in the second, however, as less than a minute into the period Elias Pettersson found himself involved in a legitimate goal this time as he deflected a Filip Hronek point shot that found the back of the net.
Minutes later, the Canucks earned themselves another goal, as a weird deflection had the puck find J.T. Millers’ foot instead of his stick, redirecting the puck into the back of the net. J.T. wasn’t satisfied with that goal and was on the hunt for one where the puck came off of his stick. Shortly after, Elias Pettersson rushed in on the far side to feed a stationary Miller with a cross-ice pass which Miller one-timed into the back of the New Jersey net, 3-0 Canucks.
New Jersey finally replied a few minutes later and proved this game wasn’t over just yet. A point shot off of a faceoff win in the Canucks zone saw Colin Miller put the Devils within two goals.
The production from both teams then took a break for the middle chuck of the period as it wasn’t until the final minute of the period when an Erik Haula post-and-in shot developed that from a speedy New Jersey zone entry finally opened the scoring back up.
That was all she wrote for the second period… or was it? Within that same dying minute, Conor Garland received a pass in the neutral zone and preceded to go into overdrive. Garland entered the New Jersey zone, speeding around the back of the net from the near side, and tucking in a wrap-around to negate the home team’s last goal.
The third period was definitely the worst for the Canucks as after a quick Elias Pettersson goal to bring the score up to 5-2 Vancouver, the Canucks started to fall victim to something that has been plaguing them in the final frame of some of their most recent wins. The Canucks were getting too comfortable, taking their foot off the gas, and allowed the visiting team to sneak back what should’ve been a closed contest.
With less than ten minutes to play the Devils earned their next goal as Colin Miller was left alone in the slot, and beat Demko cleanly on a blocker-side wrist shot. A minute later, New Jersey brought the game back within one thanks to a Nico Hischier deflection from a Brendan Smith point shot. Simply put, the Devils were given far too much room in the third period, and they made the Canucks pay.
Lucky enough for the Canucks however they got the chance to earn an empty net goal after fighting off a six-on-four New Jersey cycle in the Canucks zone. Once Dakota Joshua’s holding penalty had expired, his presence back in the Canucks zone allowed Vancouver to regain the puck, break up the ice, and it was Joshua himself that netted the empty net goal to put this far too close of a contest to bed.
