By: Trent Leith / January 29, 2024 Game 47: January 22nd vs. The Chicago Blackhawks
Not every game can be a big game, we know this. There are lulls in every season, and games where you face lesser opponents. Monday night was not that night. The Canucks took on the deadly Chicago Blackhawks and their All-Star forward Connor Bedard Jason Dickinson.
Jokes aside, that is correct. Jason Dickinson, that third-line centre that never panned out in Vancouver a couple of years back, yeah he is going to the All-Star Game. Don’t worry, it’s not like he suddenly became a star or anything. Sure, his play has picked up a bit since leaving Vancouver, but his invitation says less about him as a player, and more about the team and there lack of well… All-Stars. For some reason, the NHL All-Star events require a minimum of one player from every team, and with Bedard hurt their next-best player is Dickinson… I guess.
Despite the odds, the Canucks opened the scoring on Monday night. Andrei Kuzmenko showed a flash of brilliance with a spinning backhand pass to a wide-open Pius Suter. Remember that name, Suter, it will come up a lot more this week.
The Canucks scored the second goal of the game, again with Kuzmenko getting an assist from a hardworking shift forechecking. Kuzmenko got the puck to Mikheyev, who created some space for Hughes to walk in and score one of his nicest goals to date.
That is the shot of a true captain right there. This is a new career high in goals for Quinn with 12 and we are only watching game 47. That was about all the action in the first period, other than a few scoring chances either way, and some great Demko saves as usual.
The first big play of the second period was a great save by Thatcher Demko to keep the Canucks up by two. Thatcher made a great play to snatch the puck off the line and get the play alive, and keep the Canucks up by two.
The story the rest of the way was Demko. He tied the league lead in shutouts with five in the 2-0 win over the deadly Blackhawks. Demko really did have to work for every save he made. Demko saved 3.75 expected goals against per Naturalstattrick.
All in all, this was a game the Canucks should have won and a game that was disappointing for only one reason. The being that we will have to wait even longer to see Bedard in Vancouver.
Do You Need a Mortgage?
The Canucks Weekly Fares is brought to you by Segal Mortgages, your father-son mortgage broker team, both on and off the ice!
Whether you’re a first-time buyer, existing homeowner, or savvy real estate investor, we have the tools to get you the financing you need, and the BEST mortgage product and rate to fit your profile.
For first-time buyers in particular, they’ll patiently guide you through every step of the buying process and educate you on the various Federal and Provincial programs that might benefit you.
Denny Segal has been a reputed mortgage broker for over 30 years and has received numerous industry accolades. Dylan, also a lawyer, joined Denny in the business a couple of years ago and never looked back.
Together they promise prompt and efficient service, with tailored mortgage advice always in your best interest. There is never any obligation to proceed and best of all, their services don’t cost you a thing.
Call or write anytime for a no-pressure initial consultation. They’d love to chat.
Game 48: January 24th vs. The St. Louis Blues
On Wednesday the Canucks faced off against the Blues. Well, two sets of Blues, the ones from St. Louis, and the weird chrome helmets they had to wear.
Not even Ray Ferraro could fake some love for the chrome domes.
Why? Well, they just didn’t look good. The chrome blue didn’t match the blue in the rest of the jersey, they shined too much. I just simply didn’t work. But it’s hard to be too mad because they are only going to wear these twice and then auction them off for charity. So fine. Whatever I guess.
After multiple shots by the Canucks, and the bulk of the Control, the Blues, on only their second shot of the night saw Jake Neighbours score to make the game 1-0 bad guys.
The Blues scored again on the powerplay shortly after on only their fourth shot. But hey, it’s the Canucks whose PDO is too high right? If my math is right, the Blues had a PDO of 150 at this point in the game. Jake Neighbours got a primary assist on this play, now being involved in both goals so far.
The game really slowed down in the second period, but Miller made sure to keep things spicy. Firstly with a great chance on the net that sadly went off the post.
Shortly after that, Miller casued an egregious turnover in front of the Canucks net, but thankfully, nothing came of it.
The third period is where things really got interesting for the Canucks. Pius Suter (remember I told you he’d be back?) scored to bring the game within one.
Suter scored his tenth goal of the season, making himself the ninth double-digit goalscorer so far this season for the Canucks. He did though look like he may have injured his knee on the play, but fear not apparently that was not the case.
41 seconds later, the Blues got the goal back bringing the score to 3-1. In the first 1:41 of the third period, there has been as much goal-scoring as the entire first two periods. Things were now starting to heat up on the ice.
Suter wasn’t done yet, two goals in two games wasn’t enough for Pew Pew. He scored his second of the night, also assisted by Brock Boeser to keep the Canucks fighting for their lives.
Late in the third, the Canucks pulled DeSmith for the extra attacker, not something you have seen often this season. And guess who was on the ice? Ol’ Johnny on the Spot, Mr. Game 48, The Laser himself, Pius Suter to force overtime.
Pius Suter opened his NHL career with a hat trick, and now on this random Wednesday in January, he scored another in a very exciting fashion.
Early in overtime, Hronek was sprung on a breakaway and forced Hofer to make a tricky save.
Sadly, though the Blues scored shortly after this Canucks chance, and end the game.
Apparently, to not influence the games, the referee directly in front of Pettersson and Schenn saw no issue with letting a blatant cross-checking/interference penalty go uncalled. As a direct result of not influencing the game, Schenn was able to score and end the game right there. But thanks to the refs ignoring the rules they are paid to enforce, they didn’t in any way influence the outcome of this game.
Really, the first, second, and third stars for the Canucks should go to Pius Suter for dragging an otherwise lethargic Canucks team kicking and screaming into overtime to get at least one point.
Game 49: January 27th vs. The Columbus Blue Jackets
This was the Canucks last game until January 6th. The bulk of the Vancouver Canucks will be enjoying the All-Star break-off, in addition to the Canucks’ five all-stars at least getting a few extra days rest on both sides of the All-Star weekend.
The first period was the most uneventful of the contest. Vancouver controlled the bulk of the play, testing Elvis Merzlikins with 12 shots before the end of the first frame. This included a doorstep robbery on a Teddy Blueger attempt during the final minute of play. Despite all of the pressure, however, Vancouver could not earn the game’s first goal, and neither could Columbus, with the few shot attempts they had on the net.
Merzlikins robbed Conor Garland’s chance in tight that developed from a Noah Juulsen slapshot on the net early in the second period. Even though it looked like it was the Canucks who had their opponents on the ropes early, Columbus got the game’s first goal. A Pettersson turnover just under five minutes into the period sent the Jackets back on a two on one and Alexandre Texier opted for the shot and ripped one past Demko.
Minutes later Texier was involved in another goal for his team as a centring pass to Sean Kurlay from behind the Canucks net resulted in a quick shot from Kurlay and a 2-0 score against Vancouver.
By the eight-minute mark in the second frame, the Blue Jackets had tied the Canucks in shots on net at 14 a side. With this milestone and their two-goal lead, Columbus looked to be running away with the game. Enter Brock Boeser, who was having none of that. With less than five minutes to play in the second period, during a Canucks break-in, Miller found Boeser rushing to the net where #6 quickly deflected Millers’ sharp pass up under the bar.
Before the period ended, CBJ got the last laugh. Miller, with under three minutes of play in the period, Miller lost the puck in the Canucks zone, which resulted in Jake Bean being gifted a wide-open runway on Demko, riffling a shot blocker side to negate the Canucks last goal.
As it turned out, CBJ also got to have an additional laugh at the end of the period just for fun, as their possession in the Canucks zone resulted in a goal when a hard-centring pass from Johnny Gaudreau was deflected by Kirill Marchenko off the post and past Demko.
Entering the third, this game was looking a lot different than it did entering the second. Thankfully, the Canucks acted quickly. With just under two minutes into the frame, Petey, off of the back of continued Canucks possession, and from his favourite spot in the near side circle, sent a rocket past Merzlikins and into the net.
Minutes later, the Canucks showed continued revitalization, as another goal came again off of consistent possession in the attacking zone. From the point, Quinn Hughes sent a speedy wrist shot to the net, which was deflected by Pius Suter and then Boeser and into the mesh, making the score 4-3.
Once more, before the halfway mark in the final period, Boeser was in the right place at the right time and earned the Canucks another goal. This goal was Boeser’s third of the night and 30th of the season.
This is Boeser’s first-ever 30-goal season.
After Boeser’s goal things took a turn for the weird as the halfway mark of the third came and went and both Tyler Myers and Ian Cole were involved in hits on two separate Blue Jackets players behind the goal line in the Canucks zone.
The referee did not raise his arm after Tyler Myers’ initial hit but did raise his arm once Ian Cole made contact with Justin Danforth and sent him to the ice. However, after video review, it was determined that it was not going to be Ian Cole serving any sort of penalty, but rather, Tyler Myers had somehow earned himself a game misconduct from the play. Myers was given a penalty despite the ref only raising his arm after Ian Cole’s hit, which resulted in the stoppage of play.
After that sideshow, the period wrapped up without a clear winner, and as such the game needed overtime. During overtime, the Canucks looked to reset themselves as they controlled the bulk of the play in the visiting team’s end. The constant attack ultimately worked out in their favour, as Hughes’ control of the puck in the Blue Jackets end allowed Miller to go for a change which put Boeser on the ice with fresh legs. It was then Boeser’s cross-crease pass to Pettersson moments after this change that resulted in the game-winner.
Even though the Canucks almost lost the plot during the back half of regulation, they ended end up kicking off their week of vacation by enjoying a nice win, in large part thanks to Boeser.
