Canucks drop Sunday matinée vs. Lightning 4-2 after Guentzel’s late power play goal

The Canucks got a four minute power play, but Hughes wasn’t out there to help, so let’s just skip over the fact that they didn’t convert on four minutes of power play time.

This game started with both teams feeling each other out a bit, with just two shots apiece through the first ten minutes of play. It was a tight-checking matinee affair, and that was certainly a step up on the first period effort the Canucks turned in against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

Quinn Hughes snuck a puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy when he wheeled in the offensive zone and floated a backhand above the Lightning netminder’s pad to make it  1-0 Canucks. 

The Canucks entered the second up by a goal, and Hughes made some more magic happen:

That is such a great defensive play by Hughes, but transitioning that into a quick-up pass to Max Sasson is what puts Hughes among the league’s best defencemen.

The Lightning scored shortly into the second period once Nikita Kucherov made some magic of his own happen.

Note that the Lightning were able to move the puck east-west through the middle of the slot. 1-1. 

Vincent Desharnais took a tripping penalty that gave the Lightning their first power play of the game, and unfortunately for Kevin Lankinen, another chance to snap the puck east-west and score on another open net.

2-1 Lightning. 

The Canucks took another penalty, and Kevin Lankinen had to be spectacular to keep his team within one.

To thank him, we saw another Canucks penalty; this time, it was Conor Garland for hooking behind the Tampa goal line. Thankfully, Garland’s penalty came in the final minute of play, meaning Tampa had less than a minute of PP time to work with to start the third period.

The Canucks’ first shot of the third period produced the first stoppage of the period, because Tyler Myers made a great play from below the goal line to set up Kiefer Sherwood in alone at the net front for his eighth goal of the year.

2-2. 

The final stretch of the third resembled the first period, when both teams weren’t giving up many chances at all. The Canucks were called for too many men on the ice with just over six minutes left in the third, giving the Lightning a prime chance to pull ahead once again.

After a solid job by the Canucks’ penalty killers, Jake Guentzel scored in the dying moments of the power play after a snap pass from Nikita Kucherov deflected off of him and into the back of the net.

3-2 Lightning. 

The Canucks had four minutes to try to once again come back in this game. Andrei Vasilevskiy was the difference maker in the end. First, it was a big stop off Juulsen.

Then it was another one off of noted sniper Pius Suter.

The Lightning iced this one after an empty net goal from Brayden Point.

4-2 final.

Some other takeaways from today’s game:

-Nikita Kucherov’s release is unbelievable. He is so much fun to watch.
-Kevin Lankinen was great again today, and the Canucks needed to be, especially when they gave up 19 shots against during the second period.
-Tampa’s power play is just so good.
-Quinn Hughes struggled to contend with Tampa Bay’s forecheckers. Multiple times the Canucks’ captain failed to break the puck out or wore a hit thanks to Tampa’s speedy forecheck.
-Great game for Tyler Myers. His effort in the second half of this game was simply remarkable. He broke up plays in the neutral zone, showed phenomenal gap control, and was even chipping in on creating offence.
-Another solid game for Noah Juulsen, who has quietly improved his game over the last handful of games.

What’s your instant reaction to this game?