Canucks fall short in low-event 2-0 loss to Rangers

First Period

Lukeas Reichel found himself with the first great chance of the game as Jake DeBrusk slid a beautiful pass right out in front from his backside after getting dumped behind the Rangers’ net. Jonathan Quick flashed the glove to rob Reichel of his first as a Canuck. Our clips weren’t working early, so we don’t have one of this attempt, but trust me, it was great (and read about it later in The Stanchies).

It was plenty of back-and-forth action early on; unfortunately, most of that action was taking place in the neutral zone. Arshdeep Bains took the first penalty of the game, giving the Rangers a prime chance to take an early lead. The Canucks’ penalty kill didn’t look great — JT Miller was left wide open but missed a backdoor tap in, and there was another goal line scramble that the Rangers could have easily capitalized on — but they didn’t get scored on, and at the end of the day, that’s all anyone is going to remember.

During the first TV timeout, the Canucks paid tribute to JT Miller. The fans gave Miller a standing ovation during the tribute, and booed every time he touched the puck.

Mike Zibanejad opened the scoring when Evander Kane did a JT Miller tribute of his own with this backchecking effort:

Marcus Pettersson finished the first period by dropping the gloves with Sam Carrick, who laid a heavy (but clean) hit on Conor Garland.

Pettersson got the instigator, meaning the Canucks would open the second period on the PK once again. Be sure to head to hockeyfights.com to vote for the winner of the fight!

Some takeaways from the first:
-Tom Willander and PO Joseph had a tough run as a pairing early in this one.
-Canucks didn’t create very much in that period…
-Filip Hronek first period ice time: 9:53.

Second Period

The Canucks killed off the remaining 1:45 of the Pettersson penalty to open the second. The Canucks got a power play of their own when Adam Edstrom was called for interference. This was the Canucks’ first chance to work on the power play. They managed to get set up, and even zipped the puck around with a good amount of speed. Unfortunately, their best chance was an Elias Pettersson wrist shot blocked by Will Cuylle, and when they cooked up a second look, the puck deflected up into Brock Boeser’s face and left the winger bloodied. Lukas Reichel had a good look on net and tried to tuck the puck far side on Quick. That one didn’t go either, and the Canucks’ power play was officially 0-for-1.

The power plays kept coming, the next one for the Rangers as Evander Kane was called for hooking. The Canucks’ PK killed that one off. The Canucks had a couple of odd-man rush attempts throughout the rest of the second, and so did the Rangers. And if you watched this game, you know that the rush chances for both teams didn’t amount to much. Honestly, it was a sloppy game between both sides. There really isn’t much more to write about than that. Let’s hope for a more eventful third.

Some takeaways from the second:
-I liked some of the things Tom Willander did tonight and in this period, but there were a couple of odd-man rushes against the Canucks that came as a direct result of him pinching at an inopportune time.
-Really liked the Abby line once again tonight. Arshdeep Bains specifically stood out for all the right reasons.
-Final shots after 40 minutes: 18 for the Rangers, 11 for the Canucks.
-If you’re a Jays fan, you need to be reading BlueJaysNation.com.

Third Period

Conor Garland didn’t come out for the third period

Carson Soucy was called for interfering with Elias Pettersson on a zone entry, putting the Canucks back on the power play. This time, PP1 featured Lukas Reichel in for Conor Garland. That didn’t change much, though, as the power play went by the wayside without much of a push from the Canucks’ man-advantage personnel.

The Canucks had their best shift of the game midway through the third, and it came from an Elias Pettersson (the defenceman) stretch pass up to Elias Pettersson (the forward). Forward Petey then feathered a perfect alley oop pass to Jake DeBrusk, whose backhand chance was stopped by Jonathan Quick. On the next shift, the second line got a look of their own, as Lukas Reichel ripped a shot off the crossbar.

As we’ve come to expect from him this season, Thatcher Demko made some absolutely spectacular saves at the other end to keep his team in this game.

With just over three minutes remaining, the Canucks pulled their goaltender and sent out an extra attacker. They got some great looks: a DeBrusk pass through the blue paint that Pettersson couldn’t pull the trigger on, a Marcus Pettersson shot through traffic that might have gone in had it been on net, and another scramble for a loose puck in the crease, to name a few. The Rangers bent but didn’t break, and eventually buried the empty-netter on a shot from the neutral zone that Elias Pettersson seems to have thought was going wide.

2-0 Rangers.

Some takeaways from the third:
-I know not much happened tonight, but I thought DPetey had a phenomenal game. He’s in a league of his own when it comes to the Canucks’ young defencemen.
-I think Drew O’Connor has looked better over the past few games.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game?