Drew O’Connor scores twice in 5-2 loss to the Wild

First Period

Off the hop, the Canucks looked like a team who were out for first blood. It’s been mentioned enough, but the Canucks’ ample zone time and effort yielded exactly zero shots on goal.

For the first five minutes, both teams looked like they were skating to get their reps in. Lots of hard, heavy shifts going up and down the ice, concluding with very little meaningful offence.

Around the five-minute mark, the home team came alive out of nowhere for a handful of shots on Thatcher Demko, who looked sharp as usual.

A failed spin move in the neutral zone by Max Sasson gave way to a long, heavy shift stuck in the d-zone for the Abby Line. With pressure mounting, and Filip Gustavsson off to Minnesota’s bench for the extra attacker, Kirill Kaprizov drew a hooking penalty against Arshdeep Bains, giving the Wild the game’s first power play opportunity.

Foote rolled out a first PK group featuring Kiefer Sherwood, Elias Pettersson, Tyler Myers, and Marcus Pettersson. The group did well at keeping the Wild’s power play group to the perimeter, culminating in a zone loss and a shorthanded shot on Gustavsson from EP40. A second rotation of Drew O’Connor, Aatu Raty, Filip Hronek, and Elias Pettersson (the other one) held their own until the game’s return to 5-on-5.

After a prolonged run of control for Minnesota, Tom Willander skated end to end for a rocket off the crossbar.

Moments later, Arshdeep Bains was caught reaching with the stick for the second time of the period, gifting Minnesota a second power play opportunity.

This time, the Canucks’ PK wasn’t so lucky. After breaking into the zone, Matt Boldy’s battle for a loose puck in the middle of three Canucks penalty killers worked in his favour. After slipping past Marcus Pettersson and drawing in both O’Connor and Myers, Boldy passed the puck to Joel Eriksson Ek, who somehow flipped the puck, mid-air, over Myers and over to Tarasenko, who baited Demko down into a sprawl for the evening’s opening goal.

1-0 Wild

Momentum was thoroughly in Minnesota’s favour. For some reason, Marcus Foligno threw a check on Elias Pettersson (the defender) way after a whistle, gifting Vancouver a late power play opportunity.

Nothing came of the Canucks’ man advantage, but it was a bizarre move from Foligno, whose team had completely taken control of the game.

First period takeaways:

• The best offensive play was from Tom Willander, off the bar. The best defensive play was EP40 blocking a rinkwide feed in the neutral zone while on the PK. That sucks!

Second Period

Canucks were a little livelier to start the second period. Edging the home club in shots 5-zip to double their first-period shot totals within the first three minutes.

Off a d-zone cycle, the Canucks’ third line of O’Connor, Raty and recent call-up Mackenzie MacEachern combined for an easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy goal off the rush to equalize the game at one.

1-1 Tie

The club continued to lean on Demko for huge saves, even after O’Connor’s goal sparked some life back in the team.

Past the midway point of the period, Demko ate a shot off the mask from Vinnie Hinostroza at point-blank range. Fortunately, he was a-ok.

Perennial offseason center target Marco Rossi regained the lead for Minnesota, cashing in on a rebound over Demko’s glove side off a Canucks d-zone faceoff loss.

2-1 Wild

With five minutes remaining in the period, Minnesota’s Ben Jones drew an interference penalty against Elias Pettersson (defenceman), giving the Wild their third power play of the game.

The Canucks did not concede a goal, but they were under constant bombardment by the Wild’s top power play unit. In two minutes, the Wild registered seven shot attempts, three of which landed on target.

O’Connor and Evander Kane joined up for a 2-on-2 rush that looked mildly dangerous! Otherwise, the middle frame was thoroughly dictated by the passing and possession game of the Wild.

At the absolute very end of the game, Hronek drew a slashing minor against Marco Rossi to give Vancouver an early third-period power play.

Second period takeaways:

• Drew O’Connor has looked sharp in his minutes on the PK and at evens.

Third Period

For Vancouver’s early power play, the first unit registered six shot attempts, one on target.

Not long after the Canucks’ failed power play, Hinostroza skated end-to-end for the go-ahead goal. Weaving around Lukas Reichel, Myers, and Elias Pettersson (defenceman), Hinostroza made the Canucks’ look like a beer league squad.

3-1 Wild

Two minutes later, Jonas Brodin made it 4-1 with a sharp-angle shot that dribbled over Demko’s right pad. It was  that kind of night for Demko, who looked sharp for a long time keeping the scoreline in a state that wasn’t reflective of who was truly in charge.

4-1 Wild

Off an offensive zone draw won by Raty, the Canucks’ cut the Wild’s lead, with O’Connor scoring his second of the night!

4-2 Wild

Approaching the midway point of the period, Evander Kane gaveth and tooketh away when he drew a slashing penalty against Marcus Foligno, and took one for himself on the same play.

Misconducts would take Kane and Foligno out of the game upon their exit from the penalty box. Maybe both talked in the penalty box and decided they wanted to get to the locker room to watch the rest of Game 7 of the World Series?

With the two teams’ heavy hitters out of the rotation, the game opened up in Vancouver’s favour as they chased the lead.

With four minutes left, Foote pulled Demko to the bench for the extra attacker. Despite having won an offensive zone faceoff on the 6-on-5, Ryan Hartman picked up a rebound from behind the Minnesota goal line and sank the empty netter from there to ice this one away for Minnesota.

5-2 Wild

Final takeaways:

• Mackenzie MacEachern finished the game with three shots on goal. The Canucks forward leader in ice time (lots of PK time to be fair), Elias Pettersson, finished with one. That shot on target was registered by EP40 in the final few minutes with the Canucks’ on the man advantage.
• I’m not a professional hockey analyst, or anything. However, I don’t think you need to be one to point out that the team’s first line combining for five shots on target seems REALLY bad. Like, does anyone actually think Pavel Zacha or Steven Stamkos will be the key to righting the ship until Hughes returns? I don’t know.

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