Kane and Boeser score twice, Willander picks up first NHL point in Canucks’ OT win vs. Predators

First Period

The Canucks began the conclusion of a three-game midwestern road trip with an early effort reminiscent of theirs against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. Hard skating. Hard hits. Back and forth action, sans offence.

Through three minutes, the Canucks edged the Predators in shots, 1-zip. And early on, the Canucks came to play.

Which is why it was only fitting that Nashville scored the first goal of the game.

This was always the worry about Adam Foote’s aggressive defensive approach. He put an emphasis on swarming the puck carrier in the neutral zone and his defenceman pinching up in the play during training camp.

Here, Quinn Hughes pinches up on Luke Evangelista, who gets the puck by him. Brady Skjei speeds past Elias Pettersson, leaving Tyler Myers with no choice but to go pressure the puck carrier. In doing so, this leaves Filip Forsberg wide open in the slot area, who is able to bury his own rebound past Thatcher Demko before a Canucks player touches him.

To be fair, it wasn’t a great defensive back-check from Pettersson to lose his guy and then coast in from the top of the circle.

1-0 Predators.

With just under seven minutes remaining in the first, Aatu Räty drew the game’s first penalty. The Canucks’ power play was obviously thrilled to have Quinn Hughes back, but it took them over a minute to gain the offensive zone cleanly. Jake DeBrusk pushed his way to the net and tried to shovel one past Saros, but other than that, it was quiet for the first unit. For the final 51 seconds of the PP, Adam Foote sent out the second unit, which was just the Abby line with Evander Kane and Filip Hronek at the points.

And after scoring what seemed to be his first goal as a Canuck last week – it was called off due to a goaltender interference call – Evander Kane scored his first goal as a Canuck to even this one up.

1-1. 

First period takeaways:

– Happy that Kane finally got on the score board for his hometown team. Canucks need offence right now from guys not named Drew or Kiefer. It would be huge for the team if this gets Kane going.

– Hughes was flying around in the first period. He was quick through the neutral zone, attacking up ice. This goes without saying, but boy did they miss him.

Second Period

The most exciting thing to come through the first half of the middle frame for the Canucks was a weird bounce off the back boards that popped out right in front of Juuse Saros’ net. However, a Predators defender beat the Kane to the puck and got it out of danger.

Max Sasson used his speed to win the race to the puck and spring Arshdeep Bains on a partial-break. But that didn’t amount to much of a threatening chance either, as Bains sent it wide.

Kiefer Sherwood took a hooking penalty eight minutes into the period, giving the Predators the first power play of the game. But, much like the first 10 minutes of the, nothing came happened. Shockingly, Jake DeBrusk was the only one to register a shot on net.

But then things would open up in the second half of the period.

Ozzy Wiesblatt found himself in the penalty box after slashing Hughes. Then, after two grade-A scoring chances for DeBrusk at the net front, defenceman Nick Perbix cross-checks the Canuck winger to the ice, giving the team a two-man advantage.

After the first penalty expired, Pettersson sends a pass to through the legs of Ryan O’Reilly to Boeser. He fires the puck toward the net, where DeBrusk gets a stick on it and puts the puck past Saros.

2-1 Canucks.

Two minutes later, the Canucks were back on the attack.

Rookie defenceman Tom Willander carries the puck through the neutral zone, past a pair of Predators defenders, and into the attacking end. Wheeling behind the net, Willander throws the puck into a crowd at the front of the net. The puck deflects off a Nashville skate and perfectly to Boeser in the high slot, who fires a one-time snap shot into the top shelf behind an aggressive Saros.

That’s the first NHL point in just his fourth game.

3-1 Canucks.

A late Aatu Räty hooking penalty on Steven Stamkos would give the Predators an opportunity to cut the Canucks lead to one, and that they did.

Luke Evangelista fires the puck down low to Forsberg. He waits, draws two Canucks defender towards him, puts the puck on his backhand, and finds Erik Haula in the bumper spot. He fires the one-timer into the top right corner.

3-2 Canucks.

Second period takeaways:

– The elite skating of Tom Willander showed on his rush that resulted in him picking up the primary assist and his first NHL point. Canucks fans are hoping there is more of that to come for the rookie.

– Don’t think it’s been a Selke performance from Pettersson in this game, but he has made some nice passes so far; one to Hughes in the first period, and another to Boeser between the legs on the power play.

Third period

Drew O’Connor took a high-stick in the defensive zone from BC Native, Matthew Wood. However, the Canucks would not see the power play, as they connected on a pretty passing play with the extra attacker.

Interesting that the Canucks had three defenceman on this play. But when Hughes is back in the line up and not on the ice, he’s your most dangerous skater, and he sets up the goal.

Hughes does his usual dancing around the blue line, before opening up his stance and finding Marcus Pettersson down low in the zone. Pettersson touch passes it to Linus Karlsson at the net front. Not in an ideal shooting position, he fires a backhand pass to the open area, where Kane buries his second of the contest.

4-2 Canucks.

Wood tried to make up for his earlier delayed penalty that the Canucks capitalized on when he was tripped by Filip Hronek.

O’Reilly finds Forsberg down low, who fires a quick pass through the Canucks crease to the tape of an open Haula. Instead of firing the one timer, Haula waits, which allows Demko to slide over and make the stop. He then stops Evangelista who rips a shot from the top of the right circle.

But the Predators just kept coming.

A few minutes later, the Predators kept pressing. Michael Bunting tries to find an open Jonathan Marchessault, but the puck goes to the blue line. Spencer Stastney fires the puck toward the net. Bunting gets to the front of the net and deflect it off his skate and behind Demko.

4-3 Canucks.

Kane is booked for high-sticking on Evangelista, giving the Predators a chance to tie the game.

The Canucks did a solid job to slow down the Predators’ top unit, and were positionally sound against the second unit as well. M. Pettersson gets his stick on the Wood pass attempt to the bumper spot, but it perfectly deflects to Nick Blankenburg, who fires his first of the season past Demko.

4-4.

Hughes and Myers ragged the puck in the final 20 seconds to secure the point and send the game to overtime.

Third period takeaways:

– After controlling play for the opening two periods, the Canucks were heavily outshot (14-8) in the third, which led to their collapse.

Overtime

The Predators were ultra aggressive in the extra frame. They constantly had a forechecker on the Canuck puck carrier, leading to some scary looking near-turnovers, but Vancouver controlled most of the possession.

It wasn’t until the final minute of overtime when Skjei finally registered the first shot on goal of added time. Sherwood was the only one who seemed to want to attack in overtime, as he rushed into the offensive zone and answered with a shot of his own, but couldn’t beat Saros.

Adam Foote called timeout ahead of an offensive zone faceoff with 10 seconds remaining. The Predators protect the puck along the boards, but Boeser gets his stick on it and shoves the puck back. Pettersson gets out bodied by O’Reilly, but the Swede pokes the puck toward the net, where Boeser can skate onto it, take it to his backhand, and beat Saros with less than two seconds remaining.

5-4 Canucks win.

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