It was a night of redemption as the Vancouver Canucks exorcised the demons from their last meeting against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Here’s what shook down.
The Vancouver Canucks welcomed the Pittsburgh Penguins into Rogers Arena after their emotional win against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Penguins were playing their third game in four nights and were looking to sweep their Western Canadian road trip after a win against the Calgary Flames the previous night.
Vancouver came into the game looking for redemption against a Penguins team that manhandled them earlier in the season. Evgeni Malkin had five points and helped fuel a third period come back that saw a 6-3 deficit become an 8-6 win.
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The Canucks clearly were trying to avoid a similar fate in this game as they limited them to zero shots in the first period. Jacob Markstrom probably thought he was going to finally have an easy game for once. But as he soon found out, nothing ever is that easy in Vancouver.
Lotto Line comes alive & power play is a difference again
After cooling off for a bit, the Lotto Line of Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, and Brock Boeser came alive in this game. The line generated five points, with Pettersson and Miller recording two points apiece. They were the difference in a game that featured a lot of power plays as well.
The Canucks power play was a difference again, as they scored two goals with the man advantage, one by the first unit and one by the second unit. After getting his first goal called back on an offside coach’s challenge, Miller scored on a deft tip-in from an Oscar Fantenberg shot and Jake Virtanen was at it again with a one time blast from the left circle.
Two of the things that have made the Canucks successful this season were on full display in this game. The power play was effective and their top line was the difference in the offense. If they hope to be in the discussion for a playoff spot in April, these two things have to continue to be factors. With how tight the Pacific Division is these days, every point counts, making it that much more important to have success against teams outside the division.
Virtanen stays hot
Virtanen has been on quite the run lately and after the news that Josh Leivo will be missing from the roster for 2-3 months, he may be getting more of an opportunity to impress. He was seen on the second power play unit and looked very good set up at the left faceoff dot. I was happy to see that head coach Travis Green did not move him off the third line with Antoine Roussel and Adam Gaudette, as they have been a very effective unit so far this season.
It really looks like Virtanen’s penchant for inconsistency is a thing of the past. He didn’t just score in this game, he was in Malkin’s kitchen all night as well. After his all-world performance in the last meeting between these two teams, the Canucks knew they had to limit his time and space.
Virtanen took that assignment to heart, frustrating Malkin throughout the game. It really looks like he’s turned back the clock to his junior days with the Calgary Hitmen, as he’s channeled his younger self these past few games. If he can keep this up, the Canucks have a legitimate secondary scoring threat on the so-called third line. With Leivo out, it really looks like a second line now to me.
Markstrom saves the day…again
After limiting the Penguins to no offense and nary a shot in the first period, the Penguins came out firing in the second. After taking a 20-minute nap, Markstrom was forced to make 19 saves as the Canucks were outshot 20-3 in the period. If not for him, we probably are talking about another blown lead and potentially another heartbreaking defeat. But as he’s done most of the season, he put on his Superman’s cape and came to the rescue. That cape probably needs washing, because it’s been used quite a bit this season already.
With backup Thatcher Demko part of the walking wounded, Markstrom has been a workhorse and has firmly cemented himself as the number one goaltender for the Canucks. General manager Jim Benning has to be thinking about extending this guy because I have no doubt that the new Seattle expansion team would jump at the opportunity to have him as their number one. But for now, let’s be happy that he’s our goaltender and no one else’s.