Vancouver Canucks Week #14 Outlook: Running Low
By David Joun
vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (18-16-4) Saturday, January 9th
Leading scorer: Nikita Kucherov (13 goals, 29 points)
Keys to the game
- Re-live the win from two weeks ago
- Play smart defence
- Offence from beyond the Sedins and Hansen
When the Canucks hung on in Tampa Bay after being assessed 13 minor penalties — and eight straight at one point — they paid a price for it.
So if the Canucks do not want to throw Tanev — or anyone else for that matter — into saving the game by destroying himself via a Steven Stamkos slap shot, they have to play smarter defensively. Either take Stammer’s offensive role out of the game or let Jacob Markstrom see the shot as clear as day. And of course, it would be smart not to take that many penalties. Although the officiating was partly to blame, as captain Henrik Sedin said, Vancouver deserved most, if not all of those calls.
Speaking of Hank, the Sedins are starting to cool. The Sedins have just two assists combined in the past three games after the Lightning game. Meanwhile, Hansen is picking up steam, after he was fined $2000 for this ‘dive’ in Tampa Bay.
The Canucks simply have to be better scoring beyond just the Sedins and Hansen. You cannot expect an injured Tanev to score goals for you like he did against the Anaheim Ducks. You cannot expect him to block half a dozen Stamkos slappers either, and you cannot expect the Canucks to survive an injury to their best defenceman for any extended period of time.
Just one more week and the Canucks could have Brandon Sutter and Luca Sbisa back in short order. The games are not so tough this week, the Canucks stand a chance. And on that note, here is the bottom line.
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