Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators: Final Score and Highlights

The Vancouver Canucks continued their six-game road-trip against the Ottawa Senators, and were shutout for the second straight game.

The Vancouver Canucks‘ goal drought continues.

Last night, Vancouver outshot the Montreal Canadiens but failed to find the scoresheet. They hoped for a similar effort but a better result.

The Canucks did outshoot the Ottawa Senators 27-24. But the result remained the same, as they lost their seventh straight game

Vancouver has been shutout in four of their past five, including twice by the Senators.

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The four-game winning streak is ancient history; the comeback Canucks are a distant memory. Panic time is quickly approaching, if it isn’t here already.

Trevor Linden and Jim Benning have continually stated that their goal is to make the playoffs. It will be interesting to see whether that message changes given how abysmal this streak has been for the team. The Canucks are trying to win, so how bad would they be if they weren’t?

It’s painful, but let’s look back at the game in Ottawa. Perhaps we can tease out a few positives.

Final Score:

 The lone goal:

How tough is it to be a Canucks goaltender right now. Once again, Jacob Markstrom was close to perfect. Yet, that was not enough to win a game.

While Marky did miss his pokecheck, it was the two defensemen who were ultimately to blame. Ben Hutton surprised Erik Gudbranson with a pass, and Gudbranson immediately turned it over.

With no Canucks defender nearby, the goaltender gambled — and lost. Mike Hoffman chased down the puck and scored his second of the year.

Both he and Ryan Miller are playing some excellent hockey. However, as long as they receive zero goal support, the few mistakes they make will prove the difference.

Bo Horvat vs. Erik Karlsson

These two teams only see each other twice a year. Yet, they still managed to generate some bad blood.

In the first period, Erik Karlsson impeded Bo Horvat on his way to retrieve a puck. Horvat retaliated by ripping off Karlsson’s helmet:

After the scrum, the referees gave Karlsson a minor and Horvat a double-minor, all for roughing. The Senators failed to score on the ensuing powerplay.

Then in the second period, as Horvat carried the puck into the Sens’ zones he managed to dodge hits from three different players, including Karlsson:

Tryamkin’s season debut

After Nikita Tryamkin spent October catching up on his summer cardio, he finally made his season debut tonight.

He made good use of his 6-foot-7, 265-pound frame:

Zack Smith tried throwing a few punches. His arms were too short to reach Tryamkin’s face. That’s something to smile about, right?

Besides the fisticuffs, Tryamkin handled himself well during play. He and Luca Sbisa were some of the best Canucks players on the ice in terms of shot attempts:

Nikita Tryamkin started the year in the doghouse because of his conditioning. Based on his play tonight, it looks like he might become a mainstay in the lineup.

Inching closer to a goal

It’s frustrating to watch Vancouver hand another goalie a shutout.

But the Canucks did have chances. Loui Eriksson and Sven Baertschi were stopped on point-blank attempts. Jannik Hansen also narrowly missed beating Mike Condon five-hole on a breakaway:

The shot numbers from the last two games do flatter the Canucks, but a lot of those shots have been from the outside. No team can bury 100-percent of their grade-A scoring chances.

To give themselves a chance, Vancouver needs to generate more than the four of five high-danger chances they have been managing lately.

Next: Time for Linden to Sell a Rebuild

The Canucks have a day off tomorrow, before resuming action on Saturday versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs have given up the third-most goals so far this season. Let’s hope the Vancouver Canucks can take advantage of that.