Vancouver Canucks G Ryan Miller Robs Sheary, Kessel en Route to 45 Saves vs. Pens

The Vancouver Canucks surrendered 48 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Ryan Miller was outstanding, turning them aside again and again.

With more and more regulars out of the lineup, the Vancouver Canucks needed Ryan Miller at the top of his game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Nikolay Goldobin is still out with the flu. Brendan Gaunce sustained an upper-body injury last game and was unavailabe. Tonight, Markus Granlund and Chris Tanev were late scratches with food poisoning. Joseph LaBate, Alexandre Grenier and Philip Larsen drew back into the lineup, while Alex Biega played as a forward once again.

And although it wasn’t enough to win them the game, their goaltender was indeed at his very best. Better, actually. Miller faced a whopping 47 shots, and made a season-high 45 saves. He is — by a wide margin — the Canucks Player of the Game:

Recap:

The first was fairly even for both teams. Pittsburgh edged Vancouver in shots 12-11. Miller’s best save came when he slid across to deny Jake Guentzel. He couldn’t quite squeeze to puck, but Jayson Megna cleared the puck away from danger:

The floodgates opened in the second, and Miller was bombarded with 23 shots. On a delayed penalty call to Luca Sbisa, Miller robbed Conor Sheary on the the glove side:

Just seconds later, on the ensuing power play, he pulled out all the stops to ensure Phil Kessel stayed pointless in the game:

The Penguins earned three power plays in the game. Miller stopped all nine of the shots to keep the league’s third-best man advantage off the board.

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It wasn’t until 16 minutes into the second period that the Pens were able to solve the Canuck goaltender. In the end, they beat him only twice in 47 attempts, adding an empty netter once he was pulled for the extra skater.

Vancouver, meanwhile, had two goals of their own called back. The first for goaltender interference, wiping out a goal from Michael Chaput that would have opened the scoring. Later, Brandon Sutter‘s apparent power play goal was wiped off after Sven Baertschi knocked the puck out of the air with a high stick.

Final Score:

It’s no secret that Miller has kept his team afloat in the standings almost singlehandedly. But after the game Joey Kenward pointed out something absurd:

Thanks to Miller (and one game from Richard Bachman), the Canucks actually have a winning record when they’ve given up 40-plus shots.

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Tonight, they couldn’t get the win. But it was another superb performance from their 36-year-old goaltender. The Vancouver Canucks paper-thin lineup simply could not stand up to Sidney Crosby and the Penguins