Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from overtime win over Sharks

Finally, the Vancouver Canucks ended a brutal four-game losing streak thanks to Sam Gagner’s overtime heroics. Here are three takeaways from their big win over the San Jose Sharks.

As the playoff race gets tighter with each passing day, it’s easy to call every Vancouver Canucks game “the most important of the season,” but Friday’s win over the San Jose Sharks was their biggest of 2017-18, so far.

The Canucks are devoid of key players, with injuries to Bo Horvat (up to six weeks), Sven Baertschi (four-to-six weeks), Chris Tanev (up to three weeks), and Brandon Sutter (seven-to-10 days). They had been miserably battered in each outing during their four-game losing streak. Simply put, they had to win this game.

And despite blowing a 3-1 period lead, the Canucks held their ground and waited for the right opportunity. That’s when Alexander Edler skated the puck up ice and delivered a nice pass to Sam Gagner, going roof on the backhand to give the Canucks a crucial 4-3 victory.

Here are three things we learned from Vancouver’s most important win on the season.

Ding dong, the wicked streak is dead

Finally. For the first time since Jan. 21, 2012, the Canucks have won a home game over the San Jose Sharks. Including the playoffs, Vancouver had previously lost 13 consecutive home games against the Sharks. That’s kind of ridiculous.

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But the streak has finally ended, and the short-handed Canucks were able to keep pace with one of the NHL’s fastest teams. They kept Joe Thornton in checking, keeping him off the score sheet and registering just one shot on goal.

And the snapping of the streak may also be a sign of what’s to come in the future. The Sharks are also one of the league’s oldest teams, and are devoid of talented young prospects.

With the Canucks loading up on young talent, it may not be long until they topple the Sharks in the standings on a yearly basis.

Okay, that may be jumping to conclusions a tad too early. But my point being, the streak is finally over. Can we assume San Jose never wins 13 straight at Rogers Arena again?

Secondary scoring arrives…finally

It’s been evident all season long that the Canucks have relied far too much on Brock Boeser, Baertschi and Horvat to do all the scoring. Besides Thomas Vanek, you could call every other bottom-nine forward a disappointment in 2017-18.

But just about every slumping forward contributed in a big way against the Sharks. The Sedin twins put up vintage performances, each posting three assists in the game. They set up both of Markus Granlund‘s goals — his first tally since Dec. 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Gagner’s overtime winner was also his first goal since Nov. 26 against the New York Rangers, and he snapped a five-game pointless streak.

Then that Brock Boeser guy scored his 17th goal on the season. Only four players have more goals than the rookie superstar. Isn’t it fun having a guy who’s probably going to score 30-plus goals this season?

Playoff dream isn’t over…yet

With so many injuries to key players, it was easy to believe Vancouver’s four-game losing skid was a sign that the ship would be sinking. The team would slip in the standings and come nowhere close to the playoffs once again.

Well, it may be a bit early to panic. The Canucks are just three points behind both the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks for the two wild card spots. Both those teams tend to be streaky, and they’re both winners of four-straight. That means the Wild and Blackhawks will start slumping eventually.

So the Canucks can’t give up on the playoff dream just yet. Six of their next seven games are at home, with four of them against divisional rivals. That gives them a prime opportunity to make up ground in the standings.

Next: Vancouver Canucks: Rebuild is far from over

Don’t give up on this team making the playoffs just yet, folks. They played a tremendous team game against the surging Sharks, and they just need a few more of those to get back into the postseason picture.

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