Vancouver Canucks: 3 keys to victory over the Buffalo Sabres

The Los Angeles Kings were victims of the Roxy Flu, resulting in a 6-2 beating. Buffalo is entering Rogers Arena after thumping the Oilers on Tuesday. Here are the three keys to victory.

What a night, what a night. The Vancouver Canucks were victorious on Tuesday, thrashing the Los Angeles Kings 5-1. (I couldn’t believe it either). Despite a lack of pushback over a dirty hit on Brock Boeser and an elbow on Daniel Sedin, the Canucks left the night unscathed.

One province over, the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Edmonton Oilers. They won 5-0. The Sabres and Canucks are in the NHL’s basement, but those were a pair of impressive victories. Loui Eriksson had a pair of goals, giving him eight on the season. His cap hit may be $6 million, but the Canucks are paying him $8 million this year. That’s a million dollars a goal. Cue the sad trombone sound.

Boeser came back with a vengeance, scoring two goals with authority. He is seven points behind Mathew Barzal in the Calder race, and with 34 games left on the schedule, it’s not over. Connor McDavid could not buy a goal against the Sabres, so let’s see the Flow cash in.

Jack Eichel will be looking to put his stamp on Vancouver after feasting on the Oilers with a four-point night. Hockey’s controversial figure, Evander Kane will be returning to his home town. Let’s see if he can stay out of trouble while he is here.

Vancouver Canucks

2017-18 record: 19-23-6 (28th in the NHL)

Goals For: 127 (25th in the NHL)

Goals Against: 152 (26th in the NHL)

Lineup Notes

Erik Gudbranson (day-to-day with a back injury; from Rotoworld)

Keys to victory

Attack with the power play

The Canucks drew seven penalties on Tuesday and converted on three of them. With that success, the team boasts the sixth best power play in the NHL. This side of special teams defeated the best penalty kill in the NHL three times in a single game. If the team is going to struggle at even strength on an ordinary night, then get whatever you can out of the power play.

More from The Canuck Way

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• What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
• Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
• Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
• 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg

What’s the best way to draw penalties? Put a constant level of pressure in the Sabres’ zone. The longer they spend playing defence, the more likely the Sabres take a lazy penalty. Once they bite on the trap, the Canucks need to go in for the kill with the man advantage.

Alexander Edler is passing to Boeser as of late and it is a beautiful thing to watch that young man shoot the puck. With his 24th goal of the season and 28th of his career, Boeser has cracked the top 100 goal scorers in Canucks history. It only took Boeser 54 games to do this!

Long story, short: give Boeser the puck. Both units on the power play are hot right now and the team needs to keep the good times going. The team should entertain the home crowd over this stretch of the season.

No more defensive breakdowns

We don’t usually put a magnifying glass on a team that won 6-2 in their previous game. However, the two goals against (three if the review went the other way) were blatant examples of defensive breakdowns.

One particular offender of this was Michael Del Zotto. It’s bad enough he is chasing the puck in every single game on defence. But when he’s chasing the “big” hit and leaves his check wide open to score, it’s a damning problem. Sorry John Garrett, but it wasn’t Brandon Sutter‘s fault on that first Kings goal.

The Sabres are one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL; down near the bottom with the Canucks. Despite that, when a team takes them as lightly as the Oilers did, they got embarrassed. Travis Green wants this team to play a structured game. Stick to the game plan, don’t start chasing the puck and make life difficult for the Sabres.

The goaltending is roughly the same for both teams: mediocre. One of these goalies may steal the game, but with the lack of consistency this season, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Be aggressive, play with pace and for all that is good, don’t sit back. It almost never goes well for the team that sits back.

Be tough to play against

Part of this mantra is playing well on defence, as illustrated above. However, there is an element missing from this team. I, and several other fans are not happy with the response (or lack thereof) to the goon antics from the Kings.

We are not expecting a fight here. No one is asking for a match penalty. However, start a scrum. Throw a huge hit. Get in someone’s face. Just do something. Show a little backbone. Stop being an easy target for dirty players.

All I am asking for is to not let our star players get roughed up without consequence. Scoring on the power play is nice, but this is a team. When the power plays don’t come, the Canucks have to make it clear that they won’t be pushed around. They are supposed to stand together and stick up for each other. And there are several ways to do this without fighting. I find it pathetic that the Canucks were too busy finding excuses instead of taking action.

Inaction will get your star players hurt. Being a soft target will lead to more problems than solutions. This league won’t protect its players, so it’s up to the teams to do it themselves.

Predictions

Scott Rosenhek

This one is going to overtime. It’s a pair of offensively challenged teams, but a back and forth slugfest is a lot more interesting than a 2-1 victory. I can see both teams playing a sloppy game, allowing their offensive stars to flourish. I want a Boeser hat trick! Horvat pots in a couple and we get another slapper from Tommy Gun. Eichel, Kane, and Kyle Okposo will do their best, but come up short.

Alex Hoegler

The Canucks look a lot better with a completely healthy roster. The ‘Killer B’s’ trio is back, and there’s no stopping the Sedins or Edler as of late. Vancouver pulls out a tight 3-2 win on home ice. Daniel with the winner.

Tyler Shipley

4-3 Sabres in OT. It’ll be a weird one, two teams that suck but which just pummelled an opponent. So they’ll both have a bit more jump in their step and Bo’s strong play will continue. Kane will pot the OT winner and we will have to listen to hot takes about bringing him to Vancouver. Let’s not.

Chris Faber

Next: Canucks prospects of Week 14: Pettersson, Dahlen, Lind

This is the kind of game where you want to be at the bar and drinking beer the whole way through. Both teams are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games but are both coming off big offensive outbursts. Is it too early for the draft lottery simulator yet? Because the Sabres and Canucks would be a better matchup on that.