Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from 6-0 win in Dallas

Two day after Jacob Markstrom’s epic rant, the Vancouver Canucks tuned in their top performance of the season with a 6-0 victory against the Dallas Stars. Here are three takeaways from the big win.

The Vancouver Canucks are like a box full of chocolate these days, you never know what you’re gonna get. Even when they’re among the worst teams in the league standings, they’re good enough to travel to Texas and crush the Dallas Stars, 6-0.

This win comes two days after Jacob Markstrom‘s epic rant, in which he called the team’s effort “embarrassing” and questioned if some of the players even belonged in the NHL. He turned aside 30 shots for a shutout victory. Five different Canucks scored a goal.

And they dominated a team that usually dominates them. Heading into this game, the Canucks had lost 13 of their previous 14 games against Tyler Seguin and company. They now own a one-game win streak against the powerhouse Stars.

Here are three things we learned from what was easily Vancouver’s best win of the 2017-18 season, so far.

Reid Boucher arrives

Head coach Travis Green gave Reid Boucher his chances on Sunday, and the man delivered with a two-goal performance. Boucher had previously been held pointless in his only five games of 2017-18.

Boucher is most certainly not going to be a consistent 20-goal man in the NHL, but he brings a lot of what the Canucks lack and need. He’s extremely fast off the wing and works hard for the loose pucks. The man has a nose for the net and plays with plenty of heart and determination. That’s a guy you want in your bottom-six.

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Just look at his effort on this goal:

The Canucks don’t have a very productive group of bottom-six players, so keeping Boucher around for the long haul is really a no-brainer. Let the speedy forward play, and give him some power play minutes. Don’t look at this two-goal outing as a coincidence. The man can play.

Jake Virtanen finally has his day

One of the more frustrating stories for much of 2017-18 has been the inconsistent play from Jake Virtanen, who was expected to unleash everything with Green as the new coach.

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Well, things are slow and steady, as Virtanen continues to develop his game even more.

Virtanen snapped a four-game pointless steak and scored his first goal since Jan. 12 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Virtanen brought out a near-perfect performance in Dallas. He scored a goal and an assist, while posting a plus-three rating. He also dished out three hits and had one blocked shot. All of this in just 11:20 of playing time.

It may be time for Green to think about giving Virtanen a little more ice time. After this performance, he’s worthy of playing more top-six minutes.

Markstrom makes a statement

Even though he hasn’t had a lot of help in front, Jacob Markstrom has been hard on himself too many times this season. As pointed out above, he wasted no time calling out the team after Friday’s ugly loss to the Carolina Hurricanes:

Well, Markstrom hung in there and delivered arguably his best game as a Canuck. 30 saves against a red-hot Dallas team on the road to end their five-game win streak? That’s how you bounce back from a bad performance.

Next: Canucks: What Linden and Benning can learn from the Rangers

Markstrom finally got some offence and a terrific outing from his blueliners. This was an excellent win against a Stars team that’s shaping up to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Though the Canucks are far out of the playoff race, they have every reason to feel good about an easy victory like this.