Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from 5-4 loss to Vegas

In what was an emotional night at Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks erased a 4-1 deficit but fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout. Here are three takeaways from the 5-4 shootout loss.

The Vancouver Canucks fell 5-4 to the Vegas Golden Knights in what as a tremendous and all-around entertaining game — one that Daniel and Henrik Sedin will definitely remember thanks to the incredible ending.

A classy move saw head coach Travis Green put each twin out in the shootout; Daniel hitting the post and Henrik not able to solve Malcolm Subban on a fancy deke that also didn’t have much of a chance. Neither scored, but it was worth giving them the opportunity.

And at the very end, the lovable underdog Golden Knights stayed behind as the Sedins received an ovation from the fans, with the players going over to shake the twins’ hands. Really, what a beautiful moment by the expansion team. They’ve had many magical moments in their inaugural season, and this was one of their finest.

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This game had it all. Scoring chances, goaltending, a terrific finish and some more signature Sedin moments. Thursday night’s contest against the Arizona Coyotes will be the last one for the twins at Rogers Arena, so keep your schedule clear for that night.

Now, let’s look at three takeaways from this thrilling game.

Tank bowl gets more interesting

While many fans were focused solely on the Sedins in this one, the tank bowl is worth keeping an eye on. The Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens picked up points in overtime losses, while the Arizona Coyotes were victors against the Calgary Flames.

More from The Canuck Way

The Canucks cannot finish 31st, as the last-place Buffalo Sabres sit at 62 points and only have three games left.

The Ottawa Senators (65 points), need to win out and the Canucks must lose out, otherwise there isn’t a hope at 30th. Hard to see the Sens doing that, with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins on the schedule.

Vancouver is a point up on the Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes, who each sit at 69 — with the Desert Dogs holding the tiebreaker. The Canucks sit at 27th, but are just two points behind the 26th-placed Detroit Red Wings.

The bad news for #TeamTank is that Vancouver holds tiebreakers on each of the other bottom-six teams. There’s also a chance they catch the Edmonton Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks (74 points each), and move far outside the bottom-five.

Thursday’s game against the Coyotes has the chance of determining who finishes last in the conference. Ottawa and Buffalo play on Wednesday, then every bottom feeder has two games left from then on out.

Nikolay Goldobin is ready for more

With the Sedins retiring after this season, coach Green will have to start handing out more responsibility to the young players. That is, as long as general manager Jim Benning doesn’t make the wrong move and decide to use his cap space to buy expensive veteran players.

And when it comes to playing younger players next year, Nikolay Goldobin is among the forwards that must play more top-six minutes in 2018-19. He was flying all over the ice on Tuesday, scoring two goals in the contest — and he came close to a hat trick.

Goldobin now has a respectable eight goals and 14 points in 36 games on the season. That nearly translates to a 20-goal campaign over a full 82-game season, even though he hasn’t seen much ice time.

At this rate, there’s no more reason for the Canucks to limit Goldobin’s minutes or opportunities. The man is simply ready for more in 2018-19, and we may have another young 20-goal man on the way.

Sedins will be missed…by everybody

It won’t just be the Canucks organization and fans that will miss the Sedin twins, but the Golden Knights made it clear that all 30 teams outside of British Columbia will miss playing without them when they officially retire. And this is despite the twins dominating them with their slick cycling and skill sets.

Sportsnet gathered up a list of notable NHL stars who praised the Sedins for their efforts, including Henrik Lundqvist, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, among others. We will also see the Coyotes pay tribute to the Sedins on Thursday, and the Edmonton Oilers will most definitely do something to honour the twins in their season finale at Rogers Place.

Next: Canucks: Henrik and Daniel and what makes a good man

So Canucks fans, don’t feel like we’re alone as we say good-bye to the two greatest players in franchise history. Every other team will miss playing against the two classy and future Hall of Famers, as Vegas kindly displayed after this game.

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