Vancouver Canucks: Brock Boeser scores, Canucks win again

The Vancouver Canucks continued their surprise start to the season with a hard-fought road win in Pittsburgh last night. Despite missing key players in Elias Pettersson and Jay Beagle, the Canucks won in OT thanks to a special goal from Brock Boeser. Let’s see what people are saying about that, and other NHL news:

Go back and watch that Brock Boeser winner in OT. I think we can all say he’s back to his best – it was a stunning goal, and a reminder that even when he’s not playing overly well, that shot is elite. Believe it or not, that was also Brock’s first-ever OT goal in a Vancouver Canucks jersey!

Adam Gaudette watch: 8:22 of ice-time, with none in the final 11:22 of the game. He played solid hockey, went 4-for-6 on face-offs (67%, the only Canuck above 50%) and had two hits and a block. He did everything we needed him to, and the team came out with a valuable win. More of the same in Winnipeg please.

Remember when Brock Boeser was struggling for offense, and looked off the pace? He now has two goals and two assists in six games this season. Bo Horvat has three goals, one assist. The Whoever-Horvat-Boeser line is doing just fine. Furthermore, the team as a whole has 14 – yes, FOURTEEN – players playing at 0.5 PPG pace. Here’s a list of players in the NHL who aren’t doing that right now:

Anze Kopitar, Sean Couturier, James Neal, Jeff Skinner, Max Pacioretty, Victor Hedman, Nikolaj Ehlers, Valeri Nichushkin, Steven Stamkos, Clayton Keller and Jordan Eberle.

This team is having no trouble scoring, goaltending is looking sharp, we have a goal from a D-man. We have won three in a row, which we only managed three times through all of last season. We have reason to be cautiously optimistic here. Even Coach Green is starting to believe, with this quote in the NHL.com post-game write-up:

“Real good team effort tonight. What a road game that was against a hockey team that’s obviously pretty deep. … I think we’re starting to figure out how we need to play as a group. I remember, about two weeks ago, talking about identity and talking to our group about it. We’re learning how to win some hockey games.”

The Penalty Kill went 1-for-1 on a night when there was only one penalty called all game, on Jake Virtanen. Turns out we didn’t miss Jay Beagle that much, as we didn’t need the PK and the fourth line, in his absence, created the first two goals. There will be games where the PK is put to heavy use, and that’s where we’ll see Beagle’s absence most. Tyler Motte took Beagle’s PK minutes last night.

Goaltending controversy alert:

Alex Edler continues to put his body on the line, having clearly not learnt from the experiences of Chris Tanev and Sami Salo before him. Edler leads the NHL in blocked shots, by some distance, and really is playing like a top-pair D-man this season.

And if you’re not feeling good enough right now, feast your eyes on this news:

Elsewhere in the NHL:

Congratulations to Marc-Andre Fleury, who moved into the all-time Top 10 wins list. Who would put it past him ending with more wins than Roberto Luongo by the time he’s done?

Connor McDavid set a new NHL record last night in figuring in on the first four Oilers goals, meaning he scored or assisted on their first nine goals of the season. He surpasses Adam Oates, who figured on Detroit’s first seven goals in 1986-87, and confirmed for the entire league that this Edmonton team is a one-man show. Where the hell is their depth? [Sportsnet]

Forget the Cam Neely trade, NHL.com has provided a very interesting read on some of the most lopsided trades in NHL history, including a couple I wasn’t aware of. Not a Forsberg/Erat or Burrows/Dahlen in sight either. [NHL]

Tomas Tatar was almost a throw-in in the Max Pacioretty trade. Patches has one goal in seven games for Vegas, Tatar has three goals and four assists in five games on Montreal’s top line. It’s too early to call that a win for the Habs, but that’s one good-looking trade right now. [Sportsnet]

Question for TCWers:

How would YOU handle the goaltending starts over the next two/three games? Do you continue to ride the hot hand and give Anders Nilsson the Jets game?