Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs
New look power play ties it up
Prior to Sunday’s game in Vegas, the Canucks talked about how they had made changes to the power play but did not get to debut their new power play lines or systems that they had talked about.
During yesterday’s game, we got to see what the power play had changed and who the new personnel would be. The first unit consisted of Nikolay Goldobin and Alex Edler on the point, Elias Pettersson, Josh Leivo, and Tanner Pearson.
Pearson’s duties on the power play were to park himself at the front of the net and try to make life difficult for the goaltender. The power play, whose struggles as of late have been very, very well documented and talked about among Canuck nation, converted last night. The power play goal came at the right time.
After a tough second period, the Canucks had to battle hard if they wanted to try to come back from the two-goal deficit. Keep in mind, the Leafs had not lost a game this season when they have the lead going into the third period of play.
Let that sink in for a second. No other team in the NHL has been able to come back when trailing the Leafs heading into the third period. It was going to be a grind for the Canucks to be the first team to pull off the feat this season.
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Shortly after Loui Eriksson scored a backhander to bring the Canucks within a goal, a too many men on the ice call saw the Canucks go on the power play for the third time of the night. The new look first unit hopped over the boards and the former Maple Leaf Leivo tied the game for his squad.
As I said before, I was watching the game at home with my grandfather, but you could hear how electric Rogers Arena was after Leivo scored that goal — if I cracked open a window, I’m almost certain I would have been able to hear the fans at Rogers Arena cheering.
The new look to the power play was a difference maker and was the reason the game even went to overtime. I wonder if these lines will remain the same and how they’ll look once Quinn Hughes arrives in the coming weeks.