Quadrelli Report: Sutter scores two as Vancouver Canucks beat Oilers
Already time to hold your breath on Quinn Hughes
Can’t we have anything nice? Why is it that seemingly every time this team gets a star rookie, he just has to get injured one way or another. Quinn Hughes arrived late last year from Michigan in a walking boot and was immediately placed on the injured reserve. Last night, Hughes left in the third period with an apparent lower-body injury.
We only got to see five games from Quinn Hughes at the end of last season, but it was clear that he was going to have a huge impact on the Canucks this year. He started last night’s game on a line with Tyler Myers, and aside from making numerous offensively minded plays, Hughes also made a few nice defensive plays, using his superior skating abilities to angle off attacking forwards.
He broke up a three on one by catching the puck carrier off guard by getting to him quickly and poking the puck away, as opposed to skating backwards and trying to cover the cross ice pass.
The real story on Hughes, however, is the apparent injury he left with. In the first period, he was carelessly high sticked in the face, and headed straight to the dressing room for repairs. After returning later on, Hughes was forced to leave in the third with an apparent lower-body injury.
Thankfully, the injury looked minor, and coach Green said it was just precautionary that Hughes was pulled from the game. Nonetheless, it’s scary to already have to hold our breath on another star rookie this early on.
A great start for Thatcher Demko
In the first period, Thatcher Demko looked like he’d been coached by Ian Clark for years. Demko looked good positionally and had quiet feet almost all night. It was rare that Demko found himself out of position at any moment last night.
One of Demko’s only mistakes came in the second period when a puck shot from below the goal line to his left took an unfortunate bounce off his stick and led to a doorstep opportunity for Tomas Jurco, who made no mistake, beating Demko over his right shoulder.
That goal tied the game for the Oilers, after the Canucks originally had the lead thanks to a beauty of a penalty shot goal from Brandon Sutter. Then in the third period, the Canucks came out looking sloppy, which allowed the Oilers to take a one-goal lead.
It was a 35 save performance for Demko, and an overall good start to his preseason as he prepares himself to serve as the Canucks backup for a full season.