The Captain puts the team on his back in order to comeback
Markstrom was the one that shifted the momentum in favour of the Canucks, but he can only do so much. He can’t score the goals, and for a while, it looked like nobody on the Canucks could, either. It’s games like last night where a team needs somebody to just get something going for his side on the scoresheet. Who better to do that then the captain?
Now, don’t get me wrong, Markstrom’s back is probably sore after carrying his team — scratch that — dragging his team last night to a victory; but Bo Horvat is the one who finally managed to get the Canucks on the scoresheet and jumpstart their comeback.
Markstrom’s sequence of saves at the end of the second period, along with a late penalty drawn by Tim Schaller, which would allow the Canucks to start the third period with a man-advantage, changed the momentum in favour of the Canucks.
Jacob Markstrom standing on his head making a couple of massive saves at the end of the 2nd period. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/o9hhGW6zwQ
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) October 23, 2019
Saves like that get a team fired up. It makes the players want to go out there and win for the guy who is continuously bailing them out. It’s exactly what the Canucks did last night, and captain Horvat was the one that got the comeback started with a power play goal.
Going into this road trip, Horvat hadn’t recorded a goal. It was nothing to panic about, but I’m sure Horvat would have liked to find the back of the net sooner, rather than later. Well, with his goals against St. Louis and New York, along with the first hat trick of his career last night, Horvat now leads the Canucks in goals.
It’s crazy what a hot goaltender and a captain driven to help their team win can do for an entire team.