Canucks: 3 takeaways from 5-3 collapse versus Blue Jackets
After suddenly having fallen to a wild card spot overnight, the Vancouver Canucks were determined to find a win versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Vancouver Canucks are having a pretty good season so far with all eyes set on playoff hockey, but the toughest competition is yet to come and it’ll be a straight-up dog fight to the finish line.
After being bested on the road in their eastern swing by the Ottawa Senators Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, the Canucks crossed the border to try and end the road trip even. A battle against a former coach, John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets would go down on Sunday evening.
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24 hours removed from a sluggish performance in Toronto, Thatcher Demko found himself in a ball cap riding the pine, ultimately paving the way for Louis Domingue to make his Vancouver Canucks debut. Already rocking a slick new mask, the journeyman goaltender was ready to fight for starts while Jacob Markstrom heals up from a meniscus tear.
With the 24-year-old rookie displaying back-to-back shaky starts, and the Canucks not yet knowing what they have in Domingue, it was up to the Canucks’ core to crank things up to the next level and get the club into better playoff positioning. Could J.T Miller stay red hot? His play has been incredible all season and the Canucks really needed him to bring his best.
The Canucks put up a dominant first and second period. The third period appeared to be going smoothly until things turned around in a hurry and the Canucks tragically collapsed and gave up a four-goal third period to drop the contest 5-3. Here are three takeaways from the match-up.
After a couple of losses to beatable teams on this road trip, it appears the core of this team realized they needed to turn things up a notch or two. Elias Pettersson has admitted to not playing his best hockey as of late, and the Swedish young-gun went to work on Sunday and got the Canucks involved early on.
On the power play, Pettersson was able to feed his captain a very pretty, uptempo pass with some heat on it. Bo Horvat, standing open in front of the net between the faceoff circles, managed to get his stick on the ice and direct it up and over the Columbus goaltender. Power play marker that got the monkey off their back and gave the momentum to the road team.
Pettersson didn’t stop there. He added a goal of his own, a deflection as well and a very difficult one to say the least. Coming across the circle with some speed, a shot was fired from the point. Moving across the ice and towards the puck, Pettersson successfully tipped the rocketing puck down off of the ice and back up over the goaltender once more. A beautiful masterpiece by the Swede.
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The kid added another point to end the game with a goal and two primary assists. He needed to step up and he did. His game was at its full potential and if coach Green decided to play Pettersson in the dying minutes, the Canucks may have skated away with two points.
If it was too early to hit the panic button before, it might not be such a bad idea after this atrocious third period collapse. The absence of Markstrom has never been felt so hard. After getting the nod to debut in a Vancouver Canucks jersey, Domingue played well, held a 3-1 lead heading into the final frame, but the team collapsed late, the fringe starter got beat and Columbus exposed him for what he’s worth.
All-in-all, the loss doesn’t fall on Domingue alone, it was a terrible performance by the Canucks penalty kill and both Brandon Sutter and Antoine Roussel took some costly penalties. Lazy play on both accounts leads to Vancouver coughing up a two-goal lead in a game they really shouldn’t have lost.
Maybe the Canucks got a little too comfortable with Markstrom bailing them out every single night, it shows because they let Columbus in late, a team that really has no business beating Vancouver, and a guy like Domingue simply isn’t going to make all the stops an All-star Markstrom is used to making on a nightly basis.
Vancouver got a look at both their goalies down the stretch, but now it’s time for the defence to buckle down, the offence to pick up, and for someone to step up and carry the torch Markstrom has left behind.
Zack MacEwen brings the team toughness
It’s been a minute or two since the Canucks have activated Zack MacEwen and dressed him for game action. After being pushed around and dropping two very winnable games consecutively, coach green smelt the coffee and inserted Big Mac into Sunday night’s line-up. My best guess, it was to bring some feistiness and grit to the bottom-six.
With 15:55 played in the second period, MacEwen dropped the gloves and took care of business. As a young kid fighting tooth and nail for a permanent roster spot, MacEwen made sure to earn his paycheck. He handled the situation the best way he knew how, by sticking up for his teammates and making space for everyone in the open ice.
The best part about seeing MacEwen back with the team is the fact that you know he’s going to bring his best each night in order to get himself noticed and stick with the big shooters. Him being dressed came at the price of an injury on the fourth line, but MacEwen is a good, hard-fought player that team’s need at this critical time of the season.
Final thoughts…
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The Vancouver Canucks won’t want to think about this one for too long. It’ll be a breath of fresh air for the club when they return home for a four-game homestand. Hopefully, they find a way to scoop up some points and climb back into the race. Puck drops against the Arizona Coyotes at 7:30 PM Wednesday.