Canucks: 3 takeaways from 4-3 win vs. Minnesota Wild

The Vancouver Canucks were looking to even the series with the Minnesota Wild and avoid going into a 2-0 hole. Here’s what happened in game 2.

After an abysmal performance in Game 1, the Vancouver Canucks looked to bounce back in Game two.

Head coach Travis Green made a few tweaks to the lineup prior to the game which included slotting Jake Virtanen and Loui Eriksson into the lineup. Being replaced was Adam Gaudette (which was a questionable decision even though he had a poor game 1. There is still the possibility of injury, however.) and Tyler Toffoli who is dealing with a foot injury according to TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal.

According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic and Matt Sekeres of TSN 1040, Toffoli was seen wearing a walking boot and is unlikely to play on Thursday.

Overall, the Canucks played much better than they had in Game 1. The team looked more dialed in especially the top six and they played with lots of passion and energy.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

1. Power play finds groove after a very slow start

The Canucks power play looked sluggish in the first two periods. They had trouble entering the offensive zone, turned the puck over, and couldn’t find the net. It looked like they couldn’t get passed the Wild penalty killers. Vancouver even gave up a shorthanded after a costly turnover to the Wild’s Luke Kunin.

However, the Canucks got better with each man-advantage. The puck movement slowly got better, they were throwing the puck through traffic more, the zone entries improved and the turnovers stopped. The power play was starting to look like the one that ranked fourth in the league during the regular season.

All it needed was a goal. It finally happened at 6:22 of the third period when Bo Horvat tipped in a Quinn Hughes shot from the point. It was better late than never for the Canucks power play, and hopefully, it creates a positive momentum shift moving forward.