Canucks: 3 takeaways from last night’s 3-0 loss to the Calgary Flames

The Vancouver Canucks were looking to douse the Flames in the first of ten meetings this season. Unfortunately, they were the ones that got scorched.

The main story heading into Saturday’s game at the Saddledome was former Canucks Jacob Markstrom, Chris Tanev and Josh Leivo facing off against their old team. Travis Hamonic also made his return to Calgary for the first time as a member of the Canucks.

This one was frustrating to watch for Canucks fans because the team couldn’t really get anything going offensively.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s matchup.

Canucks can’t solve familiar face

During his time with the Canucks, Jacob Markstrom only managed five shutouts.  They all came in his final three years in a Vancouver uniform.

In a cruel twist of fate, Markstrom’s first win in a Calgary sweater was against Vancouver in his second game as a Flame. Markstrom looked like the goalie the Canucks had over the last few years as he looked dialled in and made some key saves for the Flames. He made some good stops with his glove and pads and controlled rebounds well when the Canucks were crashing the crease.

It was like Markstrom memorized his old teammates shooting tactics as he saved all 32 Vancouver shots he faced.

One of his best was a glove save on Zack MacEwen, which can be seen at the 0:35 mark in the compilation below.

Getting shutout by their former starting goalie has to sting for Canucks fans.

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Special teams not special

The Canucks power play has struggled out of the gate.  The man advantage is zero for eight on the season and went zero for four on Saturday.

Vancouver’s power play did get some good chances but not enough high-quality opportunities against Markstrom. The power play looked very predictable and static all game. The passing was too much. They were trying to get too fancy and sometimes you just got to take a shot. It was like Gandalf needed to be at the arena to shout “You shall not pass” at one point.

Vancouver even had a two-man advantage but didn’t get anything going either. There wasn’t a lot of movement on that five on three and the Flames penalty killers didn’t really have to move around that much. They even had Bo Horvat take some one-timers but Elias Pettersson is much better at those. When the Canucks did shoot, it usually wasn’t a shot that troubled Markstrom.

The Canucks’ penalty kill did manage to survive a five on three but they gave up three Flames power play goals. They gave a lot of space to the Flames on the penalty kill and that gave Calgary some great chances. It showed on the first goal when Matthew Tkachuk was left all alone to set up Sean Monahan who also didn’t have a lot of coverage. The Canucks also didn’t win some of the battles and turned the puck over on the PK quite a bit.

J.T. Miller still missed

J.T. Miller is an important player and it showed once again that his presence is sorely missed. Jake Virtanen got another crack on the top line with Pettersson and Brock Boeser but once again didn’t work out and got demoted on to Tanner Pearson and Horvat’s line instead.

Miller’s versatility, skill and vision were missed on the first line as well as on the power play. Pettersson hasn’t scored yet and not having Miller on his wing might be a factor. Part of the Canucks’ success last season was the chemistry between the two forwards and they were tied in the team lead in goals with 27 and were first and second in points, as Miller had 72 while Pettersson ended up with 66.

Miller was also missed on the power play, as his cycle game and net-front presence were noticeably absent. Last season, he scored nine times on the power play. His leadership, offensive skill, grit and ability to play in all three zones can’t come back soon enough.

Other Notes

• Braden Holtby did look good in the crease by stopping 32 of 35 shots. He tracked the puck well and made some good saves on some high danger chances.
• Nils Hoglander looked effective on the boards and he showed that he can battle despite his small frame. It was nice to see him battle it out in front of the net on the power play.
• Quinn Hughes made some nice defensive plays and was good with zone entries. He arguably was the best Canuck on the ice on Saturday.
• Tyler Motte has eight penalty minutes in three games and he had 10 penalty minutes all of last year. It might not be a good idea to have him on the power play either.
• Alex Edler left the game late in the third after his leg was cut by Tkachuk’s skate.  Travis Green did not have an update on Edler and is not sure if it is a serious injury or not per Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor.

Final thoughts

It was not a fun game to watch for Canucks fans by any means but it is only the third game of the season. Improvement and changes must be made to the team’s game but let’s not hit the panic button yet.

The Canucks will face the Flames again on Monday at 6 P.M.