Canucks: 3 takeaways from 2-1 shootout win over Boston

Make that two in a row for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team hit the ice on Wednesday night, facing off against the big, bad Boston Bruins at Rogers Arena. The Canucks, who were coming off a decisive and exciting 4-0 victory against the LA Kings on Monday night, were looking to secure their second win of their current homestand and just their 10th win of the season, while Boston was looking to get back into the win column after falling to Tampa Bay on Saturday night.

It was a hard-fought battle all night, with both teams limiting high-danger, grade-A scoring chances and shutting down their opponents in the neutral zone. As expected, there was lots of animosity and physicality on display, especially with Brad Marchand returning from his three-game suspension, which he received during his most recent contest against Vancouver on November 28th.

Vancouver and Boston also combined for 68 shots and 48 hits, delivering a playoff-like contest to the fans in attendance.

The Canucks were eventually able to come away with the extra point after 65 minutes, thanks to J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat, securing the second straight win for new bench boss Bruce Boudreau, who was rewarded with another round of “Bruce! There it is!” chants from the recently-optimistic fanbase.

With the shootout victory, Vancouver leapfrogged Seattle to reclaim seventh in the Pacific Division with a record of 10-15-2, but still have quite the journey to dig themselves out of the league’s basement.

Here are 3 takeaways from Wednesday’s 2-1 shootout win over Boston:

Hughes, Myers step up on the blueline

The Vancouver blueline was once again put to the test on Wednesday night.

The first hurdle occurred right before puck drop, when it was revealed that Oliver Ekman-Larsson would not play due to an undisclosed injury. With Ekman-Larsson out, Boudreau had to reshuffle his defensive combinations, promoting Luke Schenn to the first pairing with Tyler Myers, while Kyle Burroughs slotted back onto the third pairing with Tucker Poolman.

The bad news continued in the middle frame when Travis Hamonic was forced to go to the dressing room after taking a late interference hit from Marchand. The 31-year-old blueliner, who was just playing in his second game back, did not return for the remainder of the contest, putting all of the defensive responsibility on Myers and Quinn Hughes.

As a result, the two players each notched just over 28 minutes of ice time throughout three periods, including 11+ minutes in the final frame for Myers, who was utilized on both the powerplay and penalty kill in the absence of Ekman-Larsson.

Hughes also finished the evening with 12 shot attempts and a 65.31% Corsi For.

The defence was able to come away from this game relatively unscathed, large in part to Hughes and Myers carrying much of the play, but there could be some concern moving forward if Hamonic and Ekman-Larsson are sidelined long-term, especially given Vancouver’s well-known lack of depth on the blueline.

Boudreau did not have a specific update on either during the post-game media availability, but is hoping that both won’t be as lengthy as perceived.

Without Hamonic or Ekman-Larsson, Boudreau might need to get quite creative with his pairings to ensure his team can remain successful at both even strength and on the penalty kill.

Special teams finally turning around

If someone had told this writer that the Canucks would be able to drastically turn their special teams around in just two games under their new bench boss, he’d probably think you’re crazy.

But here we are.

Let’s start with the powerplay.

Boudreau stuck with the same units as Monday night, hoping that the repositioning and balanced offensive talent would help revive the once-lethal man advantage, which ranked 18th in the league heading into the Boston match-up.

The secondary unit, in particular, appeared to pick up right where they left off when on the ice.

After Marchand went to the penalty box for his questionable hit on Hamonic, the second unit made sure to take advantage. The players were able to set up in the offensive zone right away, cycling the puck with purpose and precision, which eventually led to Boeser deflecting a slick pass from Miller in the bumper position to open the scoring.

It was only Boeser’s sixth goal this season, but also for his second tally in as many games, which is an encouraging sign for the 24-year-old winger.

Like Boeser, the penalty kill also appeared to be quite rejuvenated on Wednesday night.

Boudreau once again relied on the services of eight different forwards on the penalty kill, including newcomers like Pettersson and Vasily Podkolzin, hoping that these players would be able to put in hard work for 20-30 seconds at a time, while also creating their own offensive opportunities if given the chance.

Once again, it seemed to work out really well for the Canucks.

The shorthanded squads went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, which is an impressive feat on its own given that Boston’s man advantage currently ranks sixth-best in the league, but were also able to register a few grade-A scoring chances themselves, including two from Tyler Motte in the second period.

Of course, the penalty kill did still put up their struggles, particularly in the third period when Miller took an unnecessary tripping infraction when his team was already down a man. The Bruins were able to capitalize on the avoidable 5-on-3 right away, tying up the game with over 15 minutes left to play.

Usually, this would’ve been a nail in the coffin for the Canucks, especially given that Boston came back in the final frame, but give kudos to the team for not collapsing and regressing like we’ve become so accustomed to seeing this year.

The Canucks also bounced back with a huge penalty kill just a few minutes later, a hopeful stepping stone to help them climb out of the special teams basement.

Other notes:

• Thatcher Demko rang in his 26th birthday in style, stopping 35 of 36 shots faced on Wednesday night. Under Boudreau, Demko has only allowed one goal in six periods to go along with a 0.48 GAA and .985 SV%. He was also perfect in the shootout, stopping Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle to bring his record to 7-for-9 at Rogers Arena this season.

The Canucks will be back in action on Friday night, taking on Mark Scheifele and the Winnipeg Jets. Puck drop is set for 7:00pm PST.

What were your thoughts from Wednesday’s shootout win over Boston? Make sure to drop a comment below!