Canucks: 3 takeaways from exciting 5-2 win over Seattle

The Vancouver Canucks are undefeated in 2022.

The team wrapped up their three-game road trip with a New Year’s Day contest at Climate Pledge Arena, taking on their geographic rival in the Seattle Kraken. It had been a December to remember for Vancouver, who went 7-1-1 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, highlighted by five straight home victories and seven out of eight points collected against divisional opponents during that span, and it appears that they were able to carry that same winning mentality to start the new year.

Despite only being able to dress 11 forwards, the Canucks were still able to turn up the offence, scoring five goals against Seattle en route to yet another dominant win in the Boudreau era.

With the victory in Seattle, the Canucks now sit just three points back of the Edmonton Oilers, who currently hold fourth place in the Pacific Division and, more importantly, the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, with just only two games in hand over Vancouver.

Without further ado, here are three takeaways from Vancouver’s 5-2 win over Seattle:

Pearson notches the Gordie Howe hattrick

Tanner Pearson had himself quite the Saturday night.

With Jason Dickinson out of the line-up and onto the league’s COVID-19 protocol list, Boudreau had to make some last-minute adjustments to his forward combinations, and that included Pearson, who found himself on a line with Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland.

The 29-year-old winger made his presence known almost right away, dropping the gloves with Conor Soucy after he delivered a questionable high hit to Garland. This was only Pearson’s second career scrap, but he held his own and, more importantly, provided a much-needed spark to his team.

Pearson was quieter in the middle frame, but made his way onto the scoresheet in the third period, registering the secondary assist on Garland’s 10th goal of the year to help restore Vancouver’s two-goal lead. Pearson also provided a useful screen on the play, completely restricting the vision of netminder Phillip Grubauer, who continues to struggle with his new club.

Pearson eventually hammered the final nail in Seattle’s coffin, firing the puck into the empty net with just under three minutes to go. With the multi-point performance, Pearson now sits seventh in team scoring with 15 points, including two goals and five assists in his last 10 games.

Let’s hope we’ll continue to see this version of Pearson for the rest of the season.

Höglander, Podkolzin lead the bottom-six charge

During the post-game media availability on Thursday night following the team’s 2-1 shootout loss in LA, Boudreau stressed the fact that he needs to see more from his younger, bottom-six forwards.

Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Höglander heard their coach loud and clear heading into 2022.

Given Dickinson’s absence from the roster, Podkolzin and Höglander found themselves playing together for the first time all season, flanking the red-hot J.T. Miller on the first line.

The trio performed well together on their opening shifts, utilizing their quick feet and strong board presence to suffocate the Kraken every time they had the puck. This was extremely evident on the first goal of the game, where Höglander and Miller provided a strong forecheck behind the net, which led to a Seattle turnover that landed on the stick of Podkolzin.

Like we’ve seen before, the Russian rookie didn’t hesitate to fire the puck on net, blasting a wicked wrister past Grubauer for his seventh goal of the year.

Höglander’s dominance continued on in the first period, with the Swedish sophomore also finding a way to contribute offensively. After the first powerplay unit struck out, Höglander was able to showcase his slick mitts to double up his team’s lead with just a few seconds remaining on the man advantage.

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Fortunately for the team, Höglander and Podkolzin weren’t the only bottom-six forwards who listened to Boudreau’s message.

Similar to his top two lines, Boudreau also had to make big changes on the third and fourth lines, promoting Tyler Motte and Matthew Highmore to play alongside Bo Horvat to start the game, while moving Brad Hunt from the blueline to suit up next to Juho Lammikko and Alex Chiasson.

The Hunt experiment didn’t last too long, forcing Boudreau to utilize Highmore and Motte more frequently. The duo was up for the task, with both forwards logging just over 15 minutes of ice time as a result. More importantly, Highmore and Motte were able to provide some hard-working, bottom-six productivity, something this organization has desperately been lacking over the past few years.

The pair helped restore Vancouver’s two-goal lead early in the final frame, thanks to an intelligent board play from Lammikko against Will Borgen and yet another forced Kraken turnover that found its way onto Motte’s stick. Highmore registered the primary assist, while Lammikko was able to notch his third point with his new club.