Regular Season, Game 27: Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks

24 hours after a nearly flawless performance against McDavid and the Oilers, the Canes conclude the Canada portion of the road trip with a visit to Vancouver. Sebastian Aho factored into every Canes goal for the second straight game, with three points in the 3-1 over Edmonton last night. He's recorded multi-point games in all five outings in December, but he's not going to be able to extend that tonight. It was announced a little before puck drop tonight that he'd miss the game with an illness. While it was not specified whether it is COVID-related or not, my feeling is that it's the bug that's still going around the locker room that kept Andersen off the bench against Buffalo and Ethan Bear out against Calgary. This gives me the impression that the team will go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen again. With this being a back-to-back situation, Antti Raanta is getting the start tonight, his first since the 6-2 win over Buffalo before the road trip started. The Canucks fired their head coach and general manager not too long ago and they've been playing well since then. They are on a three-game winning streak, the last two wins coming in a shootout. Speaking of shootouts, the last time these two met in Vancouver, the Canes beat the Canucks 4-3 in a shootout on February 2, 2020. Elias Pettersson scored twice in that game and again in the shootout, but Justin Williams scored the deciding goal in the skills competition to get two points. Thatcher Demko is going to start opposite Raanta for the Canucks tonight. The team heads back across the border after this one and are expected to see Pesce and DeAngelo back in the lineup. After the fight last night, I'm not sure which team to expect from the Canes. It's easy to suspect it'll be a down night, but I still expect them to come out and get a win tonight. The expectations shouldn't change.

1st Period

Scoring

(VAN) 18:29- Brock Boeser (7) (assisted by JT Miller (19) & Tanner Pearson (6))

Thoughts

I thought the team played well to open the period, but the Canucks had all the momentum after the midway point. Jesper Fast put a puck past Demko, but Svechnikov knocked it down with a high stick before it went in, so they called it no-goal. The offense didn't generate much after that, which stinks because the Canucks got on the board first. The Canes couldn't clear the zone and it took a weird bounce off a skate and straight to Brock Boeser. He played it back and forth with JT Miller before Boeser snapped it past Raanta late in the period to give the Canucks the lead going into the intermission. With Aho out, someone needs to step out because he's been almost all of the offense in the last two games. I'm looking for Svechnikov and Kotkaniemi to be the difference-makers in the second period and for the Canes to get one into the net. 

2nd Period

Scoring

(VAN) 7:44- Elias Pettersson (5) (assisted by Conor Garland (12) & Tyler Myers (7))

Thoughts

I'm not sure what's happened to the offense, but we're back to where we were before the winning streak started against Buffalo. The Canes are putting shots on the net with little traffic that are going right into the chest of Demko, making his night easy. There were a few great chances, especially from Slavin and Jarvis, but nothing has found its way past Demko. Meanwhile, the Canucks managed to get one in on a 4-on-2 that Raanta stood no chance on as he was beaten in the same spot for the second period in a row. There was a good push at the end of the period, but they have gone stretches where they haven't looked dangerous at all. I don't think they're playing bad, they just aren't doing enough to make Demko work hard for his saves. Both teams rang a post this period. The Canes have yet to earn a power play yet, so it'll be interesting to see if that changes in the third period and whether or not that will affect anything. I'm not frustrated, I actually expected this, but I'd like to see something happen soon.

3rd Period

Scoring

(CAR) 2:32- Martin Necas (7) (assisted by Seth Jarvis (7) & Jesperi Kotkaniemi (3))

Thoughts

The Canes did just about everything they could with the group they had on the ice to try and bank a point, they just couldn't do it. Martin Necas finally beat Demko on a beautiful pass from Jarvis and then a spectacular finish on the backhand early in the period. From there, Antti Raanta had to be sharp and he was. It always seemed to come in twos for him, but he'd always make the saves. The Canes had two minutes with the net empty, they just couldn't get anything through to Demko and time eventually ran out. Jaccob Slavin did lay an absolutely bone-rattling hit during that two minutes as well. This isn't a bad loss by any means, it's just a loss they'd like to have back. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Martin Necas (Goal)

With Aho out, guys needed to step up and find some offense and Necas was the only one that was able to do it tonight. The move itself was beautiful and it was early enough in the third period that the Canes could try and build a period out of it. While they fell short, it was the Necas goal that breathed some life into the team and set up a strong third period. 

Second Star- Seth Jarvis (Assist)

While the goal was nice, the set-up to me was even better. A gorgeous saucer feed to Necas allowed the play to happen, but that wasn't the only part of Jarvis' game that I liked. He looked more dangerous than he has in the last few games and he rang the post in the second period, so the game easily could've been 2-1 after two periods. As quiet as he's been lately, he still has 11 points in 19 games.

First Star- Antti Raanta (24 Saves on 26 Shots)

I thought Raanta was left out to dry on both of the goals for the Canucks. The first was a bad bounce that he didn't really have a chance on and the second was a 4-on-2 with a shot from an absolute sniper. His game was elevated in the third period with the numerous shots he had to stop to keep the game at 2-1. He'll get the loss for the night, but he deserved a little bit more help in front of him in the first 40 minutes. 

Final Thoughts

The perfect road trip comes to an end similarly to the one a few weeks ago after starting 3-0-0. The loss of Aho for the game was going to be a hard one to overcome after his recent performance, but the team seemed to stick in there just fine. One goal isn't going to win many games, but the defense kept it close and at least allowed the offense a chance to get it tied and force overtime. I won't go as far as to say Thatcher Demko stole the game for the Canucks because I don't think he did. The shots from the Canes in the first two periods were all right at him with minimal traffic. They didn't make it hard enough on him until the third period. The Canada portion of the trip is finished, so now they get to come back to the US and play Minnesota on Tuesday night. It's expected that both Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo will be waiting for them when they arrive and could be playing in that game, so I'm interested to see how that affects the lineup. I'd expect one of Chatfield and Lajoie to be sent down, with the other likely to be a healthy scratch. They need to finish the road trip strong and get home after two points in Minnesota.