VANCOUVER — During this National Hockey League season, there will probably be no “good time†to play the Colorado Avalanche. Maybe during the Olympic break.
The Avalanche has been roaring downhill since the season started, overwhelming opponents while losing only once in regulation. The Stanley Cup contenders are mostly healthy, had taken nine of the last 10 points before arriving in Vancouver, just dusted the two-time Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers 9-1, and Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon was about to seize the NHL scoring lead.
Into this force of nature limped the Canucks, a quarter of its roster still injured, and star goalie Thatcher Demko unavailable due to something apparently more than maintenance but less than outright injury.
Even healthy, the Canucks are not the Avalanche.
With backup Kevin Lankinen in net for the second time in 24 hours, the Canucks looked as helpless as the Oilers did the previous night when the Avalanche scored twice in the first eight minutes on Sunday.
But then the 8-8-0 Canucks played one of their most impressive games this season — or at least since their season changed three weeks ago when centres Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger were injured in the same game — and outplayed the Avalanche for much of the next 32 minutes.
Shots were 25-11 for Vancouver just past the middle of the second period, and the Canucks rallied three times before losing 5-4 on Gavin Brindleyâ€s weak overtime goal at 1:08 when Lankinen spilled a rebound and then opened himself when he swung at the puck and missed.
Jake DeBruskâ€s power-play redirect from Brock Boeserâ€s shot-pass with 3:01 remaining in regulation time earned the Canucks†a point against the best team in hockey.
The point they took off Colorado, on a night when MacKinnon had five points to soar past Connor Bedard in the scoring race, gave Vancouver three out of four from a difficult and desperate weekend.
Itâ€s difficult to know in the moment how much that really means, but only degrees-of-good are involved.
The Canucks continue to bleed goals shorthanded, and are still surrendering too many, generally. But including Saturdayâ€s 4-3 home win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, their offence is starting to go, and their five-on-five game is definitely getting cleaner.
Weâ€re still not going to really know about the Canucks until they get a couple more bodies back, and we see proof on Tuesday when the Winnipeg Jets visit Vancouver that Demko is healthy enough to play.
But in games like Saturdayâ€s, there sure appears to be some substance to the Canucks.
“I mean, I feel like losing kind of always feels like losing,†winger Drew Oâ€Connor said. “But it’s a big point. We get three out of four on the weekend, so we have to look at the positives in some ways. Obviously, we want to win every game. But we fought back after being down a couple early and got the late one to tie it. And I think that’s big. It’s a huge point, and every point matters.â€
At 8-8-1, the Canucks are still only .500 but now just one unadjusted point out of a playoff spot.
“Raw like this after a game, we’re pissed off that we didn’t win,†veteran defenceman Marcus Pettersson said. “We’re all competitors, and we want to win every game. But, yeah, we can take some positives. We can take some things that we can clean up.
“Thatâ€s two games in a row that are pretty good efforts. And a lot more connected, I would say. I think we had a lot of jump today. We tried pressuring these guys. You know, theyâ€re a good team and it would be easy to kind of sit back and try to receive (pressure), but I thought we were on our toes.â€
Oâ€Connor batted a rolling puck over Colorado goalie MacKenzie Blackwoodâ€s left shoulder to tie it 3-3 while shorthanded at 7:26 of the third period before Vancouver fell behind a third time at 9:47 when the Avalanche power play made it 2-for-3 on a perfect bounce to Artturi Lehkonen after Lankinen made a strong save on Martin Necas†one-timer.
But an astoundingly dumb cross-checking penalty by Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog on Vancouver captain Quinn Hughes in the neutral zone allowed the Canucks to tie it 4-4 on DeBruskâ€s third goal in four games.
Their own power play finished 1-for-5 but also generated a first-period goal for Linus Karlsson that got the Canucks going.
“You know, that’s a really good team over there, obviously for a reason,†DeBrusk said. “They come at you in waves and lots of back and forth. I think it was good of us to get a point there, but that’s not what we want. We want the two.â€
To get that with any regularity, the Canucks will have to fix their 31st-ranked penalty killing, which was a strength of the team last season but has already been lit up for two power-play goals against in a game six times.
“Today, maybe a little bit of a step back,†Oâ€Connor said of the penalty-killing, “but thatâ€s a good unit. We’ve been trying to get better at it. We have to be better at it in order to win games.â€
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.