A Tuesday night home opener for the Canucks vs Wild saw the home team fall 3-2. Minnesota scored in all three periods and held on against a late push from Vancouver to ruin the “Homecoming”. It was a tough result for the Canucks who were bailed out by Thatcher Demko and his 27 saves on 30 shots or it could have been much worse.
The puck would drop first time in front of fans in 595 days at Rogers Arena. After playing spoiler in Seattle for the Krakens home opener with a 4-2 victory. Vancouver would fall victim to the same fate on Tuesday night, disappointing their fans worse than Star Wars 7, 8 and, 9. Okay, it wasn’t that bad.
Home Opening Night Festivities For The Canucks Vs Wild
It was a special night for the Canucks fans and the team rolled out all the red carpets in their pre-game displays. A loud applause for the players and coaching staff followed by members of Vancouver first responders and paramedics dropped the ceremonial puck. Dr. Bonnie Henry was there to crank the siren and the fans would sing the Canadian National Anthem.
One, if not the best part of the night was the video they released before the game.
It was an amazing hype video by the Canucks despite mixing several movie franchises. Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Tron, and a Lumberjack? As this fan pointed out, let’s hope it wasn’t the best part of the night…
“It was the best part of the night”
Narrator
Wild First Period Ends With A 1-0 Minnesota Lead
The Canucks started off the period taking energy from the home crowd. It could have been a bit overwhelming as an early chance for Vasily Podkolzin would hope over his stick.
The Referees would do their best to spoil the home party with some questionable penalties. First Kyle Burroughs would be called for a cross-check on Nick Bjustad at 4:57 into the period. Vancouver would kill it off but the fans were not happy with the calls. Always good to hear “Ref You Suck” chants so early in the year!
The Wild would open the scoring thanks to a defensive miscue. Joel Eriksson-Ek would make a great pass to find Zuccarello off the bench. He would beat Demko five-hole on a quick shot to make it 1-0 7:41 into the 1st period.
A great chance to open the scoring on a 3 on 1 but a great save from Cam Talbot to rob Brock Boeser kept the score 0-1 as we moved past the 10-minute mark. The second questionable call would come at the 11:34 mark of the period when Connar Garland was called for interference on Kirill Kaprizov. Justin Bailey (A “PK Hawkeye” if you will) brought in this morning from Abbotsford, would do some great work and help the Canucks kill the Garland penalty.
The Canucks would get a chance to even things up at the end of the 1st period with a powerplay of their own. Justin Bailey would draw a tripping call on Matt Dumba. It didn’t help he was one of the only ones skating hard. Since he plays on the fourth line. The powerplay looked terrible and everyone was calling for Alex Chiasson’s head like he was Thanos. The Wild would outshoot the Canucks 12-8 and take a 1-0 lead into the second period.
The Teams Traded 2nd Period Punches
Re-set for the Canucks vs Wild 2nd period with the home team down a goal. Jack Rathbone would wish he could manipulate time and go back and not make this pass. Unfortunately, he was not featured in the hype video as Dr. Strange. Jonas Brodin would pounce and make it 2-0 on the shot past Demko just 2:27 into the period.
Just as I was drawing up the Sokovia Accords to impose serious regulations on the wielding of Power “playtime” by Alex Chiasson. He would force me to eat crow! After the Canucks controlled the puck for almost the full 2 minutes. Petey would find Chiasson on the doorstep and he would tip it home to cut the lead in half.
Minnesota would control the majority of play once again in the 2nd period and Thatcher Demko was called upon to make some huge saves. Besides Bailey, one of the only other Canucks skaters to be moving their legs at a consistent pace was Nils Höglander. He would draw a hooking call on Rem Pitlick with just over 5 minutes left in the period. Vancouver wasn’t able to set up and when they finally did JT Miller would cough up the puck.
The 2nd period would end with Vancouver down 2-1. Despite the shots being even at 11 each, the Canucks were being heavily outplayed by the visiting team.
Canucks Can’t Complete The Comeback In The 3rd Period
Vancouver needed to channel their inner Avengers and assemble together for the final frame.
It wasn’t the start the team wanted as they would go back down 2 goals just 3:54 into the period. Kyle Burroughs would pinch from the point but Minnesota was able to work it past the Canucks defensemen. Brandon Duhaime would find Pitlick streaking down the left side. He would feed it across to Matt Dumba who would make it 3-1.
Minnesota would clog up the neutral zone and limit the Canucks time in their end. It took a Great pass from Tyler Myers to finally spring Bo Horvat. He would roof it past Talbot while falling into the net and the Canucks were just one shot away with 4:07 left in the game.
With the lead cut to 3-2 for the home side. Travis Green would try and get Thatcher Demko out of the net for the 6th attacker. The Wild would put in one of their best shifts of the night. They would force Vancouver back into their own zone and Demko was stuck in the net until the final minute.
The Canucks would finally control in the Wild zone but would run out of time before getting a real chance on Talbot. It was a poor performance in the 3rd period from the home side with just 5 shots on the net.
The Unnamed Moments Of The Match Game
Did you see the Canucks superhero hype video? Maybe watch that back instead of the highlights tonight. Despite the results, it was nice seeing fans back in the building. Nothing like hearing 18,000 plus fans sing O Canada or Captain Horvat roofing a backhand top corner to raise the crowd out of their seats.
The Unnamed Moment Of The Game
Welcome back Canucks fans! Soak it all in!
The Unnamed Goal Of The Game
It was too little too late from the Captain, like Batman trying to save Harvey Dent. It was still a beautiful goal for Horvat’s 4th goal of the season.
Sports Talk Line And The Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks move to 3-3-1 on the season and continue their 7 game homestand Thursday night. They host Zack MacEwen and the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 pm PST. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @JoshuaGriffith0 for the latest Canucks news and updates, pre-game, during the game, and post-game.
Be sure to check out the Sports Talk Line Network for even more coverage of the Vancouver Canucks. It is a long season and hopefully the Canucks can sort out their defensive lapses and find that scoring touch sooner than later.
