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Canucks Takeaways: Another blown lead salvaged with shootout win

Kevin Lankinen is the participant of the 12 months to this point for the Vancouver Canucks. Aside from injured defenceman Quinn Hughes, Lankinen can also be the Nationwide Hockey League crew’s participant of the season.

Compelled to come back in chilly Thursday for re-injured beginning goalie Thatcher Demko, Lankinen instantly made a few five-star saves within the second interval, stopped a breakaway in additional time after which stared down all three Seattle Kraken shooters because the Canucks survived one other erratic night time to win 4-3 in a shootout at Local weather Pledge Enviornment.

5 days after collapsing within the ultimate 5 minutes and blowing a three-goal lead in an additional time loss to the Kraken, the Canucks blew a 3-1 benefit over the ultimate 11 minutes on Thursday. 

However they barely improved the narrative — and monumentally improved the environment across the crew — by amassing their first shootout win of the season when J.T. Miller dragged the puck throughout the slot and shot over the left pad of Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer for the one objective of the tie-breaker.

Miller’s final precise objective was Nov. 16, two days earlier than he started his 10-game private depart of absence.

Within the shootout, Lankinen outwaited Kraken shooters Kaapo Kakko and Oliver Bjorkstrand, who was additionally stuffed on an additional time breakaway, after which acquired his left glove and pad on Matty Beniers’ shot to provide Vancouver simply its fourth win in 12 post-regulation video games.

It’s exhausting to know the way a lot salvaging a win and avoiding one other catastrophe to open 2025 may carry Canuck spirits after the blown lead and losses of their final 4 additional time or shootout video games. We might get an concept Friday when the Canucks play the Nashville Predators at residence within the second of back-to-back video games to begin the 12 months.

But it surely certain felt like there was a couple of bonus level driving on Thursday’s consequence.

The Canucks’ “course of” within the third interval was really fairly good.

After Tyler Myers beat Grubauer from Miller’s move to the excessive slot to make it 3-1 at 5:35 of the third interval, Beniers scored on a five-on-four energy play at 9:05 earlier than Vince Dunn tied it with 52.5 seconds remaining on a hopeful wrist shot by a jungle of site visitors as Seattle skated six-on-five.

The Canucks surrendered solely eight photographs within the ultimate 25 minutes, and five-on-five scoring probabilities within the third interval have been 7-1 for Vancouver, based on naturalstattrick.com.

After one other leaden begin to the sport by the Canucks, who fell behind 1-0 when Chandler Stephenson’s unscreened shot from the left-wing boards rattled by Demko at 1:52, the Canucks steadily took over the sport at even power.

Max Sasson tied it 1-1 at 13:17 when Nils Hoglander’s deflected shot bounced to him on the high of the crease from teammate Danton Heinen’s skate. And Conor Garland fantastically beat Grubauer on a breakaway at 7:49 of the second interval after Phil DiGiuseppe’s move caught the Kraken because the Canucks countered by the impartial zone.

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet stated Demko left the sport attributable to again spasms and hoped the harm was not severe. The goalie’s mid-game departure is the state of affairs everybody within the group feared after final season’s Vezina Trophy runner-up lastly made his season debut on Dec. 10 after lacking practically eight months with a torn popliteus muscle in his knee.

Demko practised with the crew for practically a month earlier than taking part in, and talked about the necessity to put his knee “by hell” so it may face up to the trials of the NHL season and goalie’s return from harm could be one-way transit.

However after seven begins, the 29-year-old skated off the ice within the stoppage that adopted Garland’s go-ahead objective.

Demko was tripped and fell closely backwards shortly earlier than the objective when the Kraken’s Brandon Tanev skated into the crease with Canucks defenceman Noah Juulsen.

Even when the harm proves to be minor, it’s the continuation of a season-long sequence of challenges to Vancouver’s core gamers. Hughes and Elias Pettersson missed their third straight video games on Thursday, and No. 2 defenceman Filip Hronek has been out since Nov. 27 and will miss one other month.

Third-string goalie Arturs Silovs, projected to be the starter throughout Demko’s preliminary absence, has struggled mightily this season, posting an .847 save charge on the NHL, and is making an attempt to rebuild his kind within the American Hockey League.

Lankinen — and the schedule — may purchase the Canucks a while. After Friday’s recreation in opposition to Nashville at Rogers Enviornment, the Canucks embark on a five-game japanese highway journey. As tough as it’s, the journey isn’t overly compacted. There may be one set of back-to-back video games, subsequent weekend in Carolina and Toronto, but in addition further relaxation days earlier than the journey opens Monday in Montreal and closes Jan. 14 in Winnipeg.

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We wrote on this house after Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames that Garland was one of many worst Canucks. In Seattle, he was most likely the most effective.

Garland and linemates DiGiuseppe and Pius Suter pulled the Canucks into the sport and drove possession all night time. Shot makes an attempt have been 16-6 for the Canucks when the trio was on the ice at five-on-five. Garland had 4 photographs on objective and posted expected-goals-for of 86 per cent.

Canuck winger Dakota Joshua additionally had one in all his finest video games of the season on a highly-effective line with Teddy Blueger and Kiefer Sherwood as Vancouver was pushed by its middle-six forwards.

The highest line of Miller, DeBrusk and Brock Boeser generated Myers’ objective within the third interval, however mixed for simply two photographs on course and logged lower than 16 minutes of ice time.

It’s straightforward to miss the importance of the return of defenceman Guillaume Brisebois, who made his season debut for the Canucks after 23 video games (and one level) this season within the AHL and completed Thursday with a blue-line low of 15:31 of ice time.

However don’t overlook that the 27-year-old thought his profession could be over when he missed practically all of final season with a concussion and its after-effects. Brisebois’ whole skilled profession has been spent with the Canucks group, and he was projected to lastly make the opening-night NHL roster earlier than he was injured on a harmful hit by the Kraken’s Tanev in the course of the pre-season.

Thursday was Brisebois’ first NHL recreation since March 31, 2023. It was yet another NHL recreation than lots of people thought he would get after final season’s wrestle for well being. 

Photographs have been 6-5 for Seattle when Brisebois was on the ice, however the left-side defenceman from Montreal posted expected-goals-for of 59 per cent at five-on-five, blocked one shot and appeared composed with the puck whereas ending plus-one.

It was an excellent day for him.


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