Faced with one of their toughest tasks of the season, the Vancouver Canucks put up a decent effort but fell short in a 3–1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. Linus Karlsson scored the lone goal of the game, while Kevin Lankinen stopped 28 of 32 shots faced.
Lankinen was the key to a good start tonight, as throughout the first half of the first period, it was all Avalanche. Colorado lobbed anything and everything at Lankinen and continued their siege even after coming off a two-minute power play. They reached the 12-shot mark by the halfway point of the period, though were unable to get the puck past Lankinen until the final minute of the frame.
With Conor Garland still unavailable for Vancouver, Jonathan Lekkerimäki received a promotion, filling in the empty spot on Elias Pettersson’s line alongside Evander Kane. The trio performed excellently defensively, holding the Avalanche to only one 5-on-5 scoring chance. Even so, the Canucks’ lines ended up being shaken up during the third period, with Lekkerimäki ending up alongside Brock Boeser and David Kämpf and Karlsson taking his place.
Today’s game solidified another point — if you put any iteration of last year’s Abbotsford Canucks together on one line, chances are, they’re going to find the back of the net. Most often, it’s been the trio of Arshdeep Bains, Max Sasson, and Karlsson who end up scoring. Today, it was Karlsson who deked Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood out and opened the scoring for Vancouver, doing-so while on a line with Bains and Aatu Räty.
Beating an Avalanche team that sits comfortably at the top of the NHL was a tall task, so it’s not a surprise that the Canucks were unable to close this one out. With that being said, Vancouver did a surprisingly decent job of matching the pace of play that Colorado generates, specifically during the first period. While it was clear that the Avalanche were the better team tonight, Vancouver put up a solid effort during certain occasions. In particular, their attempts to generate offence stood out much more in the third period after the pace of the game started to slow down a bit more.
One recurring theme from tonight’s game was the Canucks allowing goals within the final minute of each of the first two periods from Nathan MacKinnon. The first came after a shot from Devon Toews rebounded over to MacKinnon, who’d been left relatively open after some messiness in Vancouver’s zone. In his second last-minute tally of the night, the Avalanche forward was left open yet again and only needed to fire it past Lankinen to find the back of the net. In both instances, Vancouver was unable to properly stay in position, allowing Colorado to capitalize and set the Canucks back when exiting the period.
As of the end of the third period, the Canucks are still awaiting a verdict on Kane, who left the game while clutching his wrist with around four minutes left in the third period. The forward immediately went down the tunnel and did not rejoin his team.
Stats and Facts:
- Linus Karlsson scores the game-opening goal for the second time during the Canucks’ current road trip
- Vancouver surrenders 30+ shots for the 14th time this season
- Canucks score only one goal for the second consecutive game
- Kiefer Sherwood finishes the game with six shots on goal
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
2:55 - VAN: Linus Karlsson (5) from Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty
19:23 - COL: Nathan MacKinnon (21) from Devon Toews and Sam Malinski
2nd Period:
13:52 - COL: Brock Nelson (9) from Gabriel Landeskog and Ross Colton
19:26 - VAN: Nathan MacKinnon (22) from Gabriel Landeskog and Josh Manson
3rd Period:
No scoring.
Up Next:
The Canucks will now return to Vancouver for a four-game homestand against the Utah Mammoth, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, and Buffalo Sabres. The first of these two matches will occur as part of a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, with the Mammoth being Vancouver’s first opponent. Puck drop for Friday’s game is slated for 6:00 pm PT.
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