Playoff Setback, Senators 4, Canucks 3, S.O.

Ottawa Senators 4, Vancouver Canucks 3 – Shoot-out

Canucks blew an early 2-0 lead in a game that stung – but they’re insisting the chase isn’t over.

It was the same line-up that won against the Dallas Stars on Monday night as forward Alex Chiasson misses his second consecutive game due to illness.

Goaltenders:

Filip Gustavsson vs. Jaroslav Halak.

Jaro’ made 14 saves in the first period as his teammates scored twice.

Despite being perfect in the 1st period, Halak came out of the game after 20-minutes. He was either ill or injured during a scrum – we had seen him shaking his hand in pain after a scramble in front in the final two minutes.

He was replaced by Thatcher Demko, who is apparently under the weather. He stopped 7 of 8 shots in the second period.

The Senators main offensive strategy appeared to be ‘cherry-picking’. Waiting through sustained pressure from the Canucks and then sneaking a forward up ice in behind the Vancouver D. It paid off on the Senators 3-2 go-ahead goal in the third period.

Through regulation and overtime, the Canucks outshot the Senators 36-32. Ottawa didn’t register a shot-on-goal in overtime.

Goal Scorers

1st Period 1-0 Vancouver – JT Miller (17) – Quinn Hughes (1:55) Power Play

((– Miller rifled a shot short-side from the left wing circle.))

1st Period 2-0 Vancouver – Brock Boeser (21) – Brad Hunt, JT Miller (15:14) Even Strength

((– Hunt with a gentle, perfect little pass into Boeser’s wheelhouse from in close. Top shelf just after a Ottawa penalty had expired.))

2nd Period 2-1 Ottawa – Alex Formenton (16) – Nikita Zaitsev, Tim Stützle (4:04) Even Strength

((– A double deflection on a shot from the point.))

3rd Period 2-2 Ottawa – Parker Kelly (6) – Erik Brannstrom, Artem Zub (2:17) Even Strength

((– Off a huge carom off the end boards, Kelly one-timed a shot from the slot that hit the post, bounced off the back of Demko, and in.))

3rd Period 3-2 Ottawa – Alex Formenton (17) – Nikita Zaitsev, Travis Hamonic (3:49) Even Strength

((– Formenton snuck behind the Canucks D and was waiting for a stretch pass along the LW boards. He broke in and scored.))

3rd Period 3-3 Vancouver – Travis Dermott (2) – Brock Boeser (6:47) Even Strength (4-on-4)

((– Dermott slips one five-hole on a nice feed from behind the net by Boeser.))

Shoot-Out:

VAN – Brock Boeser – No – Stopped

OTT – Tim Stützle – No – Stopped

VAN – JT Miller – YES – Backhand deke

OTT – Josh Norris – NO – Shot wide

VAN – Elias Pettersson – NO – Shot wide

OTT – Drake Batherson – YES – Wrist shot

VAN – Conor Garland – NO – Shot into glove

OTT – Brady Tkachuk – NO – Stopped

VAN – Nic Petan – NO – Deflected wide

OTT – Adam Gaudette – YES – Glove side

Scoreboard Watching

There were two games of distinct interest to the Vancouver Canucks. In the early one, the Nashville Predators, presently a Western Conference wild card team the Canucks are chasing, won in a shoot-out at home against the Calgary Flames.

In a later game, played at the same time as Vancouver’s, the Los Angeles Kings, 3rd place in the Pacific, hosting the non-playoff Anaheim Ducks and the Kings won 2-1.

Special Teams

The Senators committed the first infraction and the Canucks made them pay in short order. Dylan Gambrell went off for dumping Conor Garland at 1:49 and it took the Canucks six-seconds to score.

On a hit against Canucks defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (OEL) behind the Vancouver net at the 13:10 mark, Zach Senysyn went off for high sticking.

Ottawa started laying the body after getting down 2-0 and things got chippy. Ekman-Larsson went for hooking at 19:07 and the Senators power play carried over into the 2nd period. They failed to score. There had been a major scrum at the time of the call after OEL chirped Josh Norris for taking a dive.

Artem Zub took a holding call at 5:43 but the Canucks couldn’t sneak one past Gustavsson.

After sustained pressure by the Canucks, Gambrell took a cross checking penalty at 17:37. The Canucks failed to click again despite chances.

There were off-setting penalties early in the third period. The teams played 4-on-4 for two minutes starting at 5:37. The Canucks would score a goal.

Simmer’s Canucks 3 Stars:

3) Sheldon Dries – Showed some creativity and piled up six shots on goal in the first 40-minutes in limited ice time.

2) Brock Boeser – Great snipe to go with some inspired high energy effort. Nice assist to boot.

1) JT Miller – Another goal and assist night with multiple chances. Scored the lone shoot-out goal for VAN.