Columnist image

| Archive

Vancouver, BC – Hours after their disheartening 2-1 loss to Calgary in Wednesday night’s playoff opener, the Vancouver Canucks were back on the practice at UBC. Kevin Bieksa did not take part in the workout, but is expected in to be ready for Game 2 on Friday. Ryan Stanton took Bieksa’s spot on defense during practice.

Much of the post-practice discussion with players focused on the team getting away from its game plan in the third period, on the fact the Canucks have now lost seven straight home playoff games and 11 of 12 overall in the post-season and the ice-time distribution for the team’s top players – particularly in the late stages of Wednesday’s game.

While the core group of Canucks who were part of the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011 cannot hide from their recent playoff record, it was clear Thursday that they weren’t prepared to debate and discuss it. The party line was that this year’s team has lost just one playoff game and with a stronger effort on Friday, can head to Calgary with the series tied at one win apiece.

*Starts to games continue to be an issue that plagues the Canucks. Although they opened the scoring and carried a 1-0 lead to the third period in Wednesday’s series opener, the team once again struggled to generate first period offense. After a scoreless first against the Flames, the Canucks have now scored just nine first period goals in their last 21 outings. They haven’t held a 2-0 first period lead since a February 13 game against Boston. The Canucks have led after 20 minutes just three times in their past 28 outings. 

*Despite getting over two full minutes of ice time apiece – and more than three minutes in the case of Dan Hamhuis – the Canucks second-unit power play failed to generate a single shot on goal in the series opener. Hamhuis logged 3:16 of man-advantage time followed by Chris Tanev (2:50), Nick Bonino (2:15), Chris Higgins (2:09) and Alex Burrows (2:05). Second-unit scoring has been a huge issue for the Canucks all season long and Game 1 was more of the same, and yet Hamhuis led all Canucks defensemen in power play ice time on Wednesday night. That hardly seems like a recipe for success.

*On the night, the Canucks power play registered a total of five shots on the Calgary net – Radim Vrbata had four of them while Yannick Weber had the other. Vrbata’s shots all came in the first period. In 3:47 of second period PP time, the Canucks registered one shot on goal. And in six minutes of power play time on the night, only two Canucks managed to direct shots on Jonas Hiller.

*In three home games against the Flames this season, the Canucks have scored a grand total of four goals – and they can’t claim credit for all of them. Bo Horvat had the lone goal last night and no Canuck managed to beat Joni Ortio in a 1-0 loss on January 10. In the Flames first visit of the season on December 20, Yannick Weber was credited with an own-goal scored when an errant pass slid the length of the ice and into the Flames unguarded goal as they pressed with an extra attacker on a delayed penalty. So the Canucks scored three goals in their first home game against Calgary this season. They have one goal in the two games since.

*It’s a team game and no one player should take any more heat than any other, but I have been charting Chris Higgins’ playoff production and his individual numbers defy explanation. Higgins has now gone 15 playoff games without a point, has 0+1 in his last 20 games and has scored one goal in his last 25 post-season contests dating back to the only power play goal of his career scored in Round 3 against San Jose in 2011. Most of Higgins’ ice-time in that span has come in a top six capacity and, as noted above, has included regular shifts on the power play

*Quick hits: Henrik Sedin was a remarkable 15-4 in the face-off circle on Wednesday, including clean sweeps of the head-to-head battles with Mikael Backland (7-for-7) and Sean Monahan (5-for-5). Nick Bonino struggled in the circle going 2-7, while Bo Horvat was 3-7. Radim Vrbata led all Canucks with 10 shot attempts, while Daniel Sedin had nine. Both players registered a team-high six shots on goal,