Senators 2, Canucks 1: Few gifts, too many gaffes to open road trip
Under normal circumstances, a goaltending duel between Braden Holtby and Marcus Hogberg wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.
However, in an NHL season that’s anything but normal, the prospect of another crease conundrum for the Vancouver Canucks or the Ottawa Senators on Monday in the nation’s capital was added drama.
With Thatcher Demko suffering an injury in the morning skate, taxi-squad stopper Arturs Silovs thrust into a backup role and Michael DiPietro in Utica, where he was loaned Sunday to the AHL affiliate Comets to get games, it placed added pressure on Holtby to perform in the opener of a four-game road trip sandwiched into six games.
And pressure to also stay healthy.
There was incidental contact on Holtby by Thomas Chabot to negate a first-period goal by Colin White and enough pushing and shoving and awkward stretches by Holtby to leave goalie coach Ian Clark holding his breath at the prospect of another injury — even though Demko’s absence is not expected to be long.
NEXT GAME
Wednesday
Vancouver Canucks vs. Ottawa Senators
2:30 p.m.,
Canadian Tire Centre
, TV: TSN5, Sportsnet Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650 AM
Holtby held his own with a number of solid saves to keep the Canucks close, including a third-period glove save off Ryan Dzingel on a partial break to keep it a one-goal deficit. But goals by Josh Norris and Drake Batherson were the difference as Brock Boeser missed on two late chances in a 2-1 setback.
“It’s a fine line this time of year between winning and losing,” said Canucks coach Travis Green. “I liked our first and we made a couple of mistakes we’d like to have back. We let our foot off the gas and defended a little slow in the second and made a couple of soft plays on the wall and lost momentum for about seven to 10 minutes.
“We pushed hard in the third but couldn’t get it (goal).”
Here’s what else we learned as the Canucks lost more ground in their playoff pursuit as fourth-place Montreal won 2-1 in Calgary:
GIFTS AND GAFFES
Olli Juolevi had some help to score his second career goal in the first period.
His wrist shot from the left point eluded Hogberg to the right side because Jayce Hawryluk set the perfect screen and Shane Pinto got in the way of his stopper. That was the good stuff because Hogberg was pressed into service with Matt Murray and Anton Forsberg injured Saturday in Vancouver.
“The big thing is it’s kind of easy to get it (shot) past the first guy,” said Juolevi of his fourth-straight game after two months of no games because of salary cap gymnastics. “A lot of times the problem comes when there are four or five guys in front of the net and you need to get lucky sometimes with that (shot).
“You hope to play every game and of course it’s frustrating, but you’ve got to focus every day in practice.”
The prospect of more goals should have been good. It wasn’t, as the Canucks were held to 26 shots.
The bad was a bad night for Nate Schmidt and lack of luck for Bo Horvat and Nils Hoglander.
The Senators opened scoring midway through the first period when Schmidt’s cross-ice pass at the offensive blue line was picked off and Norris sped away on a 2-on-1 with Brady Tkachuk. Holtby had to be wary of a pass to Tkachuk before Norris put one through the starter.
Schmidt then made a bad neutral-zone read and tried to kick the puck in vain and it forced Tyler Motte to block a Grade A second-period shot. The gaffes continued when the Canucks were then hemmed in their zone. Holtby had a chance to freeze the puck and nobody iced it to relieve pressure and the sorry sequence ended with Batherson’s effort to snap a 1-1 draw.
“There were a couple of mental errors by myself and the group,” said Holtby, who finished with 25 saves. “It’s one of those where at the start of the shift I could have got possession and right after I didn’t do it, I realized how tired we were. It’s one of those things that came back to bite us and I should have definitely had it (puck) covered.
“We did a good job of fighting through that, but at the end, I thought they (Senators) played a pretty good game and deserved to win.”
Added Green: “We could have got the puck out a couple of times on the one goal (Batherson) and on a couple of plays, we weren’t quick enough. Part of that is maybe getting a little tired. We talked about holding the middle of the ice and we didn’t get there and had a breakdown.”
There was also bad luck of another variety when Hoglander hit the post and put the puck over the crossbar on the same second-period shift. A power play slapper by Horvat then got under the glove of Hogberg, who reached back and got his stick on the puck before it trickled over the line with 0.4 seconds remaining in the second frame.
“Our top players were fine. It’s easy to say our top players need to score, but it’s easier said than done than done some nights,” said Green.
The challenge now is for Holtby to shoulder the load this week.
“It doesn’t change,” he said. “I just go into the next game and try to find a way to win and that’s all you can do. It’s part of hockey and those things (injuries) happen. Hopefully, he (Demko) recovers real fast because he’s a huge part of our team and what we’re trying to do here and make a push.
“For us to have any chance of making the playoffs, we can’t worry about Montreal or what any other team does. We need to believe that we can win every game and in the end, hopefully that’s enough. Rest is a weapon right now, based on the circumstances of what we are coming off of health wise (COVID-19). And as far as that (work load), guys play every game and as a goalie can’t use that as an excuse. You have to have the ability to compete every game.”
That said, it’s hard not to scoreboard watch.
“This time of year, you’re always keeping an eye on what’s going on around the league and checking the standings,” said Brandon Sutter. “We liked the way we’ve played the last five games. Ottawa has come a long way in the last few months and we knew they were going to improve. They’ve played us hard the last three games.
“This next game (Wednesday) is huge for us. We’re still in the fight.”
NOT A GREAT AUDITION
It’s about the here and now and pushing for the playoffs, but another game is being played.
Green is icing a veteran lineup he believes can win — as opposed to giving a taxi-squad forward like Kole Lind a look — and with that he’s getting a better read on unrestricted free agent Jimmy Vesey, who was plucked off the waiver wire.
Vesey, 27, is a curiosity about what the Canucks are thinking next season for a veteran presence.
He’s on a US$900,000 expiring salary cap, but had no points in his fist seven games after being claimed from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has had plenty of ice time, power-play looks and also aligned with former New York Rangers teammate J.T. Miller. Vesey did have a five-shot outing March 24 against the Winnipeg Jets.
On Monday, he was set up early by Boeser, but his backhand attempt slid off the blade and went wide. He would have one shot, two giveaways and was a minus-2 in the opening period and that was it. He played just 10:49 and was replaced in the top-six mix by Motte.
HORVAT OWNS CIRCLE
For the Canucks to gain the upper hand in this two-game set with the Senators and beyond, puck possession is of paramount importance.
One way to negate the speedy and youthful Senators is to deny them in the faceoff circle. And that’s where an obvious advantage of skill and will worked wonders for the Canucks on Saturday and why a similar scenario had to play out Monday.
Horvat won an eye-popping 75 per cent of his draws (18-for-24) during a 4-2 win over the Senators on Saturday. Brandon Sutter had a 67 per cent efficiency (10-for-15) and J.T. Miller was at 53 per cent (6-for-11). It’s why the Canucks have the fifth-ranked team success rate at 53.1 and why the Senators often struggle with a 47.4 per cent rating in the circle.
On Monday, the trend continued. Horvat won his first seven draws and finished 16-for-22 for a 73 per cent showing.
bkuzma@postmedia.com
twitter.com/@benkuzma
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