Canucks 7, Flames 1: Thrill of a great goalie, great power play

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The home team rode another outstanding performance from goalie Thatcher Demko as well their resurgent power play to a big win over their heated rivals who also just happened to be the hottest team in the NHL.

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Over a month ago, with his team struggling to find results despite some decent 5-on-5 play, Vancouver Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau was pretty clear about how his team would have success:

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“Our power play and special teams has got to be better if we want to succeed.”

Thursday’s 7-1 win for Boudreau’s Canucks over the Calgary Flames was a case in point. The home team rode another outstanding performance from goalie Thatcher Demko as well their resurgent power play to a big win over their heated rivals who also just happened to be the hottest team in the NHL.

The Canucks scored five goals in the second period — three on the power play and a fourth on a penalty shot — despite being heavily outshot at even-strength through the first 40 minutes.

“Five-on-five, I thought our first two periods were really good,” Flames head coach Darryl Sutter said. “We took two dumb penalties that cost us and missed two or three close-to-breakaways or Grade As in the first. Give the other team credit — they played with a lot of energy and a lot of skill.”

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The win was a case of doing everything you can with your chances. It also ended the Flames’ winning streak at 10.

“Everything seemed to be going right for us tonight,” Boudreau said post-game.

The Canucks’ offence was paced by their best players, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat all had two-goal nights. Conor Garland also scored for Vancouver.

“When you get production from all those guys in a game like this usually you have success,” Boudreau said. “And (Thatcher) Demko. Demko, obviously, when you look at it, is our best player overall and he was our best player again, or the score would have been a lot closer.”

The Flames ended Demko’s shutout hopes with a late goal by Andrew Mangiapane.

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Here’s what we learned…

Red-hot PP

The Canucks came into the game on a hot power-play run, having gone 5 for 17 over the previous five games.

They were 3-for-3 in the second period alone.

“Our power play was as good as I’ve seen it,” Boudreau said.

He also joked that he’d happily see his team wear the classic Canucks skate sweaters more often.

“If they want to and we keep getting results like that I’ll wear them to bed,” he said.

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Even if they were on a good stretch of play coming into the game, it was far from a guarantee that the Canucks would have so much success on the man advantage: the Flames came into the game with the NHL’s third-best penalty killing unit.

But some pinpoint shooting by the Canucks proved the trick. Pettersson’s goal was on a one-timer off the right side of the zone, his hammer of a slap shot just ticking off the upper shaft of Flames goalie Jacob Markström’s stick and into the net.

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Pettersson admitted post-game that he had intentionally moved from his usual spot near the top of the faceoff circle towards the bottom of the circle, knowing that defenders had been able to take away his one-timer opportunities when he was in his old spot.

The decision worked like a charm.

Miller’s goal was a wired wrist-shot off the left wing, just sneaking over Markström’s shoulder.

Horvat finished the set with a quick finish off a Miller setup, with the veteran winger nudging the puck back across the Calgary crease with his foot and setting the captain up for an easy finish.

Article content A game with everything

It was a game with many strange bits to it.

Markström was replaced in net by Dan Vladar, not because of an injury but because he had a skate problem late in the second period. The equipment staff tried to replace his blade but couldn’t get the replacement to sit properly in the skate-blade holder and they didn’t have an extra pair of skates for him to wear, so the change had to happen.

Vladar had to face the Canucks’ power play with no warmup and had no real chance on the Horvat tally.

Miller said that the power play unit talked about the need to put the ice-cold Vladar under pressure.

“We all knew that pucks had got to go to the net,” he said.

That goal was Horvat’s second of the game: his first was after a Tyler Motte rush down the left which Markström stopped but then saw his teammate Noah Hanifin flip the puck straight up the Flames’ slot, which the Canucks captain streaked down on and wired past his old goalie.

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Miller was handed a penalty shot because Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson closed his hand on the puck in the Calgary crease. Miller beat Vladar with a slow deke, just over a minute after the Horvat power play goal, given him his own second tally of the game and blowing the doors well and truly off.

That was the first penalty-shot goal of his career.

Miller said he approached like he would a shootout attempt.

“I like to go on the left hand side. I knew that (Vladar) had just come in the game which is very weird, but I just did the move I’ve done a couple times this year and I’ve had lot of success with it.”

It was the first goal scored by a Canuck vs. the Flames on a penalty shot since Gino Odjick on Mike Vernon, Oct. 19, 1991.

In the third, Elias Pettersson picked up a shorthanded goal on a breakaway. It was technically the second shortie of the season for the Canucks’ superstar, though his first, Nov. 9 vs. Anaheim, actually came with the Canucks’ own goalie pulled late in the game to make things 5 on 5.

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It was the first time in Canucks history they’d scored goals on the power play, while shorthanded, at even strength and on a penalty shot in the same game.

It was also the first time a team on a 10-game winning streak had seen their streak come to an end in a loss by six goals or more.

Killing themselves

The Flames dominated play through the first two periods, outshooting the Canucks in shot attempts 50-30 at even strength.

But their efforts were in vain, as they took a slew of penalties and then couldn’t kill those opportunities.

Article content A goalie battle that wasn’t

After the first period, this game was shaping up as a Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi-like battle between old master and young upstart.

In the opening frame, Markström made a big point-blank save on Vasily Podkolzin while his former protegé stopped a pair of breakaway attempts with ease.

But it didn’t last, as the Flames couldn’t kill any penalties and then Markström had some sort of skate problem.

Demko, wearing goalie gear that mimicked Kirk McLean’s early 1990s setup, made 29 saves in the end to take the victory.

On top of the big breakaway stops in the first, he made a spectacular glove save early in the second, snatching the puck out of the air with a windmill-like effort, not dissimilar to how McLean and his contemporaries used to make saves.

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“I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life,” Demko said of the manner of the glove save. “The windmill stuff never really been my game — not even in practices or anything ‚ so that was weird.”

“I don’t know what came over me maybe a little Kirk there,” he added with a grin.

Boudreau has been known to gush about his goalie and he did so again.

“He can play. If he was back east, he’d probably be getting more attention,” he said.

Demko, though, was his usual deferential self.

“I tell you guys all the time, it’s just my job to make the saves when they come. So just trying to do my part and give the team a chance to break things open.”

‘Sore’ Dickinson

Justin Dickinson left the game after taking an awkward hit from Erik Gudbranson early in the second period. He crashed into the boards and left the ice very gingerly.

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He didn’t return.

After the game Boudreau said the veteran forward was “sore.”

Boudreau didn’t take issue with the hit.

“I didn’t think it was it was anything bad or anything. I just think he hit the wrong way. And that’s what caused the injury,” he said.

But he didn’t go into detail about what the injury might be, other than to say he was going for some “pictures” on Friday.

The Canucks are flying to New York City Friday morning so if it’s not a serious injury, he’ll likely be flying on his own to the Big Apple.

And if he is injured, the Canucks will have to call up a forward from AHL Abbotsford.

The playoff chase

Even with Thursday’s big win, the math remains very hard for the Canucks.

They have 29 games left on the season. They’re likely going to need 39 or so more points in that stretch if they hope to make the playoffs.

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And both the coach and the players know it.

“That’s where we have to be when you have to win, you know, 21 out of 30,” Boudreau said of how his team played on the night. “To make it so, we have to play at that level. Today was a really, I just thought it was a vital game.”

The Canucks have a tough road trip next week, with four games in seven nights, starting with the New York Rangers on Sunday night.

“You like to take your last home game (performance), that’s your game that you bring into your next road game. And I hope that could be the case,” Boudreau said.

Boeser’s birthday

Brock Boeser picked up two assists in the game, giving him 230 career points. That’s not especially notable, but it was his 300th career game.

And Friday is also his 25th birthday.

Boeser has now scored 18 points in 24 games with Boudreau as his coach.

NEXT GAME

Sunday

Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Rangers

4:30 p.m., Madison Square Garden, TV: Sportsnet Pacific, Radio:  Sportsnet 650

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