Canucks 1 Ducks 2 (OT): Hughes' absence is notable - The Province

The Canucks' super rookie twisted an ankle and left in the first period of play — and the Ducks took it from there

ANAHEIM — The Vancouver Canucks’ super rookie was injured Friday night against the Anaheim Ducks and while the Canucks may have lost the game 2-1 in overtime, the real news was it appears Quinn Hughes is going to be OK.

Hughes twisted his ankle late in the first period and while it looked like a potentially serious injury, the team said they believe he’ll be fine.

Brandon Sutter said it was worrying to see Hughes leave the ice in discomfort, but was relieved that it looked like he may come out alright.

“Saw him between periods… seems like it’s nothing serious, that’s always a relief for us,” he said.

Up to the point where Hughes was injured, the Canucks had dominated the affair, but still came out of the first period trailing 1-0 on a shorthanded goal by Jakob Silfverberg. At even strength in the first period alone, the Canucks had 21 shot attempts on the Ducks’ goal, the home team just four.

The Canucks also had three power plays in the opening frame, but despite their recent prowess with the man advantage, they couldn’t find the twine.

The Ducks took control in the second, and only because of some spectacular saves by Jacob Markstrom did the game remain close.

It proved to be a night for the goalies, as John Gibson made things look easy, especially during the first period barrage.

Adam Gaudette finally bagged a tying goal as his attempt to pass the puck back to Brandon Sutter — who was streaking through the Ducks’ slot — instead rattled off Korbinian Holzer’s feet and into the net behind Gibson.

“Could have scored 3 or 4 in the first period easily, pretty good game, pretty good road game, good to get a point,” Canucks coach Travis Green said post-game. “Marky was good tonight. Both goalies were.”

The overtime winner was scored by Ryan Getzlaf on a spectacular breakaway. He gloved the puck down after a long flip pass and initially appeared to fumble it and Markstrom raced out to try to swat the puck away but Getzlaf collected the puck and deked around the goalie to slide the puck into the open cage.

Markstrom owned his decision afterwards.

“He got the puck and then his first touch wasn’t the best and I thought I had him beat and I didn’t. That’s the read I had, it’s always easy to say now ‘I should have stayed…’ but I didn’t.  Tough loss when we played such a good game,” he said.

Here’s what we learned…

Take ’em how they come

On a night when the Canucks had so many good shots but couldn’t find the twine, it took an ugly goal for the visitors to net themselves at least a point.

Gaudette drew into the lineup because of Micheal Ferland going on injured reserve with a concussion. He’s played very little wing in his life and next to none since high school, but found himself playing with Sutter, who has also been playing some of the best hockey of his life.

Gaudette was smart to move the puck to Sutter on the play that led to his goal and it only made sense given the Canucks’ focus this season on getting the puck to the high-danger scoring area in front of the crease.

His excitement when he scores is obvious: in this case he leapt into Sutter’s arms.

“It was a big goal for us,” Sutter said with a chuckle about Gaudette’s enthusiasm.

Markstrom mastery

Twice in the second period, Markstrom kept the game at 1-0.

First there was the dynamite save off Adam Henrique, who ripped a wrist shot toward the top corner from practically on top of the crease, after receiving a pass from down low and the opposite side of the net.

But, cool as a cucumber, Markstrom snagged the flying disc with his glove.

He pulled an equally spectacular save to close the period darting out his right foot and his stick to prevent Nicke Ritchie from sliding the puck around him.

In between the two, Chris Tanev made a block on the goal line, as Silfverberg was again stopped from extending the Ducks’ lead.

To open the third, he made another sprawling stop, this time on Rickard Rakell.

Markstrom has been solid to start the season, though he’s actually posted an even-strength save percentage — .915, a fine but hardly league-leading number — below last year’s .921.

The referees called Markstrom for delay of game after he froze the puck out of his crease. The Canucks, not surprisingly, weren’t big fans of the call.

“I thought he had a guy barrelling down on him, I don’t know what else he was supposed to do there,” Green said.

Markstrom said he wasn’t sure of the rule when the referee explained it to him.

“I thought it’s weird, I still think it’s really weird,” Markstrom said. “He said ‘if it’s a shot and a rebound or something then I can cover it, but that just trickled to you.’ I said, ‘just a soft shot?’ I didn’t get that penalty at all. Getzlaf was screaming for it and he kind of blew it late, too. I don’t agree with it but also I’m not 100 per cent sure with the rules and I think the referees know the rules better than I do. That’s all I can say.”

The call was under rule 63.2: “If the goalkeeper races out of his crease in an attempt to beat the attacking player to the puck and instead of playing the puck jumps on the puck causing a stoppage of play, this shall be a minor penalty.”

Gibson’s finest

The are many people who will name Gibson as the league’s best goalie.

He’s known for his athleticism and his sometimes unconventional approach to making saves. He’s been compared by some to Dominik Hasek in how he’ll twist every which was to make a stop.

Ducks goalie coach Sudarshan Maharaj has reinforced these natural instincts by adding layers of technique.

Busted power play

It’s so obvious how good the Canucks’ power play has been with Hughes at helm and the notion was reinforced when he was lost for the night and Alex Edler moved back to the point.

Edler is still an excellent defenceman and in his prime was an outstanding contributor to Canucks power plays past, but the way this current iteration of the unit works, Hughes’ dynamic play is essential.

Back-checking specialist

Elias Pettersson doesn’t like being on defence because he doesn’t like playing without the puck.

He solves this problem by doing everything he can do to get it back.

The latest example was a ferocious back-checking effort in the first period to disrupt a rush.

Shortened bench

The third period featured a series of power plays and as the Canucks pressed to tie the game, Green shortened his bench. Loui Eriksson had just two shifts in the period, Jake Virtanen had just one.

Neither is part of either the penalty kill or power play units and there were 10 minutes of power play time in the third period.

Things were so tight at even strength that in the 10 minutes of 5 on 5, there were just 12 shot attempts total; the Canucks had 10 of those.

NEXT GAME

Saturday

Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks

7 p.m., SAP Center, TV: CBC, SNETP, SN1; Radio: SNET 650 AM

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Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com

LISTEN: In this week’s edition of The White Towel podcast columnist Ed Willes joins Paul Chapman to dissect the fast start the Canucks have got off to. Ed surmises that it’s depth that has brought the Canucks to where they are, the additions of JT Miller and Tyler Myers, as well as Jordy Benn, have played as big a role as the growth of talented budding stars Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.

The podcast also covers what the Canucks might need to take the team to the next level, and the state of the west and the surprising teams that the Canucks will have to keep pace with.

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November 02, 2019 at 11:52AM