6 hours Ago By Patrick Johnston
The new era of the Vancouver Canucks may be here, but it doesn’t seem to have started. When word started leaking out an hour before game time that J.T.
Miller was to be a scratch, then he had been traded, something everyone had been waiting for, you did wonder how the Canucks would respond. You knew that there would be a feeling of relief that the saga was finally over: it had been weeks since the idea of Miller being moved had first come up. It had been a big dark cloud hanging over everything and everyone.
With the cloud now gone, the Canucks came out with aggression against the Dallas Stars Friday night. The Stars themselves are banged up: Miro Heiskanen it out for a while with a leg injury, and they’re missing quality two-way winger Mason Marchment. Vancouver had the first six shots of the game and were pressing.
Then a moment’s inattention worked against them, they fell behind and never really clawed their way back, though they tied it early in the second. The Canucks carried the play for much of the night, but struggled to win puck battles in tight or generate quality chances. They scored two goals in the latter stages of the game, a moral victory, but given they were scored around a pair of empty netters, it’s small consolation.
They lost the game 5-3 but the main concern is about Quinn Hughes ’ health. Everyone watching the game saw the same thing in the third period: Hughes dealing with some sort of leg issue. He was really uncomfortable as he tried his best to lead his team back into the fight.
The shots of him grimacing on the bench won’t inspire confidence in anyone. The last thing the Canucks need is their best player to miss any more time. If it’s his hamstring or groin, that takes a while to heal — though presumably he’ll take the Four Nations Faceoff off now so at least he’ll have a couple of weeks free to recover.
With Miller gone, all eyes turn to Elias Pettersson . He is the unrivalled No. 1 centre.
He played a ton in this game and he did shoot more than he has in the past and the Canucks controlled the puck for much of the time when he was on the ice, so that’s good. He got an assist on Jake DeBrusk’s goal late, but the Canucks need more from their No. 1 centre.
The Canucks won’t like where the two five-on-five goals by Dallas came from: Head coach Rick Tocchet talks often about defending the guts of the ice. That’s two goals against from the guts of the ice. NEXT GAME Sunday Vancouver Canucks vs.
Detroit Red Wings 5 p.m., Little Caesars Arena , TV: ESPN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650.
