Vancouver Canucks open road trip with 5-3 win over Flames.

Welcome to the night after the night we lost. The Canucks didn’t have much time to drink their sorrows away as they headed off to Calgary to play a team I have hated my entire life. There is nothing redeemable about the Flames. I even had a second cousin marry one once. I didn’t cheer for him until he joined the inaugural San Jose team.

Everyone see that name on the “3^rd” line? Gaunce? I remember him. He scored a goal back in 2016 and now he is playing with a superstar like Derek Dorsett. Life gets weird sometimes.

1^st period

I’m not sure if I could do a whole recap just focusing on the play of Gaunce, but wouldn’t it be fun.

Five minutes into the game John Garrett said each team have several chances, but I had only seen one each until Sean Monahan scored at 14:09. The Flames had a 3 on 2, which Guds looked terrible on. Luckily…Calgary is a team of cheaters and they had come in offside so the goal didn’t count.

A minute later Markstrom taunted the Flames by giving up the puck along the boards with a pass to no one except a Flame, who then passed it to Versteeg for an open net. The taunting part came when Marky dove across and stopped Versteeg from scoring.

Bo Horvat had a chance to score but decided to try and decapitate Mike Smith instead and the shot went off Smith’s head to the side. Thomas Vanek then drew a penalty after touching Johnny Hockey. Let’s talk about the Canucks PP and zone entries. You’re right, let’s think of happier things like puppies.

Michael Frolik knows that the Canucks PP is terrible so he spotted them another chance for them to prove him wrong. And we all know how that PP went…….you’re wrong!!!! The Sedins finally got the puck deep into the zone and got it over to Sam Gagner, who scored his second PP goal of the year.

With one minute left in the period Sutter took a penalty of his own in the offensive zone. The Flames took advantage of an over-aggressive PK that started chasing the puck which left Hamilton all alone out front to put one by Markstrom with 11 seconds left.

2^nd period

Funny thing happened at intermission….my internet went down and then I couldn’t get the back. I had to twitter watch it.

It seems like there wasn’t much action, except everyone’s favorite rookie was moved off the Killer B’s line in favor of Ol’Man Gagner.

While I struggled to get an understanding of why my crappy internet would only let me see Twitter, the Canucks took another offensive zone penalty. And while my first place NM hockey pool team is happy the Canucks were not happy that Johnny Hockey scored to make it 2-1 Flames.

With less than 5 minutes left in the period, the future trade bait, Thomas Vanek put one through Mike Smith to make it 2-2

The Flames really were the better team in the second period as they outhustled and out shot the Canucks. Michael Ferland was able to gain the zone, get around Tanev behind the Canucks net and slide one under Markstrom to make 3-2 Flames.

The Canucks took a quick penalty after that goal. Unlike the PP, the PK is always dangerous and the Sutter/Dorsett combo upfront is sneaky fast, even against the good Flames defense. Sutter got into the Flames zone suckered Smith out of position and then fed it to Dorsett for a goal to make it 3-3.

3^rd Period

So, the question for the third period is, would the Canucks have anything left in their legs after playing last night and then hoping on a late night flight? I know I’m tired just moving from the fridge to the couch. The early answer is tired as the Canucks took an early penalty

I’m not a fan of the PK structure when it comes to covering the cross ice pass. There seems to be a lot of space for the weak side winger to get a shot off if the Nucks winger is a little bit out of position. The Canucks are hoping that a stick or skate blocks the lane and leads to a breakout. The Canucks were able to kill this penalty off.

The Canucks then got their own PP as Vanek drew another one. The Canucks did the unthinkable and scored again on the PP as Boeser skated the puck in, threw it at the net and Bo put it by Smith to make it 4-3 Canucks.

I watched the Flames feed for this game and during the second intermission the announcers were talking about the reduced role of the Sedins,how classy they were and how dangerous they still were. I cleaned my ears after to make sure I was hearing ok. The Sedins must have listened to them as they gained the zone and Daniel feathered one to Henrik for his first goal of the year to make it 5-3 Canucks.

I sat back for the next few minutes and scrolled through Twitter and saw lots of people taking advantage of the new 280 character space. So much reading will deter people soon enough.

Markstrom screwed me over as he robbed Johnny Hockey up close with less than 5 minutes left. There is a difference with Markstrom this year. He has let in a softie or two. He has also let in the goal over the shoulder which always drives me fucking crazy. But he has also had games where he has made the big save to keep the momentum in the Canucks favor.

The Flames pulled the goalie with over 2 minutes left I was left wondering, could this be it? Would Gaunce finally get the goal that we’ve all been talking about?

Canucks win!!!