Loui Eriksson opened the scoring for the Canucks against his former team and the goals kept coming on Chinese New Year night presented by Tim Hortons. RECAP
VANCOUVER – On the night the Vancouver Canucks celebrated Chinese New Year – the year of the dog – they beat the Boston Bruins 6-1.
Probably just a coincidence. Still, gung hay fat choy.
Rogers Arena was all dragons and drums Saturday night. And that was just the Canucks, who scored four times in the first period to easily beat the Bruins and create the happiest night of the National Hockey League season in Vancouver. And the best part? Chinese New Year lasts another week – almost until next Monday’s trade deadline.
Actually, the best part was that Canucks defenceman Erik Gudbranson launched into the boards Bruins’ Brad Marchand, the low-bridger of Sami Salo, speed-bagger of Daniel Sedin, lifter of the Stanley Cup on this ice nearly seven years ago. Year of the dog, not night of the rat.
General manager Jim Benning confirmed on Hockey Night in Canada that he is still in contract discussions with Gudbranson, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and, thus, will be re-signed or traded by the Canucks before the Feb. 26 deadline.
We’re not sure Gudbranson is worth the $4-5-million salary he will command on his next contract, but we do know Benning has a far better chance to sell that deal in Vancouver after Gudbranson’s hit. He can play 18 minutes a night in a defensive role, as long as he smokes Brad Marchand once a year in Vancouver.
“I didn’t really even hit him,” Gudbranson said. “He was a little off-balance and I just kind of clipped him. If I’d really tried to hit him, I’d have been suspended for five games because he had his head down, facing the boards.”
Yes, so?
Do unto Marchand as the rat would do unto you?
Well, perhaps not. Regardless of for whom Gudbranson is playing next week, the Canucks need him in the lineup this week. The Colorado Avalanche visit on Tuesday.
“I’m not going to say I hated him, but I wasn’t a fan of him,” Canucks defenceman Troy Stecher said of Marchand, whom he remembers from the 2011 final when Stecher was cheering for the Canucks like everyone else who grew up in Metro Vancouver. “You come out for warmup and you can already feel the buzz and the atmosphere. I think it’s always going to be that way when the Bruins come here. It was a great first period and we just kind of rode the wave after that.”
The Bruins, who were 20-2-4 since Dec. 14, were lit up after travelling across the continent on Friday, then practising. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy also ordered up a full morning skate on Saturday. The Boston player who looked most tired was goalie Tuukka Rask, who allowed the four first-period goals on just eight shots as Vancouver built its 4-0 lead despite being outshot 18-8.
The game was only two minutes old when former Bruin Loui Eriksson made it 1-0, converting Daniel Sedin’s goalmouth pass by sliding the puck under Rask’s arm. Thomas Vanek’s terrific pass left Sedin with a semi-open net that he deftly hit from a sharp angle to double the lead at 10:54. And just 56 seconds later, Canucks centre Bo Horvat embarrassed rookie defenceman Charlie McAvoy and roofed a shot on Rask to make it 3-0.
The fourth goal said everything you needed to know about the first period. Rask made a good pad save on Sven Baertschi on a 3-on-2. Horvat overskated the sharp rebound, but the puck was cleared by a Bruin off Canucks winger Brock Boeser and bounced into the net at 18:39.
Yes, it would be nice if the Canucks could ration their fortunate bounces for a game when they’re needed. But after a pile of bleak winter nights at Rogers Arena, no one in the festive sellout crowd of 18,865 was complaining.
Nic Dowd’s rebound goal after a terrific, power move to the net by Jake Virtanen made it 5-0 at 2:44 of the second and Eriksson, who was pointless in his previous seven games, scored his second of the night shorthanded in the third period.
Tim Schaller, at 2:57 of the third, was the only Bruin to get a puck past Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson, who got the chance to start due to Jacob Markstrom’s flu or cold and delivered his first victory in nine starts since Nov. 30.
Nilsson finished with 44 saves and enjoyed more goal support in one night than the Canucks had given him in his last five starts.
“It feels great to be able to contribute to two points,” Nilsson said. “We have to be honest: we had some bounces on our side. I think they had three shots (off the post) in the first period, so the puck was definitely bouncing our way tonight. It’s nice to have that on our side.
“It’s always nice to stand back there and see the guys play a really good game in front of you. It’s also nice to stand back there and see them score some goals.”
Added Canucks captain Henrik Sedin: “Before the game you look up and see how many people were here. I told someone on the bench, ‘It’s been a while since we had this buzz in the building.’ I think all the guys enjoyed it tonight. It was an atmosphere that was the best in a long time. It was fun.”
Hopefully the start of a new year for the Canucks.
While the big defensive fish being dangled ahead of the NHL’s 2018 trade deadline are offensive dynamos like Erik Karlsson and Mike Green, the Vancouver Canucks have seen interest continue to rise on one of their own rearguards as Feb. 26 draws near.
General managers around the league continue to inquire about Vancouver’s Chris Tanev, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, though it appears the Canucks aren’t keen on moving the 28-year-old for anything less than a significant return.
“He’s hurt right now, which could potentially complicate matters, but what I’ve been told is that the Canucks have told teams — including, I believe, Toronto — ‘If you’re serious, it’s going to take a special offer to do this,’” Friedman said during the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday.
“I think the Canucks realize still that even though they are rebuilding, you want to give your young players a chance. And you’ve got to be serious, really serious, if you want to get Tanev out [of Vancouver].”
After finishing with the second-worst record in the league last season, the Canucks have enjoyed a modest revival of sorts in 2017-18. While team-wide success continues to elude them, Vancouver has seen rookie Brock Boeser emerge as one of the most promising goal-scorers in the game, positioning himself as a Calder Trophy favourite with 27 tallies to his name thus far.
Tanev has followed suit with a modest improvement of his own, posting 11 points through 38 games this season after putting up 10 points through 53 games in 2016-17. Though that sum isn’t putting Tanev in the running for a Norris Trophy, it is enough to match the best points-per-game pace of the eight-year veteran’s career.
The long-time Canuck has two more seasons left on his five-year deal, carrying a cap hit of $4.45 million and a modified no-trade clause, according to CapFriendly.
VANCOUVER – Nearly four years since his last appearance in the National Hockey League, Darren Archibald’s career seemed to be at a crossroads.
Seven years as an undrafted pro, 356 games in the American Hockey League and another 75 in the East Coast League, numerous injuries including a fractured cheekbone last fall, and here was Archibald, about to turn 28, playing for the Utica Comets on a minor-league contract.
This was not the career the winger from Newmarket, Ont., envisioned for himself when he finally earned a professional contract from the Vancouver Canucks in 2011 as a free agent out of the Ontario Hockey League.
During the AHL all-star break in late January, a moment of clarity came to Archibald.
He should get married.
Archibald proposed to his girlfriend, Lindsay Yannacacos, who is in university back in Toronto.
“First the engagement, then the contract,” Archibald says, sitting in the Canucks’ dressing room and marvelling at his good fortune. “And it was my 28th birthday the day I played my first game (back in the NHL). It’s definitely been an exciting time.”
It still is.
Five games into the rest of his life, Archibald is averaging 14 minutes of ice time for the Canucks, who after another wave of injuries on their last road trip rushed to sign Archibald to an NHL contract and put him in their lineup Feb. 9 in Carolina.
That was 1,431 days since his last NHL game for John Tortorella, who ran the Canucks in 2013-14, two coaches ago.
“It seems like a long time ago,” Archibald says. “It’s been a long haul. I just tried to stay positive.
“It was always my main goal to get back. I had injuries for a couple of years. I couldn’t even get a good summer of training in. I even had another cup of tea back in Kalamazoo in the East Coast League. But I always stayed hungry and focussed. Going last year back to Utica on an AHL deal, needing an invite to go to training camp (with the Canucks), I knew this had to be a breakout year to try to put my name back on the map.”
Archibald is putting his stamp on opponents. He has 16 hits in his five games and a slobber-knocker Saturday on Boston Bruin defenceman Brandon Carlo led to Archibald’s second fight. The Canucks beat the Bruins 6-1.
He is providing the Canucks the physical presence and forechecking menace they have missed since Derek Dorsett was forced by back injuries to abruptly retire in November.
But, like Dorsett, Archibald has earned the trust of Canuck coach Travis Green, who is deploying the six-foot-three winger alongside Brandon Sutter on Vancouver’s shutdown line. It is difficult to reconcile this smart, purposeful mobile version of Archibald with the one who had three stints on Tortorella’s fourth line and averaged just 7:47 of ice time over 16 NHL games four seasons ago.
“He’s a guy that’s worked hard on his game,” Green says. “It says a lot about him — perseverance, sticking with it. You give him credit. He’s come a long way. His game has really developed on the ice and off the ice as a professional.
“It really shows you that you have to be real careful in deciding on a player too early. But you also can’t hang on to a player forever. It’s a fine line. Those aren’t always easy decisions to make.”
Green knows because for the last four seasons he was the coach in Utica who could see Archibald’s potential to become a better player, maybe even an NHL player.
“I‘ve been with Arch a long time, in lots of different situations, different types of games that he has brought to the table,” Green said. “Some ups and downs. To see where he has come, it’s refreshing. He started to learn the game. . . really understand the game more like a veteran player does, which enabled him to kill penalties. And not just on the ice. We had talks about: How does he bring it every night? And not one on, one off. And that was physically, with his skating, because he’s a big guy and there were nights where he just couldn’t get there.”
Archibald’s skating, like his game, like his life, has evolved.
Archibald says he was watching television on a day off in Utica when his agent, Anton Thun, called him two weeks ago and asked: “Are you ready to go back to the NHL?” He says he phoned his fiancée and parents. It was emotional.
“It definitely hasn’t been easy,” Archibald says. “My first sniff in the NHL (four years ago), mentally I don’t think I was as consistent as I needed to be. It seems like forever ago. To be back here now is an amazing feeling.
“I owe a lot to Greener over the years. There’s definitely no room for complacency. Me being a big, physical guy, I’ve got to be noticeable on the ice every night. I’ve got to bring that physicality that our team needs. There’s no taking my foot off the gas. I’m back here, but I want to stay this time.”
