Desert Dogs bite Canucks in overtime
Galchenyuk’s overtime winner settles score between hurting clubs, says Ben Kuzma.
ARIZONA 3, VANCOUVER 2 (OT)
The game off the ice tried to trump the one on it Thursday at Rogers Arena.
Whatever you want to make of the Western Conference wild card race that has five clubs within two points of the last playoff position — turtle derby, meaningful games or Gary Bettman’s parity-points system — some want to make something of the NHL trade-deadline fate of Alex Edler.
Speculation has included the Vancouver Canucks considering offers for their long-serving defenceman and asking the pending unrestricted free agent to waive his no-trade clause before the Monday noon deadline.
“It’s trade deadline time,” general manager Jim Benning said with a shrug on Thursday night when asked about ongoing rumours.
“I talked to Edler’s agent this morning and we’re going to talk again tomorrow and try to get something done.”
Benning added he doesn’t see difficulty in reaching palatable term and salary in a contract extension for the 32-year-old blue-liner, whose expiring deal has a US$5-million cap hit. He went so far as to call Edler’s value as high off the ice as it is on it.
“He’s one of our culture carriers in the room for all of the young players and how to handle yourself professionally,” added Benning. “He’s hungry to get back because he sees the direction the team is going, and he’s excited about playing meaningful games and the growth of our young players.”
The concussed Edler was missed at the point Thursday because the power play was another miss. It went 0-for-3 against the Arizona Coyotes, who sport the league’s top penalty kill, and the malfunctioning man-advantage units are in a 4-for-53 funk the last 18 games. That won’t get the Canucks into the playoffs.
Here’s what we learned as the Canucks, who have six players on injured reserve, saw a 1-0 lead evaporate, then rallied to force overtime before Alex Galchenyuk scored at 1:54 of the extra frame as the Coyotes, who have seven on IR, claimed a 3-2 win:
ROUSSEL DRAGS THEM INTO FIGHT AGAIN
Antoine Roussel is two points shy of a career-high 29 and has been the club’s best left winger this season. Chew on that.
The agitator has always packed plenty of bite and 112 penalty minutes — second only to Evander Kane’s 118 — proves that the free-agent acquisition has had to skate a fine line between being productive or being a problem. He’s doing a good job.
There’s a side to Roussel’s game that goes beyond being a pain to play against. He threaded a backhand pass through the slot to find a wide-open Bo Horvat for the opening goal. And with the Canucks trailing 2-1, he fed Adam Gaudette to send the game into overtime. Roussel also dove on his stomach in the defensive zone to break up a second-period scoring chance.
MARKSTROM’S STRONG START WAS PIVOTAL
It could have gone sideways early.
The Coyotes could have done what they’ve done to a lot of teams in winning four of their previous six to stay in the wildcard hunt. They could have tied up the Canucks in the neutral zone, relied on their prime penalty kill and be opportunistic to improve on their 6-1-1 run against Vancouver and claim their 17th road win.
The Coyotes built an early 8-1 shot advantage before eight minutes elapsed and forced Markstrom to make a number of good saves. There was denying a wide open Mario Kempe with a left pad to thwart a backhander on his doorstep. There was stopping Brad Richardson’s two whacks in the crease, and with the Canucks clinging to a 1-0 lead in the third period, there was also a bad break. Jakob Chychrun’s powerplay point shot hit Jay Beagle’s stick in the high slot and went up and over Markstrom’s outstretched glove before Lawson Crouse beat him on the short side. Markstrom finished with 35 saves in regulation.
SPOONER GETS THE KEYS, SCHALLER GETS SHOT
Ryan Spooner had the keys to the car Thursday.
The newly acquired left winger was aligned with Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser and, as expected, tried to find his way with the high-octane duo. He skated well enough and tried to get them the puck and get to the net. He tried a back pass to Boeser and tried to find Pettersson.
The knock on Spooner is that he can be a perimeter player, but he found some seams and got four shots away and got better. It wasn’t a dazzling debut, but it wasn’t one that hurt the Canucks. So there is that.
Canucks coach Travis Green said he played a hunch and had a gut feeling about giving Tim Schaller his first game after being a healthy scratch for the previous seven and 23 this season.
He had three hits and it wasn’t a stretch to wonder if the trade deadline had something to do with his appearance.