Canucks Unable To Generate Offence In 3–1 Loss To The Calgary Flames

Offence was hard to come by for the Vancouver Canucks in their second pre-season game. In their 3–1 loss to the Calgary Flames, Vancouver registered a grand total of 10 shots compared to Calgary’s 31. Arshdeep Bains scored the lone goal for the Canucks, while Kevin Lankinen stopped 28 of 31 shots faced.

Tonight’s lineup gave a bit of insight into how the Canucks’ leadership delegation could go in the future. Once again dressing a younger lineup, with Aatu Räty being the Canucks skater with the most NHL experience with 114 games, Vancouver distributed their ‘A’s to three players tonight — Bains, Guillaume Brisebois, and Tom Willander.

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Vancouver’s biggest standout in tonight’s game was by far Lankinen, who kept the Canucks in the game despite the team barely generating any offence throughout the second period. The goaltender stopped 21 straight shots before the Flames finally found the back of the net 15 minutes into the second frame.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net during the first period, though both were given power-play opportunities to try and beat the oppositions’ goaltender. Both Vancouver’s first (Braeden Cootes, Bains, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Adam Novotný, and Willander) and second-units (Riley Patterson, Matthew Stienburg, Ty Mueller, Ilya Safonov, and Kirill Kudryavtsev) were unable to put together sustained O-zone time during their opportunities.

Things got a little chippy halfway through the second period after Flames forward Martin Pospisil cross-checked Aatu Räty off a draw. More pushing and shoving occurred the play after, with the result being Calgary forward Maxim Tsyplakov sent to the box for grabbing Räty’s visor. Willander took an interference penalty less than 20 seconds into Vancouver’s power-play, putting the two teams on 4-on-4 for a little over a minute and 30 seconds.

That wasn’t the end of the rough stuff, however. Flames defenceman Kevin Bahl got into post-whistle shoving matches with both Brisebois and Jimmy Schuldt, while Safonov tussled with Zayne Parekh.

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Interference penalties made a difference in tonight’s game, as the Canucks took two at two important times throughout the match. The first interference penalty was given to Willander, who caught the skate of Samuel Honzek, taking his team off a power-play and putting them at 4-on-4. The second put Ben Berard in the penalty box, with Calgary scoring on the ensuing man-advantage.

Two of the Flames’ three second-period goals came off the rush, with the first goal, scored on the power-play, occurring after Parekh sent Joel Farabee and Matvei Gridin in on Lankinen in the midst of a Vancouver line change. The second came only a couple of minutes after Calgary’s first goal, with Flames forward Matt Coronato capitalizing on an odd-man rush.

In an attempt to generate more offence, the Canucks switched up their line combinations during the third period. Patterson started the period with Cootes and Bains, Fix-Wolansky skated with Novotný and Brooks Rogowski, and Räty centered Berard and Mueller.

The change seemed to work in Vancouver’s favour, as a combination effort from Cootes, Patterson, and Bains got the Canucks on the scoreboard with around 13 minutes to go in the game. Notably, Cootes and Bains showed chemistry during training camp and combined for two goals in Vancouver’s first pre-season game against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

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A penalty taken by Bahl with seven minutes to go in the game put Vancouver on their second full power play of the night. Afer the first unit was unable to properly break into Calgary’s zone, the second group came out with a little less than a minute to go in the man-advantage. The Canucks finished the power-play without registering a shot on goal.

By the time the final whistle rang, the Canucks registered a total of 13 scoring chances-for throughout the entire game. In comparison, Calgary put up 43.

While the numbers don’t look pretty, the Canucks can take comfort — though not a lot — in the fact that Calgary dressed their near-full NHL lineup. It’s likely that Vancouver will roll with a more-experienced lineup come their next pre-season game on Thursday night.

Stats and Facts:

• Canucks register first shot of the second period with 5:50 minutes remaining

• Victor Mancini finishes with the highest TOI of all Canucks skaters with 21:51 minutes played

• Aatu Räty registers a faceoff win percentage of 75%

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Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

No Scoring.

2nd Period:

15:00 – CGY: Joel Farabee (1) from Matvei Gridin and Zayne Parekh (PPG)

17:30 – CGY: Matt Coronato (1) from Morgan Frost and Matvei Gridin

18:58 – CGY: Samuel Honzek (1) from Zayne Parekh and Joel Farabee

3rd Period:

6:22 – VAN: Arshdeep Bains (2) from Braeden Cootes

Up Next:

The Canucks return home for the remainder of the pre-season, taking on the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night at 6:00 pm PT. As well, from the 24th to the 26th, the team will be holding their first-ever Fan Fest.

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