Tuesday’s game-day skate was rather dramatically disrupted when Vancouver Canucks winger Alex Burrows sustained what the team is calling an “upper-body injury.”
Burrows called for help as he left the ice, dealt with treatment for an extended period and was ultimately taken from the Canucks locker room on a stretcher before leaving the Scotiabank Saddledome in an ambulance.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: | Broadcast Schedule
Stanley Cup Playoffs Fantasy Hockey
New Sportsnet app: iTunes | Google Play
The team has only vaguely updated his status. They’ve explicitly said that he’s gone to the hospital for “precautionary reasons” and will not be available to play in Game 4, but that’s about all we know.
Translating zone-time into offense
The Vancouver Canucks’ star Sedin twins have only two points between them so far in this preliminary round series against the Calgary Flames.
The production hasn’t been there, but the underlying data would suggest that they’ve been dominant. With Henrik Sedin on the ice against the Flames, the Canucks have attempted 53 shots while the Flames have attempted just 16.
The twins have effectively set up shop in Calgary’s end of the rink when they’re on the ice, but what is territorial dominance worth if it doesn’t translate into goals on the board? At this time of year? Not much.
“They’ve been good in this series,” opined Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins on Tuesday. “I think they’ve played well, I think they’ve had chances that haven’t gone in.”
Calgary Flames defenceman T.J. Brodie suggested on Tuesday that, zone-time aside, the Flames have done well to keep the twins to the outside.
“The skill level on that line, you’re going to be in your end, they’re going to cycle and make those plays,” Brodie said. “It’s up to us to try and get sticks on pucks and if they do get a chance make sure it’s only one chance and clear out the rebounds.
“(Jonas) Hiller has made a lot of big saves,” Brodie continued. “If they do have possession we want to keep them to the outside and we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that.”
Ice time, ice time, ice time
In Vancouver, the storyline of this series has been ice time – particularly when it comes to the twins. The Sedins are playing less at even-strength than Nick Bonino’s line, which has struggled enormously. This correlation of factors has resulted in endless hand-wringing in the Vancouver market.
On Tuesday Desjardins appeared to admit that perhaps he should play his best players more in this series.
“I think (I’ve got to) get them out there a little bit more maybe, maybe give them a (more chances),” said Desjardins.
The ice time issue has become an obsession in Vancouver, but it hasn’t been altogether uncommon in the NHL this postseason for first-line players to see somewhat less ice time in the first few games of the first round than they saw on average in the regular season.
In addition to the Canucks, the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning have all reduced the average even-strength ice time per game logged by their first-forward line so far in the playoffs.
Faceoffs
Henrik Sedin cleaned hobbled Flames centre Sean Monahan’s clock between the hashmarks in the first two games of this series, as Vancouver’s 34-year-old pivot managed a 73.5 percent win rate in the circle in the first two games.
If home-ice advantage meant one thing to the Flames in Game 3 in terms of tactics, it was in the circle. Henrik faced Flames veteran and reliable faceoff man Matt Stajan for just eight total faceoffs in Games 1 and 2, but with last change, Hartley fed Sedin a steady diet of his best faceoff man.
It showed in Game 3, as the Canucks’ best centreman lost 11 of 13 head-to-head draws against Stajan, including seven of eight in the offensive end of the rink.
“He’s played a long time, I’m sure he’s going to make some adjustments,” said Stajan, who doesn’t expect to replicate his Game 3 faceoff success on Tuesday night.
“(Henrik has) been great in the faceoff circle, especially in the first two games. They have a lot of faceoff plays, it’s key, and a lot of them have to do with his wingers coming in, and him tying up.
“So it’s not just a job for the centreman,” continued Stajan. “His wingers and my wingers are trying to knock the puck back, and against that line it’s very important.”
When Bae gets called up
The Canucks recalled talented ex-Flames winger Sven Baertschi from the Utica Comets on Tuesday. Baertschi’s flight was delayed and he was at the hotel, rather than at the rink, for the Canucks’ game-day skate.
He’s an option for Tuesday – with Desjardins describing him as a game-time decision. In light of the mysterious injury to Burrows, it seems likely that Baertschi will play.
“It’s nice to see him called up because he’s a great kid,” Baertschi’s former teammate Stajan said on Tuesday
“He grew up in our organization but with the Johnny Gaudreau’s and the Paul Byron’s and Jiri Hudler and everything we kind of got caught in a jam where we had to make a decision,” said Bob Hartley, re-litigating the club’s decision to trade Baertschi at the 2015 NHL trade deadline.
“His agent was not very happy, so we satisfied everyone.”
So where will Baertschi line up on Tuesday night, presuming he does dress for Game 4?
“I think he is a top-six guy,” said Desjardins. “That’s the way he plays, but I think there’s lots of different spots in our lineup where he can fit in and be successful.”
It seems most likely that Baertschi will play with Bonino, with whom he skated in the club’s 82nd game of the season, on Vancouver’s second forward line. That would allow Radim Vrbata to bump up into Burrows’ usual spot with the Sedin twins.
