For the Vancouver Canucks, the solution almost made the problem worthwhile. Almost.
Elite rookie Elias Pettersson rescued a victory for the team by finishing a give-and-go with Brock Boeser at 1:38 of overtime as the Canucks beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 Wednesday despite blowing a two-goal lead in the final half of the third period.
It gave Pettersson his first NHL hat trick – on the day he was named to the All-Star Game – and the Canucks two points in a game they dominated while building a 3-1 lead. Ahead 27-7 in shots at one stage, Vancouver hit four posts and Ottawa goalie Marcus Hogberg made 41 saves, which kept his team in the game long enough for Mark Stone to tie it 3-3 with 50 seconds remaining in regulation time and the Senators skating six-on-five.
Pettersson scored the final three Vancouver goals, giving him 22 goals and 42 points in 37 games in his first NHL season. He logged 22:16 of ice time, finished with six shots on net and looked again like a future superstar.
Boeser set up two of his goals, Sven Baertschi also had two points and Bo Horvat had an assist while devouring 23:56 of ice time as the Canucks’ best forwards were excellent on a night when coach Travis Green chose to sit out talented winger Nikolay Goldobin.
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TIME TO WIN
After largely outplaying the New Jersey Devils but getting shut out 4-0 by rookie goalie Mackenzie Blackwood on Monday, it was imperative for the Canucks not to waste another superior effort without a win.
Remember, Vancouver’s 1-10-2 slide started in November on an eastern road trip when the Canucks lost a couple of games they should have won, including one in Buffalo in which they threw away a two-goal lead in the final two-and-a-half minutes. To some, it wasn’t a big deal at the time because the Canucks played well in those losses.
Coaches talk about the process, and sometimes you lose games even when you’re the better team. That’s sports. But do it too often, and you’ll soon stop being the better team. Now the Canucks move on to Montreal carrying confidence and enthusiasm into their game Thursday against the Canadiens.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
After Wednesday’s multi-player trade with the Senators that featured a swap of backup goalies and cleared a path to the NHL for Canucks minor-leaguer Thatcher Demko, Vancouver GM Jim Benning still had another move to make.
With the roster maxed out at 23 players, Vancouver would need to trade or waive someone in order to get two-way centre Brandon Sutter back off the injured list. This was actually a nice problem to have because it would mean the Canucks are fully healthy for the first time this season.
But Benning’s problem may have been solved when winger Josh Leivo left Wednesday’s game in the first period with what the Canucks say is an upper-body injury. There was no initial update on the severity of Leivo’s injury.
Leivo has four goals in 13-plus games since his trade a month ago from the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom the Canucks visit on Saturday to end their six-game road trip.
FOOLS GOLDIE
There’s nothing wrong with sitting out a 23-year-old player to reinforce coaching points the player either doesn’t grasp or won’t apply. The danger for the Canucks would be in giving up on Nikolay Goldobin too soon.
Benning told Sportsnet the Canucks remain focused on developing the Russian winger, who was healthy-scratched in Ottawa by coach Travis Green for the second time in a month.
“I haven’t talked to teams about trading Nikolay Goldobin,” Benning insisted. “We like his skill level and what he brings. He has come a long way in his development this season and we’re going to continue to work with him on that.”
Playing mostly with Pettersson, Goldobin has 23 points, but just five goals, in 41 games this season in his first full campaign as an NHL regular. But he was pointless in five of Vancouver’s last six games and was especially poor in Monday’s loss to the Devils, who scored their first goal when Goldobin turned over the puck on a cross-ice pass in the offensive zone and failed to stick with his check in the defensive zone.
“He’s a young guy that’s still learning, and there are certain areas of his game that he has to get better at,” Green told reporters covering the Canucks in Ottawa. “We’ve had a lot of communication, a lot of coaching with Goldie this year. We had a practice this morning designed to help Goldie.
“There’s one thing for players to make mistakes. I can live with that. But you don’t want to see the same mistakes being made. I hope he turns the corner and I hope he can improve in those areas because the areas that we’re talking about sometimes decide winning and losing.
“You can’t just be a rush player (offensively) in this league. Goldie’s got good hands and he can see the ice when he’s got open ice. But he’s also got to be able to get a puck back as well.”
As an example, Green said he showed Goldobin video of him speeding in on a breakaway, then forechecking at a far lesser speed. The Canucks want Goldobin to work harder, faster and smarter without the puck.
Still a good prospect, Goldobin is like found money for the Canucks because Benning acquired him from San Jose two years ago for Jannik Hansen, who is now in the KHL. They can afford to wait a little longer to see if the former first-rounder turns out to be a steal. But this second healthy scratch also looks a lot like a second strike for a player who will soon have other prospects lining up behind him.
BE LIKE SVEN
Three games into his return from a concussion, which kept him out of the lineup for more than two months, Sven Baertschi opened scoring on a power-play rebound for his first Canucks goal since Oct. 22. He had a second assist on Pettersson’s third-period rocket one-timer, also on the power play, and finished with 14:39 of ice time.
Goldobin was not sat by Green because the Canucks have a surplus of wingers; he was scratched because he was making the same mistakes without the puck in December that he was in October. But Baertschi gives Green another forward who can play in the top six.
Goldobin should look at Baertschi and try to be like him. Four years ago, the Calgary Flames gave up on Baertschi because their coach, Bob Hartley, thought the Swiss forward was soft and one-dimensional. With the Canucks, Baertschi has transformed himself into a two-way player who works hard every night, is outstanding at protecting the puck along the boards, and has his coach’s trust.
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