Beitrag Di 23. Apr 2019, 05:41

VANCOUVER - Eddie Lack helped the Vancouver Canucks overcome

VANCOUVER - Eddie Lack helped the Vancouver Canucks overcome a case of the blues Wednesday night. Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. The win was like sweet music to the Canucks (28-24-9) as they ended their losing streak at seven games while moving into sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. The Blues (39-13-6) dropped their third straight decision to Vancouver this season as they were shut out for the first time in 2013-14. "It feels very good to be able to shut the door," said Lack. "It was very big for our team. "Its a big relief." The Canucks outshot the Blues 35-20, but Lack, Vancouvers backup who is in his first full NHL season, was forced to make many difficult saves. "I feel like I have been working on this start for a while and I was really excited to play, and Rollie (Melanson, Vancouvers goalie coach) has been bugging me for weeks saying we need to win these 1-0 games, so its huge," said Lack. Jannik Hansen scored the games only goal as he finally broke a scoreless deadlock at 11:13 of the third period. He took a backhand stretch pass from Tom Sestito from deep in the Vancouver zone just past centre ice, raced in on a breakaway and beat Halak with a high shot. It was Hansens first goal in just over a month, a span of eight games, after he last scored Jan. 26 against Phoenix. "Great play by Tommy, he could see I was taking off a little early and he fed me a nice pass, and I was able to get it through the goalie," said Hansen. "You dont have to look at the standings very long to see we need to win a lot of games here to make the playoffs, and its obviously a very strong opponent today, a playoff team. These are the teams you have to beat. We cant just beat the teams below us." Vancouver was blanked on four power plays while St. Louis failed to score on three. Lack drew the start after backstopping the Canucks to a pair of wins over St. Louis earlier this season. Three of his nine wins have come against the Blues, and he has allowed only three goals to them. The Canucks came out with the added aggression that coach John Tortorella has been seeking as they outshot the Blues 14-6 in the first period. But for most of the night, the hosts could not beat a steady Halak, who felt fresh after playing just two games for Slovakia in the Olympics and getting plenty of rest after arriving back in St. Louis last Thursday. "It was a pretty good pace for 60 minutes," said Halak. "It was just that we came up short. We couldnt score. "I tried to do my best. I tried to give the guys a chance to win. Id like to get (Hansens goal) back." St. Louis had nine players in Sochi and the Canucks had seven. But Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who served as an assistant with Canadas gold-medal-winning team, did not think post-Olympic fatigue was a factor. "It was a hard fought, well played game for the most part," said Hitchcock. "I didnt think we had the energy in the third period than we did in the end of the first and the second. We had a great second period. But weve had trouble beating (Lack.) We havent scored on him, and hes made some big saves and hes won a lot of the scrambles. We had all the penetration in the second period for all the scoring chances." Hitchcock lamented his teams inability to score on odd-man rushes in two losses in Vancouver this season. "When you get two-on-ones and three-on-ones on the road, youve got to capitalize," he said. "I think that was the difference in the hockey game." Lacks best moments came late in the second period as he denied Blues captain David Backes on a one-timer during a delayed penalty and Alex Steen on a deflection, and got his pad on a T.J. Oshie shot before defenceman Alex Edler blocked the puck as he attempted to put in the rebound. After the save, fans chanted "Eddie! Eddie!" But Oshie, who played for the U.S. in the Olympics, was not willing to give Lack too much credit. "He made some good saves, but I dont think we really tested him like we could have," said Oshie. "We let him see a lot of pucks." There was no denying Vancouvers desperation though. "Theyre a desperate team right now," said Halak. "For them, every game is a playoff game. They need to get every point that they can." Notes: Olympians from both teams were honoured in a pre-game ceremony. Blues defencemen Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo drew loud cheers from the crowd when they were saluted, along with Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and goaltender Roberto Luongo, for helping Canada win the 2014 Olympic gold medal. … Tortorella worked his first home game since receiving a six-game suspension for storming the Calgary Flames dressing room area Jan. 18. … Canucks captain Henrik Sedin returned to action after suffering an undisclosed injury before the Olympics. He missed the past two practices while tending to a personal matter in Sweden, but returned Wednesday in time for the game. Defenceman Kevin Bieksa returned after missing five games before the Olympic break with a foot injury. … Vancouver centre Ryan Kesler sat out with a hand injury suffered while playing for the U.S. in the Olympics. Canucks defencemen Chris Tanev (thumb) and Andrew Alberts (concussion) remained out. … Blues defenceman Jordan Leopold missed the game due to an ankle injury. 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JOHNS, N.A breakout game for the Kings’ top line, continued production from Nick Foligno, lots of lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Kings top line – Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar ignited the comeback against St. Louis, leading to a 6-4 win over the Blues. Carter had a goal and three assists, Gaborik had two goals and an assist, and Kopitar racked up a five-points (1 G, 4 A) game. Even with that game, Carter has all of seven points – one goal – in the past 14 games. Gaborik is on a three-game goal-scoring streak, during which he’s scored five goals; he had four goals in his first 18 games of the season. Kopitar, who is playing almost two minutes less per game this season (a career-low 18:54 per game) had four points (1 G, 3 A) in the previous 13 games before breaking out for his career-best five-point game against St. Louis. Nick Foligno – The Blue Jackets’ winger continued his remarkable start to the season with two goals and an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington. Foligno is the leading scorer among players slated to be unrestricted free agents next summer. On this list, I’ve also included each player’s on-ice shooting percentage, to indicate which players may be primed for regression. TOP-SCORING UFAs PLAYER TEAM POS GP G A PTS ON-ICE SH% Nick Foligno CBJ LW 30 16 14 30 10.8% Mike Ribeiro NSH C 30 9 17 26 10.6% Martin St. Louis NYR RW 29 10 13 23 10.7% Mike Santorelli TOR RW 32 6 16 22 12.8% Antoine Vermette ARI C 31 8 13 21 7.2% Carl Soderberg BOS C 32 6 15 21 9.1% Curtis Glencross CGY LW 33 6 15 21 9.4% Cody Franson TOR D 60 5 15 20 11.7% Jaromir Jagr NJ RW 32 5 15 20 7.4% Blake Comeau PIT RW 30 11 8 19 8.7% Calvin Pickard – Stopped 47 of 48 shots in a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh. The 2010 second-round pick has been good (.934 SV%) in 11 games with the Avalanche this year and has a .920 save percentage in 13 AHL games this season. ZEROES Matt Duchene – Playing primarily against Sidney Crosby at even strength, the Avalanche centre was held without a shot attempt in 20:31 and had 40.6% possession (13 shot attempts for, 19 against) in a 1-0 overtime loss against Pittsburgh. Daniel Winnik – The reliable Maple Leafs winger did not have a shot attempt and was crushed in possession (3 shot attempts for, 16 against, 15.8%) in a 4-1 loss at Carolina. Martin Brodeur – After being staked to a 3-0 lead at Los Angeles, the Blues goaltender allowed six goals on 37 shots in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. Through four games with St. Louis, Brodeur has an .882 save percentage. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh’s superstar was back in the lineup after a few games off with mumps. He played 20:19 in his first game in 10 days. Christian Ehrhoff – Left Thursday’s game against Colorado with an undisclosed injury. If Ehrhoff is out, and with Olli Maatta now dealing with mumps, Brian Dumoulin would figure to get back into the Pittsburgh lineup. Max Pacioretty – The Canadiens left winger was crushed by Ducks D Clayton Stoner and left Thursday’s game. Vincent Lecavalier – Playing in his first game since November 29, the Flyers centre finished with their worst possession stats (7 shot attempts for, 18 against, 28.0%) against Florida. Emerson Etem – Played 12:50 for Ducks at Montreal, his first NHL game since November 20. He had three goals in five AHL games and missed some time with the mumps. Tyson Barrie – Played 16:51 vs. Pitsburgh, his third-lowest total of the season and was crushed (6 shot attempts, 20 against, 23.1%) in terms of puck possession. Nick Holden – The Avalanche blueliner played a season-low 4:26 against Pittsburgh, the third time in the past six games that he’s skated fewer than 10 minutes. Brad Stuart – Returned to Colorado lineup after missing six weeks with a hamstring injury. Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh marked Stuart’s 1000th career game. Robyn Regehr – The veteran Kings defenceman played 6:27 before leaving with an upper-body injury. With Regehr gone early, Drew Douughty played a career-high 34:21.dddddddddddd Tyler Toffoli – The Kings winger played a season-low 8:29 against St. Louis, being sent a message by head coach Darryl Sutter (more on Toffoli in Short Shifts). Dmitrij Jaskin – Played for St. Louis, his first NHL game in nearly six weeks, and scored a goal in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. He had 15 points (4 G, 11 A) in 18 AHL games. Melker Karlsson – The 24-year-old undrafted free agent from Sweden picked up a couple assists in the 4-3 win over Edmonton. SHORT SHIFTS Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 29 shots he faced against Colorado, giving him a league-leading six shutouts…Ducks G Frederik Andersen stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 2-1 win at Montreal…Hurricanes G Cam Ward turned aside 25 of 26 Maple Leafs shots in a 4-1 win…Panthers G Roberto Luongo stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 shootout win at Philadelphia…Flyers G Steve Mason saved 31 of 32 shots in the loss. Hurricanes D Justin Faulk recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Toronto; it’s been a breakout offensive campaign for Faulk…Hurricanes D Andrej Sekera picked up a goal and an assist as well, giving him four points (1 G, 3 A) in the past four games…Hurricanes C Eric Staal had a pair of assists in Carolina’s win, which fits with expectations I wrote about earlier in the week…Capitals RW Eric Fehr had the overtime winning goal and an assist in a 5-4 win at Columbus; he has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past eight games…Panthers RW Scottie Upshall scored a goal, had 10 shot attempts (6 SOG) and 79.2% Corsi in 10:23 of ice time at Philadelphia…Penguins RW Steve Downie (14 for, 3 against, 82.4%) and RW Craig Adams (13 for, 2 against. 86.7%) were both plus-11 in shot attempts against Colorado…Hurricanes C Jay McClement had excellent possession (14 shot attempts for, 3 against, 82.4%) against Toronto. Seriously. Blue Jackets C Boone Jenner had 36.0% possession (9 for, 16 against) and was on for three goals against, none for, in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington…The Kings line of Tanner Pearson, Trevor Lewis and Tyler Toffoli all had better than 80% possession against St. Louis…Sharks C Joe Thornton had the club’s best possession stats (17 for, 5 against, 77.3%) in a 4-3 win over Edmonton…As Travis Yost pointed out on Twitter, among skaters with at least 400 minutes at 5-on-5 this season, Thornton leads the league with 58.8% Corsi. CORSI% LEADERS - MINIMUM 400 MINUTES PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% Joe Thornton San Jose C 58.8% Nick Leddy N.Y. Islanders D 58.5% Tomas Hertl San Jose LW 58.4% Patrice Bergeron Boston C 58.4% Anton Stralman Tampa Bay D 58.1% Jonas Brodin Minnesota D 58.1% Marian Hossa Chicago RW 58.0% Duncan Keith Chicago D 57.5% Jake Muzzin Los Angeles D 57.4% Blake Wheeler Winnipeg RW 57.2% FIRSTS Matt Tennyson – The 24-year-old Sharks defenceman registered his first NHL goal, in his eighth career game, during the Sharks’ 4-3 win over Edmonton. Scott Harrington – A second-round pick in 2011, Harrington played his first NHL game for Pittsburgh, skating 13:33 at Colorado. FANTASY FOCUS Five games tonight, five players to consider for your lineup: Evgeni Nabokov – He has an .893 save percentage and is not Tampa Bay’s best option with Ben Bishop out, but the Lightning are facing the Devils and goals have not come easily in New Jersey. Mika Zibanejad – I’m still pumping these tires. He’s the Senators’ leading scorer in December with nine points (5 G, 4 A) in eight games and, aside from last game, has recently been playing more minutes than earlier in the season. Thomas Hickey – As long as Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic are out, there are more minutes available on the Islanders blueline and Hickey is one of the prime beneficiaries. Mathieu Perreault – After a slow start to the year, Perreault has started to pick up the pace, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past seven games. Cody Eakin – He has a modest 11 point in 27 games this year, with one point in the past six, but Eakin has been moved to the Stars’ first power play unit. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '