SportsHockeyCanucks

Canucks post one of their best first periods ever in win over Senators

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Jan 3 2024, 5:37 am
Canucks post one of their best first periods ever in win over Senators
Pettersson scored twice in a convincing Canucks win over the Senators. (Bob Frid/USA TODAY Sports)

Coaches in hockey often want their teams to play a full 60 minutes. Well, on Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks didn’t have to.

The Canucks started 2024 off right by posting one of their best first periods ever en route to a 6-3 win over the struggling Ottawa Senators.

Five of the Canucks goals came in the first period of the hockey game. It was the 12th time in franchise history that the Canucks scored at least five goals in the first period, and only the fourth time this century that they’ve accomplished that feat.

“A couple of lucky bounces went our way but I thought we earned them,” J.T. Miller said postgame. “We definitely came ready to play, and it was obviously nice to have a five-goal lead.”

The last time Vancouver scored five goals in a first period was back on October 28, 2019 against the Florida Panthers.

Four of the players to score in the first period of that game are no longer in the NHL (Brandon Sutter, Tim Schaller, Jake Virtanen, and Josh Leivo).

The lone goal scorer from that game who’s still in the league, also scored in the first period tonight for the Canucks.

Miller busts scoring skid

One of the talking points heading into the game was how Miller’s goal scoring had dried up of late.

Well, so much for that.

After scoring just twice in his last 16 games, Miller scored his 16th goal in the first period, his first marker in nine games.

Of course, goals aren’t all that matters, and that’s especially true for Miller. He came into the game tied for fifth in league scoring, and had 16 assists to go along with his two goals over his last 16 games.

He is on pace for his lowest shot total per game in three years, which makes sense when Miller spends most of the game playing alongside one of the league’s leading goal scorers: Brock Boeser.

Pettersson continues to terrorize Senators

Elias Pettersson has terrorized a number of opponents across the NHL throughout his young career, but there might not be a team he likes playing more than the Senators.

The 25-year-old scored twice on Tuesday, giving him 20 points in 13 career games against Ottawa.

Pettersson has scored 10 career goals against the Sens, making them just the third NHL team that he’s scored at least 10 goals against.

His 1.53 points-per-game rate against Ottawa is his second-best mark against one team. The only other team Pettersson has a better points-per-game rate against is the St. Louis Blues (19 points in 12 games, 1.58 points-per-game).

It was actually five years ago today that Pettersson recorded his first NHL hat trick, which he did by potting an overtime winner against the Senators.

There wasn’t as much drama in tonight’s game, as Pettersson scored the third and fifth goals for the Canucks during a dominant first period.

Suter’s big night

Secondary scoring this year has been huge for the Canucks, namely thanks to their brilliant third line.

The secondary scoring was evident on Tuesday night, although it came from a different source.

Pius Suter, who’s been red hot since returning from injury, led the Canucks with three points on the night, including two goals.

On his first goal, he made a nifty play to glove the puck down and quickly bury it behind Senators goalie Anton Forsberg.

His second goal was definitely a weird one, as the puck took a funny hop and bounced over the pad of Joonas Korpisalo, who previously came into the game to replace Forsberg.

New Year’s Resolution: Complete

Ian Cole might have unofficially become the quickest human being to ever complete a New Year’s resolution.

Yesterday, an article was posted to the Canucks website and a number of players were asked what their New Year’s resolution was.

Cole’s resolution was pretty straightforward.

ā€œMy New Yearā€™s resolution is to score a goal, having a zero next to my name is so annoying,” Cole said in the article. “Iā€™ve hit like four posts and feel like Iā€™m getting good chances.ā€

Well, less than 18 hours into the New Year, Cole potted his first goal as a member of the Canucks.

It was Cole’s first goal in over a calendar year. He last scored on December 13th, 2022 when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Canucks currently lead Pacific Division

For most of the season, the Canucks have either trailed the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings by points or points percentage.

Well, now they lead their division rivals in both categories.

The Canucks currently have the fourth-best points percentage in the NHL, trailing only the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets.

Trevor BeggsTrevor Beggs
+ Offside
+ Hockey
+ Canucks

SUBSCRIBE TO THE HIVE

Get the latest news sent to your inbox and stay in the loop