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Canucks lose on OT penalty shot in scrappy game in Detroit

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Feb 10 2024, 8:52 pm
Canucks lose on OT penalty shot in scrappy game in Detroit
Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports

The Canucks third period brilliance vanished on Saturday morning.

Although the Canucks had a stellar 29-0-1 record when leading after two periods, they blew a 3-1 lead in the third period and ended up losing 4-3 in overtime. Red Wings defenceman Jake Walman scored the overtime winner on his first career penalty shot.

It was actually the Canucks first blown multi-goal lead in the third period during Rick Tocchet’s tenure.

Walman got a chance to end the game after he was lightly cross-checked by Quinn Hughes on a breakaway in overtime.

Some fans weren’t too happy with the call.

While it might have been soft, the cross-check did impede Walman on his breakaway chance.

Despite loss, Hughes & Hronek haunt Red Wings

While Wings fans are surely happy about their come-from-behind win, it can’t feel good to see Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek tear it up in Canucks colours.

Even though Hughes’ cross-check effectively ended the game, it was a good night for both him and his partner.

Hronek in particular had a stellar return to Little Caesars Arena, were he spent the first six seasons of his career. The 26-year-old registered two assists and scored on a breakaway midway through the second period.

Hronek is now up to 29 points this season, which ties a career high. Impressive stuff, considering the Canucks still have 30 games to go.

At even strength, the Canucks continue to tilt the ice heavily when Hughes and Hronek are out there together. Tonight, they were on the ice for nine of the Canucks 19 scoring chances. Hronek was on the ice for all three Canucks goals.

Not only did the Red Wings trade away Hronek, who’s leveled up after a career-best season last year, but the also passed over Hughes in the 2018 NHL Draft in favour of Filip Zadina.

Zadina was waived by the Wings earlier this season, while Hughes is in the running for NHL MVP. Hronek is also top-10 in scoring among NHL defencemen.

Sorry, Detroit.

Pettersson and Höglander reunited

Nils Höglander, who’s been one of the best fourth-liners in the NHL, finally earned a promotion alongside Elias Pettersson as Rick Tocchet shuffled his lines.

The move paid off for the Canucks.

Höglander opened the scoring for the Canucks after he redirected a Hronek shot.

Later in the same period, that line added another even strength tally, this time off the stick of Pettersson.

It wasn’t all perfect, as that line was on the ice when the Red Wings tied the game. However, Höglander looked much more dangerous on Pettersson’s wing than Ilya Mikheyev has in recent weeks.

Pius Suter was the third man on that line, and he had a decent chance himself late in the second period and overall, didn’t look out of place alongside Pettersson and Höglander.

Canucks penalty kill shines during chippy affair

The Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings don’t play much, but they battled each other like old rivals on Saturday morning.

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond got hit hard on a couple of occasions, but this headshot from Nikita Zadorov rattled him especially.

The hit led to Zadorov being tossed from the game.

When the Canucks were 10 seconds away from killing off the major penalty against Zadorov, a high stick by Hronek on Dylan Larkin led to another two minutes of shorthanded ice time.

The Canucks successfully killed off nearly seven minutes of consecutive shorthanded ice time, and Hronek scored on his breakaway right after exiting the penalty box.

They did allow a power play goal in the third period, which took the shine off of their impressive seven minute kill. Nonetheless, the Canucks’ have killed off 43 of 51 penalties since Christmas, good for a 84.3% success rate shorthanded (ninth in the NHL during that span).

The game itself had a number of scrums, capped off by a scrap between Ian Cole and Alex DeBrincat.

We’ll see if the Canucks put forth as scrappy of an effort on Sunday morning, as they get right back to it against the Washington Capitals at 10:30 am.

Trevor BeggsTrevor Beggs
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