Canucks boast depth in downing Bruins
BOSTON — OK, let’s see if we can figure out how this is happening because it doesn’t make sense that the Vancouver Canucks’ thinnest lineup in years is producing their biggest wins of the season.
First, there’s this Zack Kassian fellow. Hockey hair and teeth, great hands, still trying to figure it all out. Last Thursday he couldn’t get in the lineup, but Alex Burrows becomes the seventh injured Canuck, Kassian goes from the press box to the first line and Tuesday he scored his second straight game-winner.
There’s also a defenceman named Ryan Stanton. Better barber than Kassian, same dentist. Was a healthy scratch four straight games a month ago. Got back into the lineup on Feb. 3 against the Winnipeg Jets and the Canucks are 8-4 since then. Stanton logged 22:52 on Sunday, and followed that up Tuesday by playing 20:44 and throwing in five blocks and a goal. Also saved a goal by pulling the puck off the goal-line with his hand, which technically is a penalty shot but whatever.
There’s also this goalie Eddie Lack. Built like a fishing rod, funny as hell. Everybody loves him, but for three weeks in January nobody saw him play. Tuesday, he stopped 40 of 41 shots in the 2-1 win over the Boston Bruins. Could have gotten in a fight at the end, which would have made him more popular back home than Stanley Park. Anyway, he’s the starting goalie now and he has stopped 83 of the last 84 shots he has faced. Not sure if there’s a fancy stat that shows these saves should be dismissed because they’re the product of poor shooting, but 83 out of 84 seems pretty good.
So, no, we have no idea how the Canucks are doing this.
But we’re getting less surprised by it all the time.
In the first game of his second try as the Canucks’ starting goalie, filling in for indefinitely-injured Ryan Miller, Lack was spectacular as his team improved to 3-1 on a five-game road trip that was supposed to sink them. With a National Hockey League-leading 19 road wins, the Canucks are second in the Pacific Division and were five points clear of the Los Angeles Kings, pending the Stanley Cup champions’ game late Tuesday night.
“That’s big for Eddie, and for the team, too,” Canuck winger Daniel Sedin said. “We have a lot of trust in him. But if things start to go bad, they can snowball, so this was definitely a big one.”
Lack, who is least excited when discussing his accomplishments, said: “It’s a big win, and one more and then we’re going home.”
The Canucks’ confounding, delightful road trip through the arctic eastern U.S. ends Thursday against the putrid Buffalo Sabres. Should be another win but, as the last week has proved, you never know.
Kassian snatched the game-winner at 6:47 of the third period, collecting a puck off the boards, turning at the top of the right-wing faceoff circle and hammering a slapshot over the catching glove of Bruin goalie Tuukka Rask. As with all the great goal-scorers, Kassian was largely invisible until he popped up out of nowhere to score.
He has four goals in three games and seven in his last nine — interrupted by a healthy scratch last Thursday in New York. In 26 games before that, Kassian had scored twice.
“When you’re not in the lineup, you have to look yourself in the mirror and try to figure out a way to help the team,” Kassian said. “I came in when Burr got hurt and got a lucky bounce (Friday in New Jersey) and kind of just took off from there. I just want to keep working and help this team any way I can.”
We should all accept that this may be the Kassian Century. But Stanton eclipsed him on Tuesday because not only did the stay-at-home defenceman score, he made the critical (if illegal) goal-line save in the second period after Lack had somehow robbed Daniel Paille while lying on the ice and wearing Bruin Carl Soderberg as a bib.
“I don’t think that fast to start with, so when I saw a puck on the goal-line, I just kind of took a swipe at it,” Stanton said. “The last thing on my mind was taking a penalty; I just wanted to make sure it didn’t get in our net. It just feels good to be playing and winning.”
We bet it does.
GAME ESSENTIALS
THE DEBRIEF
In the first game of his second try as the Vancouver Canucks’ starting goalie, Eddie Lack, made 40 saves and stopped the last 39 shots he faced as his injury-depleted team beat the Boston Bruins 2-1. Zack Kassian scored an opportunistic winner at 6:47 of the third period, his fourth goal in three games, and defenceman Ryan Stanton also scored. Canuck penalty-killers went 4-for-4 as Vancouver won for the sixth time in eight games during the health crisis.
KEY MOMENT
It could have been a goal, should have been a penalty shot, but was neither for Boston. With 7 1/2 minutes left in the middle period and the score 1-1, Lack made a spectacular left-arm save on Daniel Paille as Bruin Carl Soderberg fell on the goalie. The whistle blew because Lack’s mask came off, but not before Vancouver’s Stanton used his hand to twice clear the puck off the goal-line during the scramble.
BY THE NUMBERS
An assist on Kassian’s game-winner extended Henrik Sedin’s points streak to five games … The Canucks’ two-game season sweep of the Bruins makes Vancouver 4-1 since losing to Boston in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final … D Alex Biega’s six hits gave him 15 in two games and helped the Canucks outhit the Bruins 28-25 … Bruin C Patrice Bergeron was an absurd 31-7 on faceoffs, and D Torey Krug launched 14 shots at the Canuck goal, six on target.
LINEUP UPDATE
C Nick Bonino returned to the Canuck lineup for the first time since blocking a shot with his foot on Feb. 9. In the second period he was beaned in the ankle by a Stanton’s pass, and in the third pegged on the inside of the knee by a Bruin pass. Bonino’s return forced Brandon McMillan out of the lineup and reduced to seven the number of injured Canucks.
NEXT UP
The Canucks, who haven’t practised since last Wednesday, were leaning toward cancelling a scheduled practice Wednesday in Buffalo. Players were given days off Saturday and Monday. Coach Willie Desjardins is trying to keep his team fresh on its five-game trip, which ends Thursday against the Sabres. That game was supposed to be an emotional homecoming for ex-Sabre Ryan Miller, but the Canuck goalie was injured Sunday and sent back to Vancouver.
imacintyre@vancouversun.com
Twitter.com/imacvansun
