Canucks 6, Senators 2: Ending on a High Note

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There hasn’t been much joy in the world of the Vancouver Canucks lately.

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They weren’t getting any bounces. They weren’t playing terribly. But they found no victory.

But in their last two games on this five-game East road trip, they encountered two opponents who are even more spread out than they are.

Two days after beating the Montreal Canadiens, the Canucks defeated the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night at Canadian Tire Place in Kanata, Ontario, winning 6-2.

Senators fought all night to complete passes. The Canucks, who have done a good job all season maintaining control of the puck on the offensive side but struggled to get the puck into the end areas, did so often tonight.

The opposition in these two victories has not been very great. The Canadiens are a mess without Shea Weber, Philip Danault and Carey Price in the lineup and the Senators have some fun young stars, but they’re not a cohesive bunch and they lack depth. They are what you get when you have an owner whose finances are a question mark and a GM who has made a series of bad plays with little margin for error.

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NEXT GAME

Saturday

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Vancouver Canucks

7 pm, Rogers Arena, TV: CBC, Sportsnet Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650

The Canucks are heading home a bit tall for a December stretch that will see them play just two road games for the entire month, but their immediate schedule presents a huge challenge.

They have five games in eight days to start from the stands at home, as He will face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, the Winnipeg Jets on December 10 and the Carolina Hurricanes on December 12.

It will not be an easy stretch.

On the night, the Canucks scored goals from Tanner Pearson, Tyler Myers, Luke Schenn, Bo Horvat, Alex Chiasson and JT Miller, while the Senators’ first count came from Adam Gaudette, who was playing his first game with Ottawa after being collected. off the Chicago Blackhawks waivers on the weekend. It was also the first time Gaudette faced the Canucks since he was traded last season at the trade deadline.

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Brady Tkachuk scored the Senators ‘second goal in garbage time, following a run in which the Canucks’ defensive structure was never reestablished and the Senators captain found himself out of control in front of the net, with players like Miller. and Kyle Burroughs just watching.

Miller closed the scoring with a wonderful end-to-end effort, working his way through a very tame defensive effort by the Senators on their blue line before sliding the puck past Ottawa goalkeeper Filip Gustavsson.

This is what we learned …

A familiar blunder

Defensive play was not Gaudette’s strong suit when he was in Vancouver, so it was only fitting that it was the newest Ottawa senator who missed his man, leaving Tanner Pearson on the loose to score the opening goal from the top of the table. senators area.

It was Pearson’s eighth goal in 13 games against Ottawa.

Another option

It was difficult to see what Gaudette thought he saw in Motte’s goal as he turned right in the middle of three Canucks, landing and flipping the puck for Motte to finish.

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Maybe it was about a player playing his first game for his new team and he just didn’t know where his teammates might be.

The little things

An escape pass attempt that bounced off one foot and turned to ice led to the power play that ended with Gaudette scoring.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s breakaway pass missed and went all the way across the ice, trapping the Canucks on ice for a showdown on their own end. The senators then pinned them down, winning discus battle after discus battle, until the Canucks were finally able to clear the area, but barely.

Chiasson, trying to create a little more space for his teammates, showed how silly mistakes are made when you’re tired when he hooked Thomas Chabot and they called him a foul.

And then the Senators managed to get Canucks’ woeful death penalty triggered, leaving Gaudette discovered on the side of the net, with the former Canuck firing a single timer past Demko, then showing off his enthusiastic goal celebration to fans of Ottawa for the first time. .

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Total domain

Senators are not good. They have a great collection of young players, so finding their rhythm as NHLers is always a question mark.

But given how bad the shoots were, you can’t help but wonder how much of the story was about coaching as well.

They just seem like a group that is not sure where they are supposed to be.

It all added up to mean that the Canucks, who haven’t been good at breakups this season, dominated the game.

There’s been a lot of talk about the future of Travis Green, but given how bad things are in Ottawa, how much longer can DJ Smith’s position behind the Senators’ bench be viable?

Not much yet

The Canucks head coach has clearly made the decision to leave his superstar alone and not ask too much of him.

Elias Pettersson had another quiet night, worrying given how poor the opponent was, as he did not get a shot on goal and played just under 13 minutes into the night.

In contrast, Miller and Horvat played close to 20 minutes, as Green has come to lean heavily on his other two offensive-minded centers, leaving Pettersson essentially as a cleaner.

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