Vancouver Canucks Score 4 Unanswered, Beat Hurricanes 4-3 OT
The Vancouver Canucks, projected by most to finish last in the league this season, are 2-0 after opening weekend.
Brandon Sutter did it again — the centre scored 32 seconds into overtime to win the game for the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. The prior night, Sutter had scored the shootout winner against the Calgary Flames.
“To come from behind twice like that in our own rink is big, something that we didn’t do very well last year,” said Sutter. Last season’s record proves that: the Canucks had 27 three-plus-goal games and lost 20 of them. They simply didn’t seem to find a way to be competitive once they fell behind. So, this was a step in the right direction.
Sutter continued: “it seemed like those close games at the start of the year last year, we ended up losing in overtime and shootouts.” Again, he’s right. Last season, the Canucks had 42 one-goal games but only won 17 of them. Of the 25 they lost, 13 were in overtime or the shootout.
Especially for Sutter, these moments must be special. After being traded to Vancouver in 2015, he missed all but 20 games in his first season for the Canucks.
Against the Hurricanes, Sutter grabbed the puck and shot up the right wing, moving past a Carolina defenseman before sniping the puck into the top left corner. This is what the Canucks want to see, and it should give Sutter a major boost in confidence.
The 2015-16 season was a year to forget for the Canucks. To come back from a 3-0 deficit is huge, and should boost everyone’s confidence going into a long season.
Speaking of a long season, the Canucks still have 82 games to go. Winning two of them is a good start, but it doesn’t tell us much about what is to come. The team is 2-0, but they are still without a regulation win.
One thing that needs to happen, much like last season, is for head coach Willie Desjardins to find a working lineup as soon as possible. What’s more, he needs to keep it the way it is and not switch it up again and again.
After the Canucks failed to produce much offence in the season opener with seemingly random lines, Desjardins went back to what worked in preseason for the second game.
Against Carolina, the three regulation goals came from three different lines. Sutter’s, Bo Horvat’s and Brendan Gaunce’s lines all scored. The only one without a goal was that of Henrik Sedin, and we know we don’t need to worry about that (yet).
Keep the lines together, go into game three with confidence, and see where it goes.
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