The Canucks finished off their February homestand with a thumping win over a team Vancouver fans still love to hate.
It was a near-unanimous comment Saturday from the Canucks before facing the Boston Bruins, who would be tired after having to fight hard to defeat the Calgary Flames on Friday night: sure, they’re among the league’s best, but they have to take advantage.
And they did, knocking off the Bruins 9-3 in front of a raucous crowd at Rogers Arena, posting their biggest win over the team. The closest they’ve come was an 8-5 win in 2018. And the first time since 1996 they scored nine goals.
Led by captain Bo Horvat and the Insurance Line, the Canucks dominated the Bruins from start to finish.
In a vintage performance Horvat scored a first-period power-play, helped create goals for both his linemates, picked up an assist along the way and also had a fight. It was the first Gordie Howe Hat Trick for a Canuck since Denis Pederson in October of 2000.
The Horvat-Tanner Pearson-Loui Eriksson was matched up all night against the Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak line and while Pastrnak tallied twice, the Insurance Line truthfully controlled play throughout.
“He plays 200 foot game and he shows up in big moments and that’s the type of player I want to be, and I look up to guys like that,” Horvat said of his matchup with Bergeron. “You want to have your best games against guys like that so I was extra motivated today for sure.”
Eriksson hit the cross-bar early and then hit the post twice before finally burying a goal late in the second period.
“We were just laughing at that, because I think it was like the second or third shift of the game, he buried one off the crossbar and you’re just like oh my god, like poor Loui, he’s never going to get one, but it’s nice to see him get one,” Horvat said.
The Canucks fired 17 shots on goal in a high-flying first period, Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask reminding onlookers more than once why he’s among the league’s best.
Second periods have been a challenge for Vancouver this season but not on this night as the Canucks scored three times. The period also featured a dust-up between Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and Tyler Myers as well as the full-on fisticuffs between Horvat and Charlie Coyle.
“I don’t know what it is,” Horvat said about his fight, the third of his career but the second against a Bruin. “I just get amped up for these games, especially in front of a home crowd it’s great and it’s always nice to get the win after that, too.”
The Bruins picked up two goals in the third, but it was too little, too late.
On top of the three goals from Horvat and Co., the Canucks also got goals from Troy Stecher, Adam Gaudette, Elias Petterson, Jake Virtanen and two third-period tallies by Tyler Toffoli while the Bruins’ other goal was scored by Chris Wagner.
Here’s what we learned…
Slickest of mitts
It was a toss-up on what was the more impressive feat in the Gaudette goal: was it Quinn Hughes’ deft puck placement on to the centreman’s stick, or was it Gaudette’s equally deft finish, flicking the puck up and over Rask’s shoulder?
Either way, it was the latest reminder that Hughes is an incredible talent and that Gaudette has come a long, long way on offence this season.
I wish Gaudette would show some emotion when he scores……come on man!!!
Horvat couldn’t have been any more open when the puck landed on his stick before he fired it over Rask’s shoulder to put the Canucks back in the lead on the Canucks’ first-period power play.
J.T. Miller laid a perfect pass to the wide-open Horvat, who now has nine power play goals on the season, one off his career high.
Horvat agreed, he’d never been more open in his career.
“No, I don’t think,” he replied, smiling. “I was like J.T., if you didn’t pass me that puck I probably would have been pretty upset at you so I was glad he got it to me and I was glad I was able to score it.”
Miller said he was happy that he’d heard Horvat call for a pass.
“I had my back to the play and if he didn’t yell for it I probably would have took my time since it was a power play. I probably would have just tried to get it set up but he did a good job to get in the right spot and I just tried to give it to him and obviously he did a good job burying it.”
Toffoli’s Titanic week
A week ago, Tyler Toffoli tallied a hat trick for the Los Angeles Kings at the outdoor Stadium Series game in Colorado. Monday he was traded to the Canucks.
Wednesday he picked up an assist in his debut.
Saturday, he scored twice and also picked up an assist. Seven points, three games, making headlines. Surely he’s a candidate to be an NHL star of the week?
“I’ve been in a spot like this before personally and, you know, not play the way I wanted to play before my career and I want to do well right now and if I’m doing well, that means I’m helping the team and winning games … winning games is a lot of fun.”
Loui Eriksson #21 of the Vancouver Canucks shoots the puck in net past goalie Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins during NHL action at Rogers Arena on February 22, 2020 in Vancouver, Canada.
Rich Lam /
Getty Images
Nothing like beating a goalie
Troy Stecher pointed out the reason for his great delight in scoring earlier this year was because it was the first time he’d beaten a goalie to score in some time.
When he opened the scoring against the Bruins, firing the puck from the side boards past Rask, he practically jumped through the end-glass in celebration. It’s been a trying few days for the Richmond blueliner, who finds himself in the midst of trade chatter for the first time in his NHL career, so it’s understandable why he might have been even more excited to score his fourth of the year.
That he had scored against the Bruins, the team he rooted against as a teenaged fan in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, also was a factor in his exaltation, it would seem.
“Yeah, I threw a pretty big fist pump, like that one it felt pretty good. I want to play in Vancouver you know, I take pride in playing at home, I take pride playing for our city and I try to represent our city as best as I can. Every time I put that jersey on I definitely want to win and it feels a little sweeter when you play the Bruins, just obviously being from Vancouver,” he said with a grin.
He chuckled about the goal itself, knowing it was a shot that Rask really should have stopped.
“It’s called luck for a reason,” he said. “Honestly I was just trying to shoot far-pad, kind of blocker-side, looking for a rebound.”
He’s been a quiet dynamo on the Canucks’ blueline again this season and lately has been in a shutdown role alongside Alex Edler. A pending free-agent this summer, he wants to stay in Vancouver but if this proves to have been his final game at home in blue and green, he went out on the highest of notes.
Boston Bruins forward Danton Heinen (43) clips Vancouver Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) with his stick during the first period at Rogers Arena.
Anne-Marie Sorvin /
USA TODAY Sports
In case you didn’t know…
Pastrnak is very good.
The move he pulled off to undress Jacob Markstrom on his first-period breakaway can be found in the dictionary under “big league moves.”
It’s no easy feat faking right then going left at full speed. Pastrnak added on a return move to his right, leaving the Canucks’ goalie sliding the wrong way.
It’s no surprise he has 44 goals on the season.
Markstrom laughed about the move.
“I think I went in the locker room and you know he got me in the corner,” he said with a grin. “Good play.”
Markstrom made a huge save on Pastrnak with time winding down in the second to keep the game at 5-1.
Pastrnak got his second goal on a third-period power play.
Just in case
Since emergency backup goaltenders are a topic of conversation after Toronto’s EBUG Dave Ayers got the win on Saturday for the Carolina Hurricanes over the Maple Leafs — a team he works for, by the way, raising no concerns about conflicts of interest or anything like that — the man who sits in the press box, ready to go just in case is usually UBC goalie Rylan Toth.
On Saturday it was Ben Maquignez, who is UBC’s third-stringer. He’s served in the role before, as has Toth’s normal backup Patrick Dea.
Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com
LISTEN: Ed Willes joins Paul Chapman to talk about the current plight of the Vancouver Canucks.
Is the trade for Tyler Toffoli a wise move for the franchise? Ed is not sour on the deal, but having spent a lot of time watching Tyler Madden last year, he feels the kid has a lot of potential.
They also get into the injury and the issues plaguing Brock Boeser, the team MVP candidates, and revisit Sedins Week and talk about the ups and downs of the 2000s as part of the Canucks at 50 series.
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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
