If I were to write a Valentine鈥檚 Day card today, it would read, 鈥淥h Bo, I miss you so!鈥� Things have been going so well for the line of Alex Burrows, Bo Horvat and Jannik Hansen, it comes as no surprise that he was injured during the game against the Sabres. With four points in his last two games, the Canucks greatly missed their leading scorer, especially against the high-flying Penguins when the entire Canucks team had no points in one game.
With a deep knee bruise, Horvat likely won鈥檛 be out for a lengthy amount of time, but if the injury hurt Ox enough to keep him out of the game, you know it鈥檚 no mere Bo-boo. I鈥檓 guessing his leg is hanging on by a thread.
The lines have already been mixed up with the loss of Sven Baertschi, but with Horvat out Willie Desjardins went full 鈥溾�� I have no idea what to make of the lines. Some truly unexpected combinations occurred, like Jannik Hansen on the power play. I watched the lines (and the team鈥檚 confidence) blended into a fine mist when I watched this game.
- Also missing from action was birthday boy Brandon Sutter, who fell awkwardly on his hand against the Sabres. With him and Horvat out, 麻豆传媒映画lost a good deal of its faceoff prowess, and it showed. The Penguins won the majority of the draws, leading to a lot more possession. When a team has Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang, keeping the puck off their sticks is half the battle. The other half is scoring goals against a league beating goaltender while missing two top scorers.
- The first period was like happy hour in a midwest bar: Miller was absolutely everywhere. Though he stayed cold as ice and very frosty all period, I wouldn鈥檛 say any of the Penguins that were denied by Ryan Miller would call his performance refreshing. He kept 麻豆传媒映画in it until near the end. His best saves came against Jake Guentzel in the first, a desperate blocker lunge, and Phil Kessel in the second period, a right pad stunner. The latter had Phil Kessel screaming indistinct profanities in a high, irritating, quavering voice, otherwise known as his normal voice. Watch the language, Philthy.
- The line of Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen continues to look good. Hansen had a fine opportunity, besting Brian Dumoulin and nearly fooling Matt Murray. Late in the first period, Burrows rushed in to gain the offensive zone, then feathered a pass to Hansen, who elected to send it back to Burrows. Both players are playing with flash, creativity and confidence, which means they will soon be traded away, along with what remains of our joy.
- With his main offensive squeeze out of action, Willie Desjardins finally showed some loving feelings towards Brendan Gaunce, giving him the Valentine鈥檚 Day present of prime ice time centring Burrows and Hansen. And he looked good, flashing more firepower than one might expect. (Given more than 7 minutes of ice time per game, he was an immediate scoring threat in Utica, with three points in four games.) Noticing he was playing well, Willie Desjardins imposed standard Willie Logic and demoted him to the fourth line, replacing him with Michael Chaput. Regardless, if Horvat is out for more games, I hope Desjardins gives Gaunce more opportunities on that line.
- Five minutes into the second period, the fourth line got penned in their own zone against the Malkin and Co. Though Luca Sbisa made a timely block, the high octane scoring of the Pens鈥� second top line was too much. Trevor Daley handed the puck to Olli Maatta, who spied Malkin right in the crease. Maatta鈥檚 perfect pass found its mark and Malkin shoveled home a tally to give Pittsburgh the lead on its 16th shot.
- Halfway through the second period, Sidney Crosby鈥檚 line set up camp in Vancouver鈥檚 living room and seriously overstayed their welcome. Despite the Canucks yawning, coughing awkwardly and repeatedly exclaiming, 鈥淲ell! Look at the time!鈥� the Pens didn鈥檛 get the hint. They even managed to change lines several times without losing the zone. It was like watching a seriously 鈥榬oided up, entirely .
- Markus Granlund hit the post on a return rush along with the Sedin twins. He showed nearly perfect Finnish; it was a beautiful backhand shot, made more noticeable by the fact that it came on the first such rush of the period.
- Jack Skille had a prime opportunity to tie up the score. Loui Eriksson sent him away on a partial breakaway, and his shot was perfect. Too bad that Matt Murray was perfecter. More perfect. Many of perfection. Before the game, a lovelorn Murray was heard singing that. You know the one: 鈥淐an anybody find me somebody to glove?鈥� His wish was answered. Murray flashed the leather and snapped the shot out of mid-air. Later, in the third period, Skille had another one-on-one moment with Mr. Murray, again being denied. A Skille thrille was not to be fulfille-d.
- In the third period, Crosby decided to be extra sweet to his linemate and current friend crush, Jake Guentzel. After an atrocious giveaway by Daniel Sedin, Guentzel burst down the middle, blasting right past Alex Edler, fired a pass to Crosby at the side of the net. Sid sent it right back to Guentzel who was wide open and found the back of the net.
- After extensive study of the effects of Horvat, Baertschi and Sutter's absence, Malkin pinpointed Vancouver鈥檚 current weakness: hockey. I wouldn鈥檛 say he flew into the 麻豆传媒映画zone, more like a casual skate. He glided up to the front of the net and waited in front of Chris Tanev. A backchecking Luca Sbisa decided to cover the side of the net that didn鈥檛 have a player waiting, rather than the side that had Phil Kessel standing there. Hrm. I can鈥檛 be too harsh on him though, as Sbisa was the only one bothering to backcheck at all. Malkin dished a pass to Kessel, and Kessel, like a husband who surprises his wife with a Bahamian vacation, scored easily.
- The Pens weren鈥檛 done yet. Troy Stecher threw a puck into the corner, where it was retrieved by former Canuck Nick Bonino and sent right back in front of the net. The veteran Matt Cullen plain outworked Alex Edler and Stecher, bulling his way into the crease and slipping a backhand past a furious Ryan Miller.
- The game put Crosby at 999 career points. He was hungry to break that barrier, but 麻豆传媒映画was fearful that league computers were not set up to handle P1K. Unfortunately they had zero safeguards in place against Malkinware, which thoroughly infected the system, and now .
