Canucks off to 2 & 0 start despite giving up three power play goals in first two games
Canucks off to 2 & 0 start despite giving up three power play goals in first two games
Lost in the euphoria of the Canucks 2-0 start is the fact their penalty killing is sitting at 72.7% -- a shade above where it finished last season when it was dead last in the National Hockey League. Now it is a remarkably small sample size of just two games and context here certainly matters. The Canucks killed off eight of the 11 penalties they took against Edmonton in their first two games of the season giving up 19 shots on goal.
It's important to remember the Oilers had the best power play in the modern history of the NHL last season converting at a 32.4% clip. So to hold the Oilers to a 27.3% success rate over the first two games actually represents a victory of sorts for the Canucks new-look penalty killers even if the overall percentage is nowhere close to where it needs to be over the balance of the schedule.
Starting tonight in Philadelphia, however, the Canucks won't have to worry about Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the Oilers potent power play. Well, at least not until they see them for a third time on November 6th. But beginning with the Flyers, the Canucks can start to grade their penalty killing against the rest of the NHL.
Philadelphia enters the night with one power play goal in its first nine opportunities so far this season (11.1%).
As for the Canucks penalty kill, it's important to remember that none of Carson Soucy, Teddy Blueger or Ilya Mikheyev has skated a shift yet this season. So reinforcements are on their way.
In the meantime, based on the first two games of the season, Ian Cole (7:51), JT Miller (7:09), Filip Hronek (5:50), Quinn Hughes (5:45) and Elias Pettersson (5:33) lead the Canucks in short-handed ice time. Against Edmonton, Cole and Miller -- doing the bulk of the heavy lifting -- were on the ice for all three of the power play goals surrendered while Hronek and Sam Lafferty were on for two apiece.
To their credit, though, Cole and Miller along with Tyler Myers managed to kill off 52 seconds of a two-man advantage with the Canucks clinging to a 4-3 lead with 12 minutes remaining in Saturday's showdown. It was a huge key to Vancouver holding on for the one-goal victory.
If there is a surprise in the allocation of short-handed ice time in the early going it's that Pius Suter is sixth among all Canucks forwards spending just 2:01 on the penalty kill through the first two games and has not taken a short-handed face-off. Yet in those 121 seconds with Suter on the kill, the Oilers were held to just one shot attempt and no shots on goal.
JT Miller has taken on the bulk of the early season short-handed face-offs going three for eight (37.5%) while Elias Pettersson is one for two (50%) and Sam Lafferty is 0 for three. The hope is that Teddy Blueger will give the Canucks another short-handed face-off option whenever he gets medical clearance to make his season debut.
A year ago, the Canucks had already surrendered four power plays through their first two games. So on that count, they've already shown signs of progress. And quite remarkably, the team permitted at least one power play goal in 15 of its first 16 outings last season. Starting tonight against the Flyers, the Canucks will try to show that the hockey club has made significant strides in a key area of its game.
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