Two teams that were supposed to be headed in opposite directions met on Wednesday night in Vancouver. The Vancouver Canucks were supposed to struggle this season, while the Calgary Flames have designs on returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But in their season-opener – a 5-2 victory for Vancouver – the teams looked quite the opposite of the expectations many have for them. The youthful Canucks were poised, composed and structured, while the scrappy Flames showed strong efforts at times at even strength, but paradoxically struggled to generate any pressure on their power play.
The Canucks excelled at clogging up the middle of the ice and forcing the Flames to the perimeter, particularly on the Flames' power play. The home side also saw great success playing a counter-punch game, scoring a pair of goals immediately after killing penalites and another pair generated off point shots and rebounds. The highlight of the evening for Vancouver was a picturesque wrist shot from Elias Pettersson that beat Mike Smith high on his glove side for the rookie's first NHL goal.
Speaking of Pettersson, it was quite the debut for the 19-year-old Swede, who was the fifth overall selection in the 2017 draft. Making the most of his limited ice-time (9:46), Pettersson had the sweet goal and an assist on Nikolay Goldobin's score in the third period.
The Flames were a Jekyll and Hyde group throughout the 60 minutes. When playing the structured forechecking game that new head coach Bill Peters trumpets, they were quite effective. Both of their third period goals – from Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan – were created by structure and a willingness to fling pucks at the net. Rookie Dillon Dube created a pair of strong scoring chances through his speed and tenacity.
However, the Flames faced a familiar challenge: their own power play. The club was ranked 28th at converting man advantages last season and their struggles continued despite all the new faces, generating just six shots over seven unsuccessful power plays. They consistently struggled to gain the zone and set up their offensive zone structure, which resulted in their advantages actually sapping any momentum their even strength play created.
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Calgary'sd first power play came early on when Canucks defenseman Eric Gudbranson took a run at Calgary rookie Dillon Dube and was assessed an interference minor just 1:50 into the game. The Flames failed to make Gudbranson pay for that indescretion, though shortly thereafter Travis Hamonic did challenge the Vancouver d-man to a fight. That did not work out so well either as Gudbranson decisively won the fight and Hamonic was lost for much of the first period before returning with a full shield on his helmet.
Given their youth and lack of high-end depth, it's unlikely that the Canucks can trot out 82 performances similar to Wednesday night's. But against their most bitter rival, they played a structured, road-style game and managed to stymie the Flames' scoring chances for much of the game. Jacob Markstrom was good when his defensemen were not, but the whole team deserves credit for a solid first effort.
As for the Flames, they could still easily become a dangerous team, but need to stick to their structure and also sort out the putrid power play.