And on their 94th shot attempt, the Carolina Hurricanes got a fourth puck past Kevin Lankinen.
The Vancouver Canucks goalie, pressed again into starting duties by another Thatcher Demko injury, made 34 saves and earned his desperate team a point in a 4-3 overtime loss Friday in North Carolina.
Defenceman Quinn Hughes became the eighth Canuck out of the lineup when he was unable to play one game after hurting his shoulder or arm against the Winnipeg Jets, and Filip Hronek was unlucky No. 9 late when he was targeted late in the third period with an unpenalized elbow to the head by Hurricane Andrei Svechnikov.
Canucks coach Adam Foote told reporters in Raleigh post-game that Hronek was pulled by concussion spotters, which may mean he will be available for Sunday’s road game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hughes, who took the morning skate on Friday, should be back in the lineup in Tampa.
The Canucks are frantically trying to hang on in the National Hockey League playoff race amid the injury crisis that appeared to be slowly improving until Demko went down Tuesday with a groin injury.
The Canucks, 8-9-2, will likely need another massive performance from Lankinen in Game 20.
They’ll also need opportunistic scoring like they had in Carolina, where fourth-line centre Max Sasson buried an early breakaway, top centre Elias Pettersson scored on a terrible turnover by Sean Walker and Conor Garland scored from Brock Boeser’s cross-ice pass as Vancouver’s power play went 1-for-2.
Despite shot attempts being 94-30 for the Hurricanes, and five-on-five high-danger scoring chances 21-2, Lankinen kept the Canucks in it. Svechnikov scored twice in 54 seconds early in the first period, but Vancouver led 3-2 until coverage broke down in front of Lankinen and Taylor Hall was able to score into an open net at 6:26 of the third period.
After the Canucks ragged the puck for most of overtime, despite the unavailability of quarterbacks Hughes and Hronek, Sebastian Aho won it for the Hurricanes at 4:29.
MVP EP40 GOES AWOL IN OT
On another night when Pettersson played like an elite centre — and scored like one — it was his uncharacteristic defensive mistake in overtime that gave Aho a free path to the net and the opportunity to score the 17th OT game-winner of his career.
Pettersson had a goal and assist, three blocks, two hits and went 14-8 on faceoffs in 20:04 of ice time. But he was caught on the wrong side of Aho near the blueline, anticipating a play out of the Canucks’ zone when the Hurricane whirled back towards the Vancouver net and lasered a shot into the top left corner past Lankinen.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin continues to search for a centre and reportedly is looking at another low-cost addition in David Kampf, the veteran fourth-liner and penalty-killer who agreed with the Toronto Maple Leafs to terminate his contract and is suddenly a free agent. But Vancouver’s original Pettersson has never been more valuable to his team.
DANGEROUS OFFICIATING
Missing eight guys due to injury tends to make teams especially sensitive about opposing players deliberately trying to hurt them. So the Canucks, who have previously been upset about the mystifying work of junior referee Carter Sandlak, would have been outraged when they saw behind-the-play footage of Svechnikov aiming, elevating and delivering an elbow to the side of Hronek’s head near the end of the third period.
Earlier in the period, Svechnikov appeared to slew foot Jake DeBrusk in open ice and, thus, may have been emboldened to continue trying to injure Canucks. He was not penalized for his blatant elbow after Hronek had released the puck in the corner, even with Sandlak standing about 10 feet away. Partnered by referee Pierre Lambert, Sandlak was puck watching.
Svechnikov was such a menace, he even injured teammate Seth Jarvis with a careless high-stick early in the first period. Sandlak and Lambert missed that one, too, and took a wild (and inaccurate) guess that Jarvis’ eye had been injured by a 50-times-per-game shove from behind by Marcus Pettersson, who was astounded to be penalized for cross-checking but spent only five seconds in the box before Svechnikov scored.
At least, the NHL will be fining or suspending Svechnikov for his dangerous headshot. It will, won’t it?
STAT PACK
When shot attempts are 94-30, you know there will be some grotesquely one-sided fancy stats.
With almost invisible Lukas Reichel as their centre, Canuck wingers Kiefer Sherwood (3-30) and Boeser (3-28) were caved in on five-on-five shot-attempts, as was the defence pairing of Hronek (5-43) and Elias Pettersson Junior (7-46). Although not nearly as exposed, Vancouver rookies Tom Willander (7-11) and Linus Karlsson (7-10) held their own.
Canuck defenceman Tyler Myers had a couple of awful shifts, which included a defensive-zone turnover that led directly to Svechnikov’s first goal at 4:20 of the first period, but had five of Vancouver’s 29 blocks and finished minus-one in 22:04 of ice time. Defenceman Marcus Pettersson logged 30:23 of TOI and was one of four Canucks to finish plus-one. Evander Kane had four of Vancouver’s 17 shots. Every Hurricane skater except William Carrier registered at least one shot.
QUOTEBOOK
Adam Foote: “It’s the closest you’ll see to a playoff game that we’ve had so far, and you’ll learn a lot from games like that. They pressure. You have to manage the puck or you’ll get burnt. They work continuous. It’s a good game for everyone to go through.
“(Lankinen) played so good. He battled and he was relentless. Like, he’s a true pro. The game could have went either way.”
