Late in the second period of yet another gut-wrenching outing for the Vancouver Canucks, a deflated Brock Boeser skated over after a whistle to share a few words with Jacob Markstrom.
In the midst of yet another Vezina-type clinic to open his return engagement to the west coast the longtime Canucks netminder likely wasn’t being congratulated for his good fortune on the ice or in free agency.
A frustrated Boeser had just redirected one off the post, as part of a series of fortuitous bounces that conspired to extend Vancouver’s losing string to six.
Who could blame the Canucks’ frustrated forward for getting a few things off his chest with the man who is now a perfect 3-0 against his former team, stopping 33 of 34 in his latest heist.
“Oh, I can’t remember,” said Marsktrom, breaking into a smile when asked what Boeser said.
“I try to focus on just stopping the puck. It’s extra tough in games like these, when you’re playing against guys that have been close friends and you see every day and are still close friends. For me personally, I really need to try to focus extra hard in these games and not to get derailed and worry about anything else but stopping the puck.”
Um, mission accomplished.
Again.
As Flames fans moaned about their team spending yet another first period on their heels, Markstrom continued his mastery over the team he left in the fall, stopping 92 of their 95 shots so far.
It gave the Flames their third win in a row, despite being outshot (34-26), out-chanced and outplayed.
“Sometimes you’re going to have to win like that on the road, especially against a team as desperate as they were tonight,” said Mark Giordano, who opened the scoring with 85 seconds left in the first period.
“They’re not all going to be pretty ones, especially on the road. I thought we played a great road game.”
They certainly played an opportunistic one.
Both of the Flames’ first two goals came exactly one second after their power play expired, and in both cases, the puck bounced in off of Canucks defenders.
Goalscorers Andrew Mangiapane and Giordano certainly weren’t about to make any apologies for those, as by the Flames’ count they’ve been victimized by a half-dozen bounces so far.
It’s one of the only ways to beat Markstrom these days.
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Early in the second period the Canucks tied it 1-1 when Boeser banged in a rebound that sat on the goal line after Markstrom stopped his initial shot on a breakaway.
Mangiapane’s lucky bounce off two defenders gave the Flames a lead late in the second, setting up Johnny Gaudreau’s insurance marker six minutes into the third.
The Flames had just killed off the Canucks’ fourth power play when Sean Monahan stepped out of the box, stole the puck and sent Gaudreau in alone on a breakaway with the type of sick flip pass No. 13 generally delivers.
Gaudreau outraced Tyler Myers to the net and beat Thatcher Demko with a rocket for his eighth of the year, putting the Flames up 3-1 for good.
“I’m trying to shoot a little bit more,” said Gaudreau, who is now near the top of the league with a 28.5% shooting percentage.
“A lot of teams know I like to pass. If I get the shot I’m trying to take it. I’m trying to not be too cute this year.”
Having flipped the script on their season Saturday night against Edmonton, the Flames took their first step towards making good on the golden opportunity in front of them.
With three more games in a row against a reeling Canucks club, they aren’t going to get many better chances to string together the type of streak that can erase their poor start to the season.
“We haven’t had the start we wanted, results-wise,” said Markstrom, who has backstopped the 7-5-1 club to every one of its wins.
“We’re fighting back and we want to climb up in the positioning in the division, so we want to go on a run. Tonight (Vancouver) came out flying, literally. They play such a fast game and in the first period, we didn’t really find our legs at the start. They’re a desperate team and they played a great game today. We’re happy we got away with the two points.”
NOTES:
Eight minutes into the first period the Canucks recognized Markstrom, Chris Tanev and Josh Leivo with a video tribute, thanking them for their services. It drew stick taps from both benches, which included a tap from a distracted Tanev who was talking to trainers and was oblivious to why he was tapping. Very funny … Tanev when asked in the second intermission if the team was relying too much on Markstrom the first two periods: “Yep. 100%. He’s made some big saves. We’ve got to wake up here.” They did, outshooting the Canucks 12-10 in the final stanza … The Flames went with the same lineup they used in Saturday’s win … Calgary-born Jay Beagle celebrated his 600th NHL game and had the occasion marked by a rink-side sign drawn by his kids, congratulating him … Canucks winger Justin Bailey left the game early in the second period with an apparent shoulder injury after being pasted by Milan Lucic into the boards … The Canucks are now 0-for-10 when allowing the first goal … They play again Saturday to cap Hockey Day in Canada.
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