Heading into Saturday night’s matchup between Vancouver and Ottawa, both teams were looking for a win. The Senators were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and the Canucks were in the middle of a two-game losing streak. This game was also a special game for Canucks forward Max Sassoon as he was playing in his first NHL game. The game was also slightly more significant for both teams because the all-Canadian matchup was the prime time game for Hockey Night in Canada’s slate of Saturday night games.
Game Recap
The game started scoreless and somewhat eventless in the first half of the first period until Vancouver took a massive penalty over 12 minutes into the game. Canucks captain Quinn Hughes was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Senators forward Josh Norris. Norris was trying to circle his way behind the net and Hughes chased him there. The Canucks captain then two-hand cross-checked him into the boards and Norris went face-first into the glass. The referee could have easily called cross-checking on the play but instead went with boarding.
Norris, although shaken up, stayed in the game. The Senators were given a five-minute power play that they were unable to capitalize on. After the Canucks killed off the penalty, they were given a power play of their own and scored on it. Conor Garland received the pass on the left wing boards and fired the puck on the net and Jake DeBrusk tipped it past Linus Ullmark to give the Canucks the 1-0 lead heading into intermission.
In the second period, the Senators answered early to tie the game. While on the power play, Jake Sanderson took a shot from the point and Kevin Lankinen could not hold onto the rebound and Brady Tkachuk scooped up the rebound and scored for Ottawa to tie the game 1-1. But the Canucks answered back at the halfway point of the period. Tyler Myers picked off a pass in the neutral zone and passed it to Sasson. He broke into the offensive zone and passed the puck to Teddy Blueger who sniped it past Ullmark, making the game 2-1 Canucks and giving Sasson his first career NHL point.
Vancouver wasn’t done after that. Less than four minutes later, DeBrusk got his second of the game less than four minutes later on a 2-on-1 with Kiefer Sherwood where DeBrusk took a pass from Sherwood, dragged the puck to the backhand, and scored to give the Canucks a 3-1 lead that they eventually took into the second intermission.
Vancouver stretched their lead in the third period with another goal from their depth players. After another Senators turnover, Elias Pettersson retrieved the puck and sent the puck to DeBrusk looking for a hat trick. DeBrusk’s shot was stopped by Ullmark, but a persistent Sherwood forced the puck across the line for a goal and a 4-1 Vancouver lead. With that goal, the Canucks believed they had wrapped up the game with a little over 11 minutes left, but the Senators would not be done yet.
With less than four minutes left and a power play, Ottawa pulled its goalie to make the game 6-on-4. After forcing a turnover near the goal line, the puck bounced in front to Claude Giroux who made no mistake bringing the Senators closer to tying the game. With the score at 4-2, the Senators had all hands on deck to try and tie the game. With the goalie pulled, Giroux sent a beautiful pass to Tim Stüzle for a one-timer, and he made no mistake bringing the Senators to within one with less than 50 seconds left. The Senators tried to get the equalizer but were unsuccessful in their efforts and Vancouver would emerge from this game victorious. The Canucks have now snapped their losing streak, but Ottawa’s streak extends to five straight games.
