Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser

Canucks NHL Daily: Happy Bruce; Jackets Very Blue

Canucks Boeser Shines

While head coach Bruce Boudreau is always happy to get a win, no Vancouver Canucks staffer or player was more excited about Friday night’s 4-1 win over the LA Kings than Brock Boeser, who finally tallied his first two goals of the season.

“Feels good, a little weight off my shoulders,” Boeser said postgame. “It doesn’t change anything, needing to come to the rink and work hard and continue to get better. From the team standpoint I thought we played the right way for the full-60 tonight and that’s how we need to play each and every game.”

“I think for the most part it was our best game of the year,” Boudreau said postgame. “Our first period was, I thought excellent, Obviously they had pushes, they’re a good team, so when you’re behind you do make pushes, but I thought we held on really well and I thought our goalie was really good tonight.”

“I’ll take what I can get right now,” Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko said after picking up just his second win of the season. “I thought I felt better in Boston and I thought today was an opportunity to build on that, so yeah, big win, for sure.”

The Canucks won their week, with two victories and a loss. They next begin what Boudreau has referred to as ‘the gauntlet’, three games for the Canucks starting at home on Monday with the Vegas Golden Knights, then the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas again, both on the road Wednesday and Saturday. While we wait on further Canucks developments …

Let’s Skate!

What the heck is going on with the New Jersey Devils?! An eleven game winning streak, that’s what. They are now 14-and-3 on the season following their 3-2 overtime win in Toronto on Thursday. The demons from Newark are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for the second most points in the National Hockey League with 28.

Two teams in the NHL have five game winning streaks at the moment, one from each conference, and they represent completely different stories.

The Boston Bruins are 10-and-0 at home this season, their best home win streak to start a season in their nearly 100 year history. Meanwhile, they’ve only lost two road games, at the Ottawa Senators 7-5 on October 18th and at the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on November 2nd. The B’s are on top of the NHL with 30 points under new head coach Jim Montgomery.

St. Louis is in recovery mode with their five game win streak, just getting back to .500 on the season with a 5-4 shoot-out win over the Washington Capitals at home on Thursday night. This streak comes right after an eight-game losing skid that had some fans wondering about head coach Craig Berube’s future, although his firing was doubtful as he recently signed a three year contract extension.

Ohio State Football

Kidding, but that was always the knock about the existence of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Ohio state capital city. The Buckeyes football team would always receive top billing.

Well, there’s no doubt about it right now with the Jackets hitting the skids and getting even more bad news. Already tied for the second-fewest points in the NHL, the club just found out star forward Patrik Laine will be out three to four weeks with a sprained ankle, goalie Elvis Merzlikins will miss a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury, and defenseman Jack Bean is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

When it rains it pours.

Well, no one’s paying attention right now anyway. After their game today against Maryland, the Buckeyes football team hosts their dreaded rival and presently undefeated Michigan Wolverines next Saturday.

Enjoy the Hockey Action !! ((And M GO BLUE!))

Canucks Roll Over Kings

Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson has covered the NHL in five different decades. He’s authored 4 books on hockey and is a veteran TV and radio play-by-play man and reporter.