Vancouver Canucks starter Kevin Lankinen has received some criticism for his play early in the season, but conversely, newly acquired goalie Leevi Meriläinen has been calmer and clearly better in net. He made a massive second-period save, 35 stops, and stopped seven high-danger chances in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Zeev Buium is 20 years old. He’s had three head coaches within his first year in the NHL. John Hynes, Adam Foote, and Manny Malhotra. He’s had a lot to adjust to. Including a trade and a new contract. He’s getting his feet wet. Not only in hockey, but in life. He will be fine. No, he should not go to the AHL. But I think playing with Luke Schenn will help him.Scheen is not a great skater; he knows who he is and will help Buium grow as a player.
There was discussion recently about Buium being “demoted”. He played 14:18 against the Islanders. As Manny Malhotra told Thomas Drance in The Athletic, “It’s an opportunity to continue to learn.” He was on the ice for two of ther Isles three goals, including a giveaway on the 2-0 goal and a late hooking penalty.
It was a good night for special teams. First, they didn’t allow a power play goal. First game this year! Islanders went 0-2. And they got a power play goal!
Overall, yes, it’s a loss. But there were quite a few positives. Including a solid performance from Tom Wilander. 25:43: two shots, three blocks, four hits. A good night for the fourth line of Sasson-Bains-Gallagher. Including a Sasson goal and goading a late penalty on Tony DeAngelo.
As for the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer is fun to watch. 25:23, four shots, one block, two hits. What’s most impressive is how smooth he skates. Up and down the ice with ease. Quick and confident. They got good games from Mattias Maccelli a goal and an assist in 15:26. And two goals from Kyle Palmeri in 16:44. Islanders Head Coach Pete DeBoer talked about puck management being a process with this team. You certainly saw that, especially in the second period.
Chytil Returning To The Canucks Soon?
Canucks forward Filip Chytil was on the ice Tuesday morning. Malhotra said they want to get a couple of practices in before they play him in a game.
. “It’s tough to have a guy come off an injury and just right into a game situation. He has to get some bumps in practice just to make sure he’s confident and comfortable going into those physical situations, but yeah, he’s progressing nicely.”
Garrett’s moment in Long Island
John Shorthouse mentioned the late John Gretzky’s All-Star moment in 1983 in Long Island. Garrett said he was going to win the All-Star player of the game until some kid named “Gretzky” scored four goals. Reminder: the Canucks will honour Garrett Oct 20 when they play the Carolina Hurricanes.
Frozen Frenzy
This is the third year that the NHL and ESPN have done the “Frozen Frenzy”. I’m curious what people think of it. Two alternate ideas I have heard.
1) An all-Canadian matchup on Canadian Thanksgiving. Quite frankly, it is a better place to do “Hockey Day in Canada” than during the NFL playoffs.
2) Frozen Frenzy the Wednesday before American Thanksgiving. They typically have 15 games that day anyway. Why not just make it there? The nice thing is that there really isn’t a lot going on that day. So it would be a good day to spotlight the NHL.
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