Home sweet home. In the Canucks case.. not so much. The Canucks remain winless at home this season (0-2-2) after dropping a 3-2 matchup with the Washington Capitals Thursday night at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver had chances early, but Holtby stuffed Brandon Prust on a great chance from atop the crease with five minutes left in the first period, and the Capitals opened the scoring on the ensuing rush at the 15:10 mark. Jay Beagle got behind Alex Edler and held him off down the right wing, then cut to the net and passed through the crease to Jason Chimera, who outraced Canucks defenseman Matt Bartkowski to the back of the net for a one-touch goal.
Heading to the second period the Canucks finally started showing a bit more jump, and was unsurprisingly lead by the twins and recently reunited teammate Radim Vrbata.
Early in the season Vrbata has been heavily criticized for not getting on the scoring sheet, but I guess all he needed were his best friends to help him out.
He tied the game 4:14 into the second period after a nice spin move by Henrik Sedin behind the net. Back with the Sedins at even strength for the first time this season, Vrbata went to the front of the net, and Henrik Sedin‘s pass bounced off his skate and trickled in between Holtby’s legs.
“It wasn’t the prettiest goal I ever scored, but I will take it and go from there,” Vrbata said. “Hopefully, with this, the luck will change for us a little bit. Too bad it didn’t lead us to two points.”
Canucks also came into Thursday night’s matchup with the worst power play conversion percentage (4.7%), but after tying the game, the Canucks pulled ahead with some nice passing from behind the net with Daniel Sedin moving the puck to Vrbata and his brother on either side, forcing Holtby to go back and forth, right to left. Henrik finished it with a one-timer between Holtby’s left pad and the post.
This was the Canucks first power play goal since their second game of the season.
Leading 2-1 heading into the third, the Canucks thought they had the game wrapped up but Ovi and the Caps had other thoughts in mind.
At the 5:42 mark they tied it after Vrbata gave the puck away with a drop pass behind his own net. It ended up at the point, and Beagle tipped defenseman John Carlson’s shot up and over Miller from in front of the net. As the puck was still in the air behind Miller, Canucks defenseman Luca Sbisa knocked it into his own net trying to clear it away.
To cap it off Ovechkin finally put one past Vancouver Canucks goalie Ryan Miller after failing on his first three one timers with 4:55 left in the third period to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 comeback win at Rogers Arena.
“In this league, when you are up coming into the third, those are games you have to hold on to win and get the points,” said Henrik Sedin, who also had an assist to add to his goal.
Next up: The Canucks remain looking for their first win at Roger’s Arena as they welcome the always pesky Detroit Red Wings into town Saturday night.
