Coming into the season, one of the biggest questions surrounding the Canucks was goaltending (big surprise). After dealing their promising young netminder Eddie Lack to the Carolina Hurricanes in the off-season, the keys were once again handed over to veteran goalie Ryan Miller who was coming off a somewhat disappointing season.
The start of the 2015-16 season has been a different tale for Miller and the revamped Canuck however, who combined to put on a terrific defensive performance in a 3-0 win against the win-less Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Tuesday. The win marks Miller’s 36th career shutout, which he earned one night after he led Vancouver to a 2-1 shootout win against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Canucks opened up the scoring in the second period at the 5:13 when Adam Cracknell scored his second goal of the season. Following Cracknell was Alexander Edler, who got his first goal of the season at the 13:23 mark of the period. Dorsett eventually picked up the team’s third goal with 2:39 remaining in the game.
The Kings are off to a rough start, struggling with a 0-3-0 record to start the season. They’ve been outscored 12-2 in the first 3 games, and have only one even-strength goal thus far, a slump that hearkens back to their pre-2012 offense. The team was out-shot 20-9 through two periods against the Canucks, and could not score on three straight power plays in the opening 11:08 of the third period.
“From the start, we believed that we were a good team,” Cracknell said. “To come down here and play Anaheim and L.A. very well; we needed everybody and that’s what we got from these last two games. It’s going to take a team effort for us to keep winning games like this.”
With a 3-0 lead in the third, the Canucks also debuted their 6th selection in the 2014 NHL draft, Jake Virtanen. Virtanen seemed quite comfortable in his first NHL appearance, and is predicted to add a new dimension to the new-look Canucks.
Next up: Canucks will be off for the next two days before kicking-off a five game home stand against the St. Louis Blues.
Written by: Hamed Amiri
Image via NHL / Facebook
