Instant Reaction: Canucks waste Hughes\u2019 first 3-point night of the season in 5-3 loss to Jets<\/p>\n
Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at\u00a0CanucksArmy<\/a>\u00a0where we give you our instant reaction to tonight\u2019s\u00a0Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u00a0game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!Starting lineupFirst period<\/p>\n Nothing really happened within the game\u2019s first five minutes. The Jets controlled play in the offensive zone, but the Canucks did a good job of keeping them around the perimeter. That was until a tipped pass lands on the stick of Josh Morrissey, who throws the puck on net, which bounces off Jonathan Toews\u2019 skate and past Thatcher Demko.<\/p>\n Jonathan Toews opens the scoring at Rogers Arena. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n Once a Blackhawk, always a Blackhawk when you\u2019re playing Vancouver, I guess.<\/p>\n 1-0 Jets.<\/p>\n The Canucks didn\u2019t do a great job of bouncing back after they allowed the goal. In fact, Demko needed to bail them out of going down 2-0 in this game.<\/p>\n Thatcher Demko robs Cole Perfetti! What a pad save! <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n The Canucks answered back after a nice give-and-go from Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood. Hughes doesn\u2019t have a passing lane to the net front, so he fakes going behind the net and quickly fires it back to Sherwood once his old defence partner Luke Schenn moves his stick out of the lane. Sherwood picks his spot on the far side and evens up the game for the Canucks.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8 CANUCKS GOAL \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood complete a beautiful give and go! That’s Sherwood’s 11th goal of the season!<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 1-1 tie game.<\/p>\n An offensive zone tripping penalty from Dylan DeMelo sends the Canucks to the power play. After a clearance from the Jets, Hughes springs Jake DeBrusk in on the rush, and he finds a hole on the short side and beats Connor Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8 CANUCKS GOAL \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n Jake DeBrusk beats Connor Hellebuyck on the blocker side for his 6th goal of the season!<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n Kind of odd seeing the back-to-back Vezina winner and reigning NHL MVP get beat one-on-one like that. But hey, there\u2019s just something about Jake DeBrusk and November.<\/p>\n 2-1 Canucks.<\/p>\n But then everything started to turn for the worse for the Canucks.<\/p>\n Elias Pettersson (D) took a tripping penalty on Alex Iafallo, sending the Jets to the man advantage. In what looked to be an easy clearance after Marcus Pettersson faked to his left and created space to his right, the Canucks made it hard on themselves.<\/p>\n M. Pettersson bought himself time to wheel the puck behind the net and slap it down the ice. Instead, he sends a pass to Sherwood into a dangerous area at the front of the Canucks net. He just tries to get the puck off his stick as quickly as possible and ends up hitting Tyler Myers on the clearing attempt, which bounces perfectly to Josh Morrissey at the point. He backpedals and fires the puck toward the net. The shot hit Sherwood\u2019s stick and went past Demko.<\/p>\n Winnipeg ties the game with a power play goal. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n That\u2019s just not a great play from M. Pettersson that cost the Canucks their lead.<\/p>\n 2-2 tie game.<\/p>\n The game wouldn\u2019t last long, as just 15 seconds later, the Jets regained the lead.<\/p>\n Elias Pettersson (D) loses the battle in the corner after losing positioning. Iafallo finds Adam Lowry behind the net, who wheels it around the net and fires the puck toward the net. The shot bounces off Nino Niederreiter as he battles Tom Willander<\/a> at the net front and past Demko.<\/p>\n Winnipeg scores goals 15 seconds apart. They take a 3-2 lead. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 3-2 Jets.<\/p>\n The game quieted after this. After the goal, the Canucks outshot the Jets 3-1, but still trailed heading into the intermission.<\/p>\n Some takeaways from the first period:<\/p>\n \u2013 Hughes looked like the Hughes we\u2019re used to seeing. His playmaking was on display, picking up two primary assists and a shot on goal.<\/p>\n \u2013 Can\u2019t really blame any of those goals on Demko. Three weird bounces end up in the back of the net.<\/p>\n Second period<\/p>\n Gulp. Bad news Canucks fans. After the final TV timeout of the first period, the Sportsnet broadcast showed Demko doing some stretching during the break. And what many likely saw coming after that, Kevin Lankinen led the Canucks out to start the second period.<\/p>\n Goaltender Kevin Lankinen is now in net for the #Canucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Goaltender Thatcher Demko will not return to tonight’s game.<\/p>\n Lukas Reichel took an early penalty to start the middle frame. Now down a man with a cold goaltender, the Canucks did a great job of holding the Jets without a shot on the ensuing penalty.<\/p>\n Outside of that, the second period started much as it did the first: with not a lot going on. The first exciting action we got from the Canucks was when Aatu R\u00e4ty threads a pass to DeBrusk<\/a>. He made a great move to the backhand, but could not beat the sprawling Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n Things just went from bad to worse after that for the Canucks. Headed back to defend Mark Scheifele on the rush, Hughes gets his stick tied up with the Jets centreman, and he\u2019s left in clear pain. He was down on the ice for some time. Hughes was called for a hooking penalty on the play, but instead of going to the penalty box, he went down the tunnel.<\/p>\n Things go from bad to worse for the Canucks. <\/p>\n Quinn Hughes injures his shoulder on this play and has left the game. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n But fear not Canucks fans, after a Logan Stanley interference penalty on Max Sasson behind the Jets\u2019 net, Hughes rejoined his teammates for the power play a few minutes later.<\/p>\n Quinn Hughes is back on the ice! <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n It was a good sign to see Hughes shoot on that power play, indicating that the injury isn\u2019t ailing him enough to fire pucks on net.<\/p>\n The Canucks rallied a few offensive zone shifts together in the Jets end toward the tail end of the period. After all five Jets players were on the ice for over a minute, they iced the puck. However, the Canucks don\u2019t take advantage of some tired Jets bodies. In fact, they do worse, as Drew O\u2019Connor<\/a> takes a high-sticking penalty in the offensive zone to send the Jets to the power play for the final minutes of the period.<\/p>\n Some takeaways from the second period:<\/p>\n \u2013 Lankinen came in cold, but you wouldn\u2019t have known based on his play. He stopped all 13 shots he faced in the second period, including four-and-a-half minutes down a man. He kept his team in it when the spirits seemed down after the Demko and Hughes injuries.<\/p>\n \u2013 Evander Kane just won\u2019t stop shooting. And that\u2019s not a bad thing. For a team who was often ridiculed for their lack of shot volume, Kane has brought it. He\u2019s up to six shots on goal on nine shot attempts through two periods.<\/p>\n Third period<\/p>\n With over a minute remaining in the O\u2019Connor high-sticking penalty, the Jets set up shop in the Canucks zone and made them pay. Kyle Connor finds Gabe Vilardi in the slot, who lifts an unsuspecting spinning backhand shot into the top left corner.<\/p>\n Winnipeg scores on the power play to kick off the 3rd period. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n Not much Lankinen could do on that one. Who would have thought Vilardi was shooting that?<\/p>\n 4-2 Canucks.<\/p>\n The Canucks thought they brought this game back to within one a few minutes later when a Willander shot goes high off the back boards, and Brock Boeser tries to shovel the rebound behind Hellebuyck.<\/p>\n Brock Boeser comes centimeters away from scoring and making this a one goal game. <\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n The puck sits on the goal line, but it was unclear on video review after Hellebuyck sat on it.<\/p>\n As if the Canucks weren\u2019t already going through enough injury troubles. Sherwood takes a Willander wrist shot to the arm. He was visibly ailing at the Canucks bench, but it appeared to be just a stinger, as Sherwood would not miss a shift.<\/p>\n Kiefer Sherwood is shaken up on this play after taking a puck to the arm. <\/p>\n