Panthers 8, Canucks 5
After working his ass off on Friday night to earn a point in the 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and then make 28 more saves in Sunday evening’s 6-2 victory over the Lightning in Tampa, did we really expect Kevin Lankinen to start again Monday night against the tw0-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and face 41 more shots?
Of course not. His team looked exhausted in Sunrise; the Canucks generated 15 total shots on the night. Remarkably, Vancouver took a 2-0 lead early with what they had in their gas tank, and tied the game at 5-5 early in the 3rd period with the benefit of two power play goals and riding on the backs of Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson.
After letting down while thinking the game was well in hand, the Panthers woke up again after being knotted up, and powered to the 8-5 win.
It made no sense to risk Lankinen’s health in a game Vancouver had little chance of winning.
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Jiri Patera managed to make a couple of huge saves, including a NHL save-of-the-week calibre stop with his glove in the 1st period against Florida’s Mackie Samoskevich.
Naturally, eight goals sounds like a lot and if one were to see the box score they might assume Patera’s season debut was a disaster. Instead, the phrase “he didn’t have a chance on that one”, often repeated by Florida commentators, better summed up the night for Vancouver. Perfect shots, tip-ins, and the Canucks chasing Panthers behind the net and elsewhere helped lead to the lopsided goal total.
The eighth goal was a Brad Marchand empty-netter.
Vancouver management should be cautiously encouraged by Patera’s performance. For a guy who didn’t even get a look in a preseason game this fall and faced mega-doubters, he performed admirably.
More importantly, a well rested, healthy Lankinen gets to start at home against the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks Desperation; History Repeats Itself
