Jeff Misenti
Another day, another loss for the Vancouver Canucks. On Monday night at Rogers Arena, the Ottawa Senators won 2-0, and the score honestly reflects the flow of the game.
At 10:11 of the second period, Artem Zub’s shot from the point struck Shane Pinto high, and the puck dropped into open space, where Ridly Greig gathered it alone in the slot before moving from backhand to forehand and beating Kevin Lankinen.
Vancouver challenged, arguing the puck had been played by hand, but the review ruled it a deflection rather than a hand pass, so the goal stood.
Brady Tkachuk later sealed it with an empty-net goal late in the third.
According to NHL.com, the bigger story for the Senators is momentum. The Senators pushed their point streak to seven games, finished a five-game trip at 4-0-1, and got another point from Tim Stutzle, who stretched his scoring run to 13 games.
The Senators have now gone 5-0-2 over that seven-game stretch, which says a lot about where this team is heading compared to where the Canucks are stuck.
Reimer takes over
James Reimer stopped all 16 shots he faced, and when you add the fact that the Senators’ structure held up all night, even with top defenseman Jake Sanderson out of the lineup, it’s an even bleaker story for the Canucks.
What adds more fuel to the fire is that Reimer was making his first start since Feb. 5, which made the shutout stand out even more. This was his first shutout of the season and the 32nd of his NHL career.
I’ve watched enough Canucks hockey over the years to know when a night starts to feel thin, and this one had that look pretty early.
The Canucks never built much pressure, never forced the Senators into long, ugly defensive shifts, and ended the third period with only three shots on goal. That included two power plays without a single shot, which is the kind of detail that tells the story better than any frustrated postgame quote can.
What keeps going wrong?
Reuters reported that the Canucks have now lost five straight at home, and the numbers around this slump are hard to ignore.
The Canucks have just one win in their last 10 games, and this was the ninth time this season that they were held under 20 shots.
Lankinen did what he could with 22 saves, and CBS coverage found that he at least kept the game within reach long enough for a push that never really arrived.
For the Canucks, this was another reminder that decent goaltending isn’t enough when the attack goes quiet for long stretches.
The Canucks play the Nashville Predators on Thursday, while the Senators head home to face the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday with real playoff life still in front of them.
