VANCOUVER – Not enough options in the center and poor goal selection.
How Vancouver Canucks Playing without any of the three veteran centers they've relied on this season, it wasn't the hollowed-out middle of the ice that hurt them Monday, but the space around the net.
At critical moments it was poorly protected and manned by the wrong goalkeeper. Kevin Lankinen as the Detroit Red Wings won 4-0 at Rogers Arena despite being largely outplayed.
After being called up to the minor leagues, Nikita Tolopilo picked up a rare win for the Canucks in Saturday's 4-2 triumph over the Minnesota Wild – his second win in three National Hockey League starts – as coach Adam Foote returned from a day of rest to Lankinen, the troubled backup who has lost three times on 13 shots and lost for the ninth time in 10 starts.
Tolopilo replaced him in the third period.
Foote's selection on Thursday will be easy if injured starter Thatcher Demko, sidelined after injuring his groin on Nov. 11, can play as expected against the Buffalo Sabers. If so, Tolopilo will return to the American Hockey League.
He was scheduled to return for the Canucks against the Red Wings.
We know. Guessing the goalie pick after a loss is the easiest and cheapest of the low-hanging fruit.
But with the Canucks, who haven't won back-to-back games since Oct. 19, sorely needed to maintain the spark Tolopilo provided Saturday and after his call-up on the previous trip, the team went back to Lankinen and his .881 save percentage, which is 24.th among 28 NHL goaltenders who have played at least 15 games.
In his last start, Lankinen allowed three goals on 17 shots in Friday's 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth. The popular veteran, who is being paid $4.5 million in backup to make Demko's absence less disruptive than it is now, is dealing with family issues that necessitated a short leave of absence.
So how much attention was paid to playing Tolopilo in the first period on Monday instead of waiting for the third?
“That’s a great question,” Foote told reporters after the game. “We thought about it. At the time we made that decision, we weren't sure where Demmer was (in his recovery). We knew he was close. Lanks was, you know, he had some things going on in his own life and he's fighting through it, and he's doing a damn good job.
“I think if I knew Demko was ready, we could have brought Tolo back. But Lanks is a real professional and he'll be fine. He was out a little bit, but we also can't leave him alone on the island. We had complete control of the hockey game, and, you know, you saw what happened.”
In fairness to Lankinen, who helped the Canucks stay in the playoff race last season despite issues including a series of injuries to Demko, the 30-year-old hasn't made any mistakes. But the problem Monday was the same one he's faced most of this season: not making enough saves.
Nate Danielson's shot helped Lankinen make it 3-0 at 15:52 of the third period.
Thirty-seven seconds earlier, poor defense, including Quinn Hughes failing to intercept a pass as he reached for the puck, forced Andrew Copp to shoot through the net. And Aatu Rathi's decision to chase the goal left James van Riemsdyk alone in front and scored on his own rebound in the first period.
None of those goals were Lankinen's fault. But he also didn't play like John Gibson did at the other end, when the Wings goaltender beat Jake DeBrusk for rebounds, stopped all deflections and redirects and made plenty of point-blank stops – against Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, Raty, Kiefer Sherwood and DeBrusk, among others – during a 37-save shutout.
Lankinen's minus-7.9 goals-against average (through Monday) ranks 48th, according to Natural Stat Trick.th among 56 goalkeepers who played 500 minutes. Tolopilo scored 1.7 goals above expectations in his micro-sample of three starts. He won two of them. Lankinen is now 4-10-3.
“It was lopsided most of the game … and we had a couple mistakes that went in the net,” Foote said. “The goalkeeper kept them in the game for most of the game.
“I thought (Lankinen) was a little behind, even though we had some mistakes. I thought (Tolopilo) would also give the guys a little spark going into the third outing. You know, Lanks was a good professional and sometimes it's just not your night. Not everything was in his control; he was left on his own a couple of times. But I just wondered if we could make the guys work.”
Tolopilo stopped six shots he faced and easily made the Canuck's best save when he pushed off his line to rob Moritz Seider on a behind-the-net pass late in the third. With Vancouver down three, Dylan Larkin made it 4-0 into an empty net with 4:31 left.
The final shots were 37-20 and the dangerous scoring chances were 20-10 for Vancouver.
“You have complete control over the game,” Foote said. “We got them hysterical and then we made a mistake… and you give them a little bit of life. But it is what it is.”
Top center Elias Pettersson missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Foote said Pettersson felt better Monday than he did over the weekend. “I’ll know more about the timing in the next couple of days,” Foote said. “I don’t want to touch on this yet.” … After missing 2 1/2 months after preseason surgery to repair a fracture near his ankle, Canucks forward Nils Hoglander made his season debut with 13:22 of ice time and recorded one hit and one hit … Sherwood had 13 shot attempts and 10 hits for the Canucks, including an open-ice hit on Lucas Raymond late in the third period that rocked the Red Wings star. . . First-line replacement center David Kampf made two shots and finished 11-6 on faceoffs, but extended his pointless streak to 10 games.
