Canucks Takeaways: Late-game collapse clouds strong road effort

The Vancouver Canucks were following their first win in 11 games with their best game of the National Hockey League season. Then, suddenly, they weren’t.

Until Jonathan Lekkerimaki followed a risky neutral-zone turnover with his second interference penalty of the game at 6:59 of the third period, the Canucks looked almost comfortable carrying a two-goal lead over the San Jose Sharks.

But Will Smith’s power-play goal sparked a three-goal outburst in just over three minutes as the Sharks exploded to beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in San Jose.

The Canucks pushed for a late tying goal, generating a couple of outstanding scoring chances while skating six-on-four and six-on-five, but were unable to salvage anything in the standings from a game in which they looked for 47 minutes as composed and structured as they have been this season.

The loss followed Vancouver’s improbable 6-5 overtime road win Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks. The Canucks were far sounder against Macklin Celebrini’s team in San Jose, plugging passing lanes, backchecking consistently and generally keeping the speedy Sharks in front of them after a couple of glaring breakdowns in the opening five minutes.

Analytics site Natural Stat Trick had the Canucks better by a goal at five-on-five, and ahead 7-4 on high-danger scoring chances. But for the second time in just two tries (over 15 games), Vancouver failed to hold a lead they earned through 40 minutes.

The Canucks lost 3-2 in overtime against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 15 after also starting the third period ahead 2-0.

Through Ivar Stenberg’s screen, Smith beat goalie Leevi Merilainen post-and-in from the top of the circle to cut the deficit in half eight minutes into the third period, and then tied the game at 10:39 with a quick conversion of Celebrini’s centring pass after Canuck defenceman Elias Pettersson’s rushed rim-around was intercepted.

Just 11 seconds later, another of the Canucks’ young defencemen, sophomore Tom Willander, seemed to misread a Sharks rush as puck-carrier Mason Marchment was allowed to skate uncontested to the left-wing faceoff dot before bouncing a shot off the underside of Merilainen’s glove.

Merilainen also appeared to slightly lose his angle on the shooter, spoiling what had been another outstanding night for the 24-year-old goalie.

It would have been nice if the Canucks had pulled one back for him by manufacturing a tying goal and getting to overtime. But after storming back from a late three-goal deficit in Anaheim, Vancouver couldn’t get another puck past San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov, who stopped centre Elias Pettersson on a pair of one-timers, blocked Jake DeBrusk’s shot at the top of the crease, swallowed a Brock Boeser deflection and was relieved to see Boeser shoot wide from the hashmarks during a late Canuck power play.

Even with that three-minute collapse, it was probably still the Canucks’ best all-around road game of the season. But still, another hard lesson about the detail and effort required to win an NHL game.

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Everyone loved Jonathan Lekkerimaki’s pair of late goals in Anaheim, which gave the 22-year-old four goals in four games. And the confidence with the puck he displayed again in the offensive zone against San Jose further fuels hope that the winger is starting a breakout season.

But the interference penalties he took against the Sharks are not penalties he — or anyone — should be taking. He was not alone in showing his NHL immaturity.

Of the five Canuck penalties, the other three were a careless reach-in tripping call against Liam Ohgren in the offensive zone, a silly jersey tug by Arshdeep Bains inside the Sharks blue line, and a retaliatory cross-checking call in the neutral zone against Zeev Buium, who had been hooked by Ty Dellandrea as he tried to skate up ice to join the attack.

None of these were penalties that prevented a scoring chance, punished an opponent or was a byproduct of assertive play.

The Sharks’ power play started the night at 25 per cent, and play-by-play announcer John Shorthouse wondered about the math when Ohgren’s trip late in the second period gave the goal-less San Jose unit its fourth opportunity. On the Sharks’ fifth chance, Will Smith got the home team going.

The best of the young Canucks on Thursday was goalie Merilainen, who in his third straight start made breakaway saves in the first period against Filip Bystedt, Michael Misa and Kiefer Sherwood, a backdoor stop against Ivar Stenberg and a total of six saves on Celebrini.

Merilainen has so badly outperformed veteran Kevin Lankinen this season that it is understandable coach Manny Malhotra has started the NHL sophomore in six of the last eight games.

As a team, despite the early breakdowns in San Jose, the Canucks were much better in front of their goalie during the two-game California swing, yielding just 47 total shots to the Ducks and Sharks after averaging 37 shots against during the previous six games.

But it is also important to remember that Merilainen, claimed on waivers at the end of the pre-season, is coming off a difficult season last year with the Ottawa Senators and is still very much an NHL prospect trying to build his game (and confidence).

In his first six appearances for the Canucks, Merilainen’s save percentage was .925 and not once did he stop fewer than 90 per cent of the shots he faced. In his last four games, his save rate is .864 and he hasn’t scored 90 per cent in any of them.

It was encouraging to see often-injured centre Filip Chytil get up after Darnell Nurse’s heavy, blindside hit along the end boards with about four minutes remaining, then play the final 2:56 as the Canucks pressed with an extra attacker. But the team will need to see how Chytil feels Friday and Saturday, when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Rogers Arena.

Chytil has dealt with career-threatening head and neck issues the last two seasons, and missed the first eight games of this season due to a shoulder injury. Engaged in a puck battle with another Sharks defender, Chytil did not see Nurse coming.

It would have helped if he had.

Coach Manny Malhotra to reporters in San Jose: “It continues to be one of the biggest problems with our group, just the lack of details or attention to details in key moments. Faceoff details once again plague us.

And then the PK didn’t get the shot block we needed, didn’t get the clear when it was on our stick. So it comes down to the same thing: the attention to detail and execution of those details in key moments.

There’s obviously some positives to build off of, but some costly lessons again.”

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