Young guns fire Vancouver to top

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1 Young guns fire Vancouver to top 2 Oct 2015 The Province JASON BOTCHFORD Possible Canucks trio of Virtanen, Baertschi and Horvat dominate against Edmonton It may be the only time Jake Virtanen is cheered in Edmonton after scoring. He was brought to his knees when a Yannick Weber slapshot careened off the side of his head and into the net. Officials waved aggressively for medical help, while his teammates leaned in. Next thing I remember, (Bo) Horvat is on top of me screaming, You scored! Virtanen said. Virtanen had a pretty good idea right then he d be OK. He waved to the crowd, walking off as coolly as the day he arrived at the Young Stars tournament not long before he obliterated Connor McDavid. Oiler fans couldn t help but cheer Thursday. The kid is tough, you ve got to give him that. Virtanen quickly checked twitter, saw people comparing him with Doug Glatt, the bouncer turnedhockey player in the movie Goon, who used his backside to score. He laughed, got the side of his brow stitched and got back into the game. You think he wanted to miss a second of that? Virtanen, Horvat and Sven Baertschi took Edmonton by storm Thursday, rollicking their way to 10 points. They were fast, powerful and overwhelmed an Oilers roster oozing with prospects. Horvat said after the game: I hope this line is together for a long time. The rest of us just hope it s together for a game next week. If pre-season means a lick, they have earned it. Canucks veterans haven t had so much as a heartbeat since the Prince George training camp two weeks ago. Really, there s been one who has bothered since Day 1 and that s Horvat. He has saved his best for last. If you haven t noticed, Horvat has been flying up and down rinks for a couple of weeks now. It seems people are numb to it, because if he did any of this last pre-season they d have to close down Yaletown on account of drool. You want to keep this guy on a third line? Good luck. Horvat scored two goals, set up another and breathed a lot of life into two linemates, who needed it. Virtanen had been benched for the final nine minutes Tuesday in San Jose. He responded by absolutely flying in the first period in Edmonton, making things happen with and without the puck. On the first goal, he pressed down hard on the gas, leaving Andrew Ference with windburn before he wheeled in the corner and set up Horvat in front. On that face-goal, Virtanen was all over the front of the net. He was doing everything you could have hoped for from a teen. Baertschi, on the other side of that same line, was equally impressive, piling up four assists. It s a development of huge import to the Canucks season. You see, this is supposed to be Baertschi time in Vancouver. You re forgiven if you haven t yet felt the plate-tectonics motion. Until Thursday, Baertschi hadn t done anything. It was mildly concerning, considering at 22, he has everything to play for now. But there wasn t a lot going on, until he lined up with Horvat.

2 In both the draft pick they gave up, and the roster hole they ve opened for him, the Canucks have invested heavily in Baertschi, 2011 s 13th overall pick. This chance, Baertschi said, is everything he s ever dreamt of. It s his moment, if you will. Now it s on him to make something of it. Baertschi as a top-six winger is a concept the Canucks desperately need to mushroom. This is no sure thing. But Thursday he seemed equipped to handle things, working perfectly with the speed and force Horvat and Virtanen bring to the table. I m a lot more mature. I look back and laugh how I developed as a player, Baertschi said. Asked if he was the same guy who Calgary traded six months ago, he said: No. If Baertschi is going to work, he needs to find open spaces and be elegant and smart with his passing. He did all of that Thursday, and was physical, too. Baertschi is blessed with some wonderful skills and is coming off a summer in which he made the most progress of any offseason in his career. Consider, when it started, his trip up the Grouse Grind took 55 minutes. When it ended, he hit the top in 39:50. But now, he has to make it happen on the ice. He has to produce. He knows it. The Canucks are counting on it. Young guns trigger offensive outburst 2 Oct 2015 The Vancouver Sun BRAD ZIEMER Horvat, Virtanen, Baertschi too slick for Oilers with roster D-Day approaching EDMONTON The kids were all right, again. Actually, they were quite a bit better than that. With their veterans apparently saving themselves for the games that really matter, it was the Vancouver Canuck youngsters who again shouldered the offensive load Thursday. Bo Horvat had two goals and an assist, Jake Virtanen had a goal and two assists and their linemate Sven Baertschi had four assists. Rookie defenceman Ben Hutton also scored for the Canucks, who beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in National Hockey League pre-season action at Rexall Place. The play of the youngsters will force some difficult decisions for general manager Jim Benning and head coach Willie Desjardins. We ll have some real hard conversations in the next few days, Desjardins said after the game. It s always disappointing because some guys have worked so hard and they are not going to get rewarded for how hard they worked. But at the same time we know that they are right there. If they go back to junior or to Utica we know we have guys who can play in the future. It s going to be tough to send some of these guys down. The Canucks have the day off today, but Benning and company plan to spend much of the day making some of those decisions on the likes of Hutton, Virtanen and Jared McCann, who also did not look out of place Thursday. Brendan Gaunce, who did not play Thursday, is also in the equation. Desjardins acknowledged he would prefer to make Saturday s pre-season finale at Rogers Arena against the Oilers a dress rehearsal for the regular season, so the decisions might come sooner rather than later. Virtanen had quite the night. He survived a scary moment late in the second period when he scored Vancouver s fourth goal the hard way. A Yannick Weber slap shot struck him square in the face before bouncing past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot. Virtanen fell to the ice and quickly went to the dressing room holding a towel to his face. He returned to start the third period and on his first shift back set up Horvat s second goal. When I found out I just needed a couple of stitches (beside his left eye) it wasn t a big deal, said Virtanen.

3 Horvat had a magnificent game and seems ready to build upon his terrific rookie season. It is exciting when you see a guy like that because you don t know how good he is going to be, Desjardins said. You haven t got a limit on him. You don t know if he s just going to be this good or where is he going to go. We ll get to watch and see where he goes. Horvat, Baertschi and Virtanen seemed to click almost immediately Thursday. Horvat tied the game at 1:52 of the first period, finishing off a pass out of the corner from Virtanen. We found chemistry right away, Horvat said. Right from the first shift, as soon as they scored, we were strong. Jake made a great pass and I think that kind of got the ball rolling for us and right on from there I think we just clicked. It was a great mixture of different play. Jake has a great forecheck with lots of speed and great puck movement and Sven has a ton of skill and I ve got the two-way game. Could it be a line we might see when the regular season begins? Desjardins wouldn t bite on that question, but he has to be considering it. The four-assist night was big for Baertschi, who had not produced during the pre-season. I knew at some point it was going to come, Baertschi said. For me it was important to translate my practices into the games because I have been practising really well. The first few games of the pre-season are never easy, but once you get into the real-game rhythm you start feeling better and better. This whole pre-season I haven t been worried about points. I am just trying to focus on limiting my mistakes and being solid defensively. Desjardins was also pleased with the play of Hutton, who scored Vancouver s second goal and apart from one early giveaway looked poised playing alongside Luca Sbisa. Deciding whether to keep Hutton or send him back to Utica for seasoning is another one of those tough questions the Canucks must answer in the next couple of days. Goalie Jacob Markstrom went the distance in goal and continued his strong pre-season, stopping 21 of 23 shots. Weber scored Vancouver s other goal on a power play early in the second period. Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov replied for the Oilers. ICE CHIPS: Desjardins travelled with the team and was behind the bench. He had missed three previous road preseason games while recovering from hip surgery... Vancouver is now in the pre-season. The Oilers, who suffered their first loss, are now Vrbata s getting antsy not knowing plans for linemates 2 Oct 2015 The Vancouver Sun BRAD ZIEMER EDMONTON It was a concern, not a complaint, from Radim Vrbata, who happened to lead the Vancouver Canucks with 31 goals last season. Vrbata, who did not play Thursday in Edmonton, would like to know who he is playing with this National Hockey League season. I would like to know what is going on, Vrbata said. I am guessing we are at the point where we have to put the lines together and build some chemistry going into next week. You can talk about working hard but everyone is working hard. It is so tough to score in this league that you need every little advantage you can get. For me, and I think for many of the players, it is chemistry and knowing where your two linemates are going to be.

4 Last season, Vrbata knew pretty much from the start of training camp that he was going to skate with Henrik and Daniel Sedin. This season, he s not sure who his linemates will be. For me, it is important to know who I am playing with and, if it s not Danny or Hank, learn their tendencies and build chemistry, he said. That extra second can be the difference if you score a goal or you don t. As I said, everyone is working hard. The league is that good you can t afford not to work hard. But the difference is the little things and chemistry and stuff can really help. If Vrbata does not skate with the twins in Saturday s pre-season finale against the visiting Oilers, it will have to be a quick chemistry lesson for he and his two linemates. SELLS STAKE: Vrbata has sold his one-third ownership share of his hometown team, Mlada Boleslav HC of the Czech Extraliga. Vrbata said he found last season he was having to spend too much time trying to help run the team from abroad. I sold my share to the co-owner just for the time being, until I get home for good, Vrbata said. This level is too high for me to be handling everything from here. Too many decisions to make based on phone calls. You phone five people and five people give you a different opinion. I didn t want to be in that position. Vrbata said he will still be involved with the team, which is off to a fast start this season. Mlada Boleslav is through its first games and tied for second in the Extraliga, the premier league in the Czech Republic. I am still involved, he said, but the main decision-making will be with the co-owner. We will get back into it. I didn t sell to get rid of it. It was more to make sure the team was headed in right direction. We were kind of handcuffed because if you don t see it, you can t make the right decisions. NO BROTHERLY LOVE: Only one member of the Canucks team captain Henrik Sedin made TSN s latest list of the top 50 players in the NHL. That list, which was released this week, was compiled by a panel of TSN s hockey experts and a selection of NHL general managers. Henrik barely made the list at No. 50 while Sidney Crosby was named the No. 1 player for the sixth straight season. Henrik finished tied for 10th in NHL scoring last season with 73 points. Brother Daniel Sedin, who was eighth in the NHL with 76 points last season, did not make the list. Before he even played his first regular season game, Edmonton rookie Connor McDavid was selected as the 37th best player. ICE CHIPS: The Canucks placed defenceman Taylor Fedun on waivers Thursday. If he clears, Fedun will be assigned to the AHL s Utica Comets. Canucks spoil Oilers perfect pre-season record in win SPORTSNET OCTOBER 1, 2015 Bo Horvat scored Vancouver s first and last goal to help the Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2. It took some time, but the Vancouver Canucks have found their scoring touch. Bo Horvat had two goals and an assist and Sven Baertschi had four assists as the Canucks spoiled Edmonton s spotless pre-season record with a 5-2 victory over the Oilers on Thursday. Vancouver had only scored seven goals total in its previous six pre-season games.

5 Ben Hutton, Yannick Weber and Jake Virtanen also scored for the Canucks, who improved to in exhibition action. Virtanen tacked on two helpers for a three-point outing. I thought Bo had a real strong game, he's a real good skater,'' said Vancouver head coach Wille Desjardins. I thought Jake played one of his better games, went to the net well, battled hard. Baertschi was good too, I thought the whole line was good.'' Baertschi, who split time last season in the American Hockey League, was happy to pick up the pace on offence. I felt I was practising really well and I was unable to translate the practices into the games,'' he said. It's good to get some points, but I thought our line the way we played was really simple and in the end we created a lot and that's what I'm all about. I want to create offence, so it was good to finally get going.'' Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov scored in response for the Oilers, who dropped to in exhibition play. Tonight was kind of the first night that things didn't go according to plan,'' Hall said. The battle level wasn't there on some plays. It's something we have to fix before the pre-season is done.'' Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, who was acquired in the summer from the New York Rangers, took much of the blame on his shoulders. I have to play better, bottom line,'' he said. They didn't trade for me to come in here and play like that. I didn't think I played very well at all.'' It didn't take long for the scoring to start as Edmonton got on the board 1:29 into the game when Hall was able to sweep the puck into the Vancouver net after Canucks starter Jacob Markstrom made the initial stop on a backhand attempt by Connor McDavid. Vancouver responded just 23 seconds later as a pass from behind the net by Virtanen that caught Talbot by surprise, hitting his stick and deflecting right to Horvat for the goal. The Canucks took a 2-1 lead with eight minutes remaining in the opening period as Horvat screened Talbot in front to allow for a goal on a long shot from Hutton. Edmonton tied the game with 42 seconds left in the first as Yakupov put on a burst of speed and then beat Markstrom with a quick wrist shot. Vancouver got a gifted goal 24 seconds into the middle period as Andrej Sekera put a no-look backhand clearing attempt right on to the stick of Weber in front, and he scored a power-play marker. The Canucks took a two-goal lead with 4:36 left in the second as a Weber hit Virtanen in the face and the puck caromed into the net. Virtanen was cut badly on the play and left the ice, but was back for the third period and picked up an assist on an early breakaway goal by Horvat. The two teams play each other again on Saturday in Vancouver to close out the pre-season.

6 Notes: While the Oilers were close to icing their regular season-starting lineup, the Canucks were still looking at some bubble players and sat out their top line, including Henrik and Daniel Sedin, neither of whom have recorded a point in three pre-season games apiece. Canucks win 5-2: What we learned on Horvat s growth, Virtanen s goal and Sven s gritty side (what?) October 1, 2015 The White Towel Jason Botchford Virtanen has a feel for the moment Jake Virtanen first knew he was fine, still crumpled on the ice, when he saw Bo Horvat screaming at him. It s in the net! It wasn t my eye so I knew I was going to be OK. I ll take the goal. Virtanen then walked off the ice, and in one of the better Virtanen moments of the preseason, waved to the Oilers crowd, just a couple weeks after causing a mild ruckus around these parts by blowing through Connor McDavid in a Young Stars game. Virtanen said he had to do it, the wave to the crowd. And they cheered. Who wouldn t? Great moment. You weren t alone, Horvat loved that line, too I hope this line is together for a long time. Hey, we just hope it s together next week. What made it work? It s a great mixture of different play, Horvat said. Jake has a great forecheck, and a ton of speed, and great puck movement. Sven (Baertschi) has a ton of skill. I got the two-way game. It just really works together. I asked Willie if he d use this one in a regular-season game. Uh, I m open to all our lines but we have other guys, so it s going to be tough to get a lineup spot for us. We probably have 14 forwards who could play 15 or 16 minutes. Hmm. That s not a ringing endorsement for Jake, who would be the only one of the three who could possibly find it tough to get a lineup spot. We liked the playmaking, Willie liked Sven throwing his body around Wait, what? Sven Baertschi was great because of his speed, his playmaking and his four assists, many of us thought. But that s not what Willie picked out.

7 I think that s the most physical I ve ever seen him play. Not that he was running guys, but he was finishing his checks and he was involved. I think when he plays that way, he certainly had more success tonight. Sven has chill for days You may not have seen anything from him until tonight, but Sven was feeling no pressure. I knew at some point the (offence) was going to come. It was just a matter of translating my practices into the games, Baertschi said. I ve been feeling really good in practice. The first few games of preseason are never easy. Once you get into the real game rhythm you start feeling better and better. For me, this whole preseason I haven t been worried about points. It s been just about limiting as many mistakes as possible. OK, but it s time to start worrying about points. Virtanen checked Twitter And was laughing that he was compared to Doug Glatt for this ass goal. He later tweeted this: One of the teenagers days may be numbered The writing was probably on the wall the second we saw McCann was lined with Ron Kenins. Maybe things change but Willie sure didn t sound like he was leaning toward keeping two teenagers on the team next week. Asked if he d keep both, he said: Mmmmmm (often used by Willie instead of no), we ll decide in the next couple of days what we re going to do with that. Both guys have looked good in camp and they ve put themselves in that conversation. Will they play tomorrow, though? Nah, I don t know if we re going to play them or not. We ll evaluate what we got. We want to evaluate some lines. Hutton has a legitimate shot to make this team Ben Hutton has been the Canucks best defenceman this month, but it still seems to make the most sense to send him to the AHL. He doesn t need waivers and he does need experience. But Willie is adamant Hutton could be on this team next week. He s looked real good. I m not worried about him playing regular-season games because of how good he s been in preseason, Willie said. Should we be surprised he s been this good? He doesn t seem to be surprised. Maybe we are, but he doesn t seem to be, Willie said. Willie says there s no difference in Horvat from where he left off, but I don t believe him If you ve watched much preseason, you ve seen Horvat flying and hound-dogging the puck in a way that was seen only in moments late last year. Willie says this is playoff Horvat. If it is, why wasn t he centring the second line in April? My lord. If Horvat carries any of this momentum over to the regular season, good luck to anyone planning on keeping him on the third line. Here s Yannick Weber on Horvat: I think he is taking a bigger responsibility. He wants to be a difference maker a little more. I think last year he was the guy no one really knew. He came in and did some great things. But now he wants to be a leader on the ice. He wants to be the leader of his line. I think you could see that tonight.

8 He wanted the puck. He wanted to make plays. He wants to score goals. I think tonight every time he was out there it got dangerous. He s a big boy. He has a good drive to the net. He is definitely a step up from last year. He has way more and we can see that now. Roundup: Canucks hand Oilers first loss NHL.com Bo Horvat scored two goals and Sven Baertschi had four assists to help the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place on Thursday. It was the Oilers' first loss of the preseason (6-1-0). They end the preseason at Vancouver on Saturday. Ben Hutton, Yannick Weber and Jake Virtanen scored for the Canucks (3-3-1). Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov scored for the Oilers. Virtanen, the sixth player taken in the 2014 NHL Draft, scored at 15:24 of the second period when Weber's shot from the point hit him in the face and got past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot. Virtanen, who had assists on each of Horvat's goals, went to the dressing room for the rest of the period but returned for the start of the third. Oilers rookie center Connor McDavid had an assist, four shots on goal and a plus-1 rating in 20:00. Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves on 23 shots. Talbot allowed five goals on 29 shots. The Canucks were 2-for-3 on the power play; the Oilers were 0-for-3. Senators 5, Canadiens 2: Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty had an assist in his preseason debut, but the Ottawa Senators scored five consecutive goals at Bell Centre. Pacioretty, who injured his left knee during offseason training, assisted on a goal by Nathan Beaulieu that gave Montreal a 2-0 lead 9:52 into the first period. Andrei Markov scored 1:05 into the game. Cody Ceci scored for Ottawa with 5:00 remaining in the first, and Mark Stone scored a shorthanded goal 4:11 into the second. Mike Hoffman gave the Senators a 3-2 lead at 9:31, with Stone getting his second assist. Clarke MacArthur and Patrick Wiercioch scored in the third period for Ottawa, with one preseason game remaining. Craig Anderson made 40 saves for Ottawa. He started in goal after Andrew Hammond injured his groin during the morning skate. Carey Price allowed five goals on 21 shots for Montreal, with one preseason game remaining. Bobby Ryan scored for Ottawa during a 3-on-3 overtime period.

9 Lightning 3, Stars 2: Nikita Kucherov scored the first goal but then sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of the Tampa Bay Lightning s victory against the Dallas Stars at Amalie Arena. Kucherov scored 33 seconds after the opening faceoff, then was injured on a hit on his second shift. He played 1:01. Coach Jon Cooper said Kucherov doesn't appear to be in jeopardy of missing the season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers next Thursday. Valtteri Filppula and J.T. Brown also scored for the Lightning (2-3-1). Curtis McKenzie and Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Stars (1-5-0). Lightning goalie Ben Bishop made 23 saves in his first full game of the preseason. Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves. Nichushkin tied the game 2-2 at 4:51 of the third period, and Brown scored the game-winner with 4:32 remaining. Each team was 0-for-4 on the power play. Wild 6, Sabres 1: The Minnesota Wild had 42 shots in their victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota outshot Buffalo Jason Zucker, Tyler Graovac, Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter, Zac Dalpe and Thomas Vanek scored for the Wild, who led 4-0 at 5:38 of the second period. Mikko Koivu had three assists. Devan Dubnyk made 10 saves for Minnesota, which finished its preseason Tim Schaller scored an unassisted goal and Chad Johnson made 36 saves for Buffalo (4-2-0), which plays its final preseason game Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets at First Niagara Center. Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta made his preseason debut but left the game with a lower-body injury after playing 2:06. Blues 5, Blackhawks 2: Center Jori Lehtera had a goal and an assist in his preseason debut, helping the St. Louis Blues defeat the Chicago Blackhawks at Scottrade Center. Lehtera, who had surgery on his right ankle Aug. 4, assisted on Troy Brouwer's power-play goal at 9:32 of the first period and scored a shorthanded goal at 6:29 of the second. The Blues went 2-for-2 on the power play, killed seven Blackhawks power plays, and scored twice while shorthanded. Jake Allen made 20 saves, and Dmitrij Jaskin, Kevin Shattenkirk and Brouwer scored for the Blues, who finished their preseason

10 Dennis Rasmussen and Brandon Mashinter scored first-period goals for Chicago (3-2-0). Scott Darling made 19 saves. The Blackhawks play their final preseason game at home against the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Jets 3, Flames 1: Mark Scheifele scored two goals to help the Winnipeg Jets defeat the Calgary Flames at MTS Centre. After Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland opened the scoring at 3:38 of the first period, Scheifele tied it 5:17 later with a power-play goal. Nikolaj Ehlers put Winnipeg ahead 2-1 with 38 seconds left in the first period. He had an assist on Scheifele's first goal. Scheifele, who had an assist on Ehlers' goal, scored his second of the game at 18:34 of the second period. Jets captain Andrew Ladd did not play the third period as a precaution against an injury that has lingered through training camp. Michael Hutchinson made 32 saves for the Jets (2-2-2), and Joni Ortio made 23 for the Flames (4-3- 0). The Jets and Flames each complete their preseason schedule Saturday at Scotiabank Saddledome. Winnipeg defenseman Tyler Myers scored in a demonstration of the NHL's new 3-on-3 overtime format. Ducks 3, Avalanche 0: Shawn Horcoff and Mike Santorelli scored goals 1:49 apart early in the first period to lead the Anaheim Ducks to the win against the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center. Horcoff opened the scoring at 3:10 of the first period, and Santorelli scored at 4:59. Hampus Lindholm had an assist on each goal. Carl Hagelin, playing his first preseason game for the Ducks after being acquired from the New York Rangers on June 27, scored into an empty net with 2:29 remaining in regulation. Anaheim goaltender John Gibson made 20 saves in two periods before being removed from the game because of illness. Anton Khudobin made 11 saves in the third period for the Ducks, who are and conclude their preseason against the San Jose Sharks at home Saturday. Semyon Varlamov finished with 30 saves for the Avalanche (1-3-1), who play their final preseason game against the Los Angeles Kings in Las Vegas on Saturday. Colorado's Matt Duchene scored in a demonstration of the NHL's new 3-on-3 overtime format. Watch Canucks' Jake Virtanen score goal with his face (Video) Sean Leahy

11 Oct. 2, 2015 Puck Daddy What do hockey coaches always say? Go to the net and good things will happen. Sometimes that involves the puck going in off your face. That s the risk. On Thursday night, Vancouver Canucks prospect Jake Virtanen did just that on the power play and scored in interesting fashion during a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers: "Next thing I remember, (Bo) Horvat is on top of me screaming, 'You scored!'" Virtanen said, via Jason Botchford of the Province. The 19-year old Virtanen, who Vancouver selected sixth overall in 2014, went to the dressing room and received a few stitches near his left eye. He returned for the start of the third period and would set up a Bo Horvat goal 54 seconds in. The line of Virtanen, Horvat and Sven Baertschi turned plenty of heads after combining for three goals and 10 points. The VHB line were responsible for all of the Canucks scoring, aside from Ben Hutton s goal and Yannick Weber s two points.