Player of the Night: Sven Baertschi
Last season, Baertschi was a bright spot for a dismal Vancouver Canucks team, generating new career-highs in goals (18) and points (35) in 68 regular-season games.
The 25-year-old carried over some of that momentum early on, generating three points in seven games, but they were all assists. Sunday marked his best moment of 2017-18, as Baertschi scored his first two goals of the campaign (giving him five points in eight contests).
Bo Horvat is the honorable mention in the Canucks’ 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings, collecting his first two assists of the season. Jake Virtanen also found the net for his first goal of the season.
(As an aside, Derek Dorsett somehow has five goals already in 2017-18. Dorsett’s career-high is 12 goals, but he’s already in range of tying his second-best mark of seven.)
Highlight of the Night: Why not go with Baertschi’s two goals?
🎉 #CANUCKS WIN!!!! 🎉
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 23, 2017
Baertschi (2), Dorsett & Virtanen light the lamp in a 4-1 #Canucks victory! pic.twitter.com/d10RGbRc2S
Factoid of the Night: This marks the fourth straight loss for the Red Wings, dropping them to 4-4-1 after a promising 4-1-0 start. But the hits could keep coming.
Beginning with Tuesday’s game against the Sabres in Buffalo, Detroit will play three straight road games and seven of their next eight away from home. The bright side is that they’ll enjoy a ton of contests at their expensive new pad starting in mid-November, but the next few weeks could really dim whatever optimism the Red Wings built up early on.
(For pro-tanking Red Wings fans, this might not be such a bad thing.)
Sunday’s lone score: Canucks 4, Red Wings 1
