Flames 4, Canucks 2: Aatu Raty making his case

Article content

Every pre-season features a name that stands out, a guy who draws attention, sometimes even ideas of, what if?

Article content

Aatu Raty is this pre-season’s guy for the Vancouver Canucks.

Unlike some of these heroes of the past — Justin Kurtz, anyone? — Raty is still young and still very much a prospect.

But he’s close to making it. He’s very, very close.

The reasons why have been on display this week — and on Saturday night, he was notable.

Not only did he score a lovely goal on a two-on-one, but he hit a post and was a persistent presence with the puck all night.

The final score was 4-2 to the Calgary Flames, but scores in pre-season hardly matter.

It’s what you do in the games, and how you’re doing it, that matters.

And Raty is showing the best of his game so far.

The Canucks dominated chances when he was on the ice on Saturday. And his presence in the faceoff circle has not gone unnoticed either. On a team that has no right-shot centres, Raty’s ability to switch his stick over and take draws as a right-hander is…handy.

Article content

Article content

Of course, the questions remain about his skating. He remains a clunky skater, though he has improved his pace. One could point out that Leon Draisaitl is also a clunky skater and he does just fine.

To be clear, this is not a comparison of Raty to Draisaitl: Raty is not the second coming of the great German.

It’s just a point:  it’s not how you look, it’s what you’re doing.

And Raty is doing a lot. Can he translate that into regular season action? There’s a non-zero chance, given how good he’s looked between Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander. That would be an intriguing third line.

But that trio would also require lineup decisions elsewhere.

Lekkerimaki gets on the board

Jonathan Lekkerimaki wasn’t as notable in this one, but he scored his first goal in a game in North America, even if it was a pre-season game.

Article content

And he’ll probably not want to think much about it, since it came off a bizarre deflection that popped the puck high in the air. Flames goalie Dan Vladar lost track of it and the puck plopped down into the net behind him.

That said, he got a goal and that’s all that matters.

He made some nifty decisions on the puck, showing the flair that will get him into the NHL when the time comes.

D-Petey, by the numbers

Elias Pettersson, the defenceman, got out-shot badly when he was on the ice.

But dig a little deeper and you see a lot of those shots were long quality efforts from the outside.

Like Raty, the Canucks controlled the quality of shots taken while he was on the ice.

That’s a good sign.

On the other hand, Vinny Desharnais bled quality shots against when he was on the ice.

Article content

It’s going to be something to watch whether Desharnais can harness his game better than he’s shown.

Showing heart

Ty Mueller is a long-shot prospect. That’s just the truth.

But he had a great effort in his hometown.

He was around the net plenty and got lots of chances.

Surely he’ll wish he buried one of those chances, but for a guy who isn’t generally highlighted in the media guide, being around the puck as much as he was is a good thing.

Long shots

Arturs Silovs struggles with long shots.

That was what the Edmonton Oilers figured out in the playoffs.

And it sure looks like the Flames got the scouting book on Silovs too, scoring twice on long shots.

It’s something that Silovs is going to have to figure out if he’s going to push Kevin Lankinen out of the way.

Article content

Hirose doesn’t return

Akito Hirose has had a tough pre-season. He’s struggled to make an impact.

And now he’s worse for wear.

He took an ugly hit early in the third period from Calgary goon Adam Klapka, a hit that the refs should have called boarding.

Klapka knocked Hirose down from an awkward angle, in the danger-zone distance from the boards.

Hirose didn’t look great leaving the ice and he didn’t return.

Whither Miller

J.T. Miller once again didn’t play.

Head coach Rick Tocchet said the plan is for Miller to play in the pre-season finale next Friday and perhaps also on Monday.

Why Miller hasn’t suited up yet isn’t clear, though the Occam’s Razor answer is that he doesn’t like pre-season, he’s got an obvious spot on the roster and the coach understands he just wants to get to the regular season.

Article content

Miller has spoken with the media just about every day this week — when there’s been availability — and he’s been active in every practice.

It’s hard to think he’s hurt.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

NEXT GAME

Monday

Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers

6 p.m., Rogers Place, TV: ESPN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.

Article content