Performance of the Week: Alex Burrows’ two goals against the Arizona Coyotes
In a week in which the Canucks played just two games before the Christmas break, it was easy to select the Performance of the Week. As the Canucks trounced the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 in their last game before getting their eggnog on, Alex Burrows notched two goals, ending his 9-game goalless drought in a big way.
Burrows scores against the Arizona Coyotes in Rogers Arena on December 22, 2014 (photo: Darryl Dyck)
Burrows scored his goals against different goalies. He scored his first — to open the scoring — against starter Mike Smith, and his second against backup Devan Dubnyk, who replaced Smith after Smith allowed 4 goals in just 11 shots.
Let’s take one more look at those goals.
Here’s his first goal of the game — finally got that 9 game goalless drought out of the way.
Aaaaand the second one — because a 5-0 lead never hurt nobody. (Unless you’re the Arizona Coyotes and you pull your back-up and you continue to lose 7-1, but that’s none of my business.)
‘Twas two days before Christmas when all through Rogers Arena it was PEANUT BUTTER BURROWS TIME!
During a 5-game losing streak, Burrows wasn’t the only one who struggled to score. Chris Higgins had a 10-game drought of his own. Daniel Sedin had a 6-game one as well. Both did bump their slump against the Coyotes, but Burrows deserves the nod because he had a solid, overall game. He went to the net, and scored his first goal on even-strength with the 4th line, and scored his second one on the power play with the Canucks’ first PP unit. He now has 16 points (8 goals, 8 assists) in 28 games — that’s 1 more point than the 15 (5 goals, 10 assists) he managed in the 49 games he played last year. You don’t need to tell me he was injured last year — trust me, I know this. He struggled mightily when he came back and the poor guy couldn’t afford to buy a goal. So, needless to say, he’s having a much better this year under Willie Desjardins and has bounced back somewhat since last season.
Burrows’ goals weren’t the prettiest goals, but they got the job done and a 7-1 performance at home was a nice Christmas gift for the Canucks to give their fans. More importantly, this 2-goal performance is more than worthy of my Performance of the Week.
