The Canucks won their seventh straight edging the NY Rangers 2-1 on Saturday

G: Roussel (5), Myers (4)

Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves in the victory

TAKEAWAYS

1) The Vancouver Canucks were not at their best for long stretches of Saturday night, but still found a way to extend their win streak to seven games with a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers. Antoine Roussel scored 1:46 into the game and Tyler Myers notched the winner with 1:29 remaining. For the 56 minutes in between, well, it was the latest installment of the Jacob Markstrom show. The Canucks netminder continues to dazzle as he has throughout the team's seven game run. Markstrom has started 10 of the last 11 games and is now on a personal six-game win streak. His best save came near the end of the hockey game with the Rangers buzzing in the Vancouver zone, Markstrom channeled his inner Kirk McLean from 1994 and wildly flung himself to his left and stacked the pads to make a terrific stop of Jacob Trouba with 3:39 remaining and the game still knotted in a 1-1 tie at the time. A day after Markstrom was added to the Pacific Division team for this month's All Star game in St. Louis, he showed the Rangers and the rest of the league why he so deserves that recognition. He just continues to hold the Canucks in hockey games -- even when they're being outshot and outplayed as they were on Saturday night. In four of his last five starts, Markstrom has limited his opponents to two goals or fewer.

2) It's been a common theme on the ice and in this space during the Canucks win streak -- their defensemen are coming through with timely goals just as they did earlier in the season. On the team's first three game win streak back in October, the Canucks got five goals from defensemen. Through November, that goal scoring prowess seemed to fade away. But on this seven game streak, blueliners have figured prominently in the team's scoring and they're doing so in crunch time. Chris Tanev netted the overtime winner against Vegas to start the streak, Quinn Hughes scored the third period winner against Edmonton on December 23rd (he also scored a big PPG to start the comeback on Thursday against Chicago) and on Saturday it was Tyler Myers stepping up in the final minute and a half to break a 1-1 tie. The goal was the third in the past three games for the veteran defender who had just one goal on the season heading into the Christmas break. The Canucks have plenty of fire power up front this season, but they'll be that much more dangerous if they can get the back end contributing to the attack as well. It was a little ironic that Myers was the difference maker against the Rangers -- the team that entered the night leading the league in both goals and points from its defense this season.

3) Antoine Roussel is a spark plug for the Vancouver Canucks. I think we all know that. Sometimes it comes in the form of a fiesty forecheck or a big hit or even the occasional scrap. But he also seems to have a knack as an offensive tone setter for the hockey club. Playing just his 14th game of the season, Roussel opened the scoring for the third time -- and the second time on this win streak. And he doesn't wait to get the party started. He scored just 1:50 into his season debut against Ottawa on December 3rd. Against Vegas on December 19th, he found the back of the net 2:49 after the opening face-off. And on Saturday against the Rangers, he banged home a rebound at the 1:46 mark of the hockey game. Roussel's an emotional guy and the team can feed off him in so many situations. Against Ottawa, there was already great energy in the building as Alex Burrows was added to the Ring of Honour. Against the Rangers, the Canucks had a terrific pregame ceremony honouring the 1994 team that went to the Stanley Cup Final. In both instances, Roussel found a way to keep the energy level up in the building once the game began. And there seems to be something about the black Flying Skate jersey that is to Roussel's liking -- he scored a pair of goals against Buffalo on December 7th in his first opportunity to wear the retro look. He now has three goals in two games when decked out in black. Oh, and Roussel scored nine goals in his first season with the Canucks. He now has five in his 14 games this season. The club is 4-0 when he scores and is 10-4 since he got the green light to return to the line-up.

4) There seems to be a belief around the hockey club that somebody is going to step up and come through. On the seven game streak, the Canucks have outscored their opponents 30-17 and have had 13 different players find the back of the net in that time. On top of that, seven different guys have scored the game winner in the seven straight wins: Tanev, Miller, Hughes, Pettersson, Virtanen, Gaudette and now Myers. While the club has had a couple of two power play goal games among the seven wins and, overall, has gone 7 for 23 (30.4%) on the streak, the bulk of the scoring has come at even strength including both goals on Saturday. While the Canucks certainly need to shore up their puck possession -- the team has been outshot in six of the seven games on the streak -- they are finding ways to generate enough even-strength offense to tip games in their favour and that was an issue not that long ago. On Saturday night, the Canucks went 10 minutes between shots at one point from the six minute mark until the 16 minute mark of the third period. That is playing with fire. But they avoided getting torched and somehow produced the goal they needed to get the job done yet again.

5) After a 3-1 loss to Montreal on December 17th, the Canucks dropped to 16-15-4 on the season and had suffered three straight defeats and losses in four of five. They were fifth in the Pacific Division four points behind Calgary and eight points out of the division lead. Fast forward to the end of play Saturday and the Canucks are now 23-15-4 in third in the division, but still four back of the lead. Seven straight wins has moved them up the standings, but really has provided the team virtually no cushion in the playoff push. Over the course of the win streak, the Canucks have made up seven points on both the Flames and Oilers and six on Arizona, but just three points on Vegas. It's an illustration of just how hard teams have to work to gain ground in the standings. Without dropping a game in more than two weeks, it feels like the Canucks should have zoomed past a number of the teams around them in the standings. But on Saturday, Vegas, Arizona and Edmonton were all winners and the Canucks simply kept up with their running mates.

6) When December started, the Canucks began a stretch of the schedule that saw them play 12 of 15 games on home ice. They finished that 15-game stretch on Saturday with the 2-1 win over the Rangers and went 9-3 in their dozen home games over that run and 10-5 in the 15 games since the start of last month. We said at the time, that the club had to -- simply had to -- make some kind of stand with all the games at Rogers Arena and just one (in Calgary last weekend) outside the Pacific time zone. I think it's safe to say the Canucks accomplished that goal. They played .750 hockey on home ice since December 1 and overall played .667 hockey over the past 15. They are 9-2 in their last 11 on home ice and have won six straight at home. Now it's time to take their show on the road with five straight and 10 of the next 13 coming on the road starting in Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.