To quote Herman’s Hermits, “Second verse, same as the first.”
The 麻豆传媒映画Canucks’ second game of the weekend followed the same script as their first game of the weekend.
They took three penalties in the first period and were badly out-shot early on but got some great goaltending to keep them in the game. That allowed Jake DeBrusk to score the opening goal in the second period. Unfortunately, the Canucks then gave up that lead shortly after, fell behind by a goal in the third, and then couldn’t find a way to score the tying goal before the end of regulation.
The only real difference between the two games, apart from the opponent, was who was in net for the Canucks. Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves on 34 shots against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday; Arturs Silovs made 30 saves on 32 shots against the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday.
The end result was the same: the Canucks let down their netminder.
Well, there was one other difference. Against the Golden Knights, the Canucks put up a lot more of a fight in the final frame. They managed 19 shots on goal in the third period against Vegas; they had 15 shots total in the entire game against Utah.
That’s the third time this season the Canucks have had 15 or fewer shots in a game and the sixth time they’ve had fewer than 20 shots. They’re the only team in the NHL to be held to 15 or fewer shots three times this season.
“The frustrating part, I think, is we he had 21 blocked shots, I think it was 15 missed shots, that’s 30-something chances,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “We’re struggling to score goals, but you’ve got to move your feet, you’ve got to change angles, you’ve got to hit the net. That’s a big number for a team that’s not scoring.”
While Tocchet is correct that the Canucks had a lot of shots blocked and a lot of shots miss the net, their 51 total shot attempts in this game still falls well below league average. It seems like the Canucks’ offensive schemes are just too predictable, allowing opponents to get into shooting lanes and either block shots or force them wide. The answer can’t just be “move your feet” every time the Canucks can’t get enough shots.
“I’d rather guys just take a little bit off it, hit the net, and get people to the net,” said Tocchet. “We’re double-clutching and I think that’s lack of confidence. We’ve got to take a couple of days here and figure this out.”
The Canucks need to figure it out in a hurry and one of those steps to figuring it out will probably be, “Add Quinn Hughes.” Because I sure missed Hughes while I watched this game.
- I thought for a moment in the first period that Elias Pettersson was about to take over the game. He was making some fantastic passes early on and skating well, looking more dangerous than he has in some time. And then nothing came of it. Pettersson finished with zero shots on goal and one of those non-shots was a deciding factor in the game — more on that later. I feel at this point. Don’t give me hope.
- I don’t understand what the Canucks are doing with their power play units right now. In the first period, one unit was Pettersson, Nils Höglander, Jake DeBrusk, Pius Suter, and Filip Hronek, while the other unit was Filip Chytil, Brock Boeser, Dakota Joshua, Conor Garland, and Tyler Myers. What’s preventing them from putting Pettersson, Chytil, and Boeser all on the same unit? Why are they splitting up their best three forwards? Make it make sense!
- Here’s what was really confusing: Dakota Joshua, who had 5 points in 32 games this season and one point in his last 15 games, led the Canucks forwards in ice time on the power play. I don’t even have anything to say about that; I just want to ask, “Why?” in .
- Marcus Pettersson took the rare penalty of playing with a broken stick, as he didn’t realize his stick bent at an angle like one of those . It looked like an optical illusion, like he had just stuck his stick into water and the made it appear to bend.
- It’s amazing that any Canucks forward had multiple shots given the team’s paltry shot totals but Chytil had three shots and DeBrusk had four, so at least some of the team’s top forwards were putting the puck on net. Chytil had a great rush in the final minute of the first period, dancing around Olli Määttä like he didn’t maatta but couldn’t beat Karel Vejmelka from in tight.
- DeBrusk opened the scoring on a power play he drew. Suter chipped the puck deep and Pettersson won a puck battle down low to get the puck back to him. A couple of passes later, Pettersson had the puck below the goal line and he found a crease-crashing DeBrusk with a nice pass. Like my plate after eating an extra greasy burger, it was a slick dish.
- Utah responded two minutes later. Chytil lost a faceoff to Logan Cooley and then lost Cooley himself. The Utahn centre darted into the slot and tipped in a point shot from John Marino because Chytil wasn’t there to check his stick. It wasn’t a big breakdown — Chytil was about six inches away from making contact with Cooley’s stick — but when the team isn’t scoring any goals, the margin for error becomes extremely slim.
- It’s a shame, because Silovs was locked in. He made some very difficult saves look easy and kept the Canucks in a game where they were outshot 22-to-8 through the first two periods. , he deserved better.
- Pettersson had a golden chance to give the Canucks the lead midway through the third period. Filip Hronek, who has been very good in the absence of Quinn Hughes, sent Pettersson in alone on a breakaway. Pettersson seemingly had the right idea, holding the puck as if he was about to cut to the backhand, then flicking the puck over Vejmelka’s glove as the goaltender slid to his left. Only, he flicked it too high, sending his shot sailing over the crossbar .
- Pettersson was clearly frustrated with himself, slamming the door shut at the bench — something Tocchet has said he doesn’t like — and cussing a blue streak. From my amateur lip-reading skills, I see something like, “****ing Christ! Every ****ing shift, it’s something.”
- The missed opportunity proved costly after an undisciplined Derek Forbort penalty with seven minutes remaining. The Hockey Club took advantage on the power play to score the game-winning goal. Nick Schmaltz managed to thread a pass through Conor Garland to player drafted with the pick the Canucks traded for Garland, Dylan Guenther, and he tipped the puck past Silovs.
- “You can’t take a penalty there with six minutes left, you can’t hold a guy. When you don’t score goals, everything’s magnified,” said Tocchet, adding, “You’ve got to pick your spots to do certain things. You cannot grab anybody. Let them go in the corner and then have the battle in the corner.”
- My sympathies to referee Justin Kea, who took a puck directly to the twig and berries late in the third period. On the plus side, he has a chance to win an award at a film festival now. The puck, his groin — .
- Honestly, this game wasn’t worth getting hit in the penis and testicles. Terrible game, really. If you’re going to get hit in the groin, it should be a playoff game or at least a game with some really cool goals in it so that you getting hit in the junk isn’t one of the top five things that happened in the game.
