For most of the season, the only things the Canucks were legitimately good at were overtime and the shootout. They started the season with three straight post-regulation wins and, up until the start of 2017, were 9-and-3 after 60 minutes.
Now, however, the Canucks have lost their mojo, losing three straight in overtime and the shootout to some of the league’s lesser lights. On the plus side, that means the Canucks are on a three-game point streak. Semi-success!
On the down side, these post-regulation losses leave nobody happy: those hoping to see the Canucks make their way back into the playoffs are lamenting the missed opportunity, while those wanting the Canucks to tank their way to a better draft pick are lamenting the points gained by taking these games to overtime.
Meanwhile, those hoping for entertaining hockey are lamenting their choice to watch this game.
- I’m not convinced the first period of this game even happened. I’ve never made fewer notes in my notebook about 20 minutes of hockey and one of my notes was “Pick up dry cleaning.”
- This game was painfully dull, like someone sawing through your leg with a butter knife. The Canucks are expected to introduce a new mascot to replace Fin: Ralph Mellish. The two teams combined for just 44 shots on goal, which shouldn’t come as a surprise: the Canucks and Devils average the fewest shots per game in the NHL. They are who we thought they were.
- It may have been a boring game, but Nikita Tryamkin had some fun moments, as he’s clearly been given the green light to jump up on the rush or, at least, finally had someone translate the phrase “green light” into Russian. Seeing such a big man skate so smoothly is legitimately thrilling, at least in terms of what kind of player he could eventually become. Do you think Sam Perkins would be mad if Tryamkin stole his “Big Smooth” nickname?
- Tryamkin’s best moment was more “big” than “smooth,” as he casually tossed Taylor Hall to the ice after the Devils’ winger tried to throw a big hit on the forecheck. Maybe “Cher Horowitz” is a better nickname for Tryamkin.
- The Sedins showed flashes of their old selves in this game and by “old” I mean “young,” because the english language is full of oxymorons. It seems clear that the Sedins are loving Loui Eriksson on their line. The trio combined for eight of the Canucks’ 22 shots and all of the Canucks’ goals. All one of them.
- The Sedins took advantage of Adam Henrique losing his stick on the faceoff. Henrique followed Henrik behind the net, then realized he wasn’t going to be able to adequately defend the elder Sedin without his stick and motioned for Taylor Hall to cover for him. It was a smart move by Henrique, except for the part where he let Eriksson skate right past him, take the pass from Henrik, and, like an immigrant sending money to support his family overseas, wired it home.
- Poor Jacob Markstrom. Including this game, the Canucks have scored just five goals in his last four starts. He has a .925 save percentage in those four starts and has just one win. He was far from perfect in this game, making some awkward looking saves, but the only shot that beat him in regulation deflected off Markus Granlund’s stick; how can you blame him for the loss?
- There were so many missed penalty calls in this game on both sides that I was going to spend a bullet point complaining about them. But then I remembered that the Canucks and Devils have the 27th and 28th worst power plays in the NHL and I realized the referees were doing us all a favour.
- The Canucks had three power plays and managed just four shots on goal, but the worst part was the late power play they got in the third, with the chance to take the lead. They didn’t get a single shot on goal and had just one shot attempt. Their best scoring chance on special teams came on shorthanded breakaway by Brandon Sutter.
- Possibly related: Jayson Megna has one career power play point. He played 2:39 on the power play in this game.
- It looked like the Devils had taken the lead when an ill-considered pass from Megna to Sven Baertschi led to a giveaway and Blake Coleman banked the puck past Markstrom for his first career goal. But Willie Desjardins challenged and it was ruled no goal, as Megna had forced Hall offside earlier in the play. Megna giveth and Megna taketh away.
- The Canucks had a great chance to win the game in overtime, as Baertschi broke in with Bo Horvat on a 2-on-1, but Travis Zajac made a great play on the backcheck to strip Baertschi of the puck. Baertschi leaned in to Zajac, trying to use his body to protect the puck, but Zajac jumped around him, knocked the puck off his stick, and sent Hall the other way to score the game winner. Like Ken vs Chun Li at Evo 2004, it was a perfectly executed reversal.
