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I Watched This Game: Canucks 1, Ducks 4

I can only imagine that Anaheim, being a heart-and-soul waterfowl team, follows the wisdom of all duck-kind.
I Watched This Game

I can only imagine that Anaheim, being a heart-and-soul waterfowl team, follows the wisdom of all duck-kind. Specifically, during this game I suspect they channeled Darkwing Duck, especially his motto: let’s get dangerous! Indeed, the Ducks were dangerous on almost every chance, (for the first half of the game anyway.)

This reminds me of a duck joke, which I am compelled to tell. It will distract you from the carnage below.

A duck walks into a restaurant and asks the chef, “Got any duck food?” “No, no duck food, sorry,” the surprised chef replies. For the next week, the duck returns each day and asks, “Got any duck food?” Finally the chef has had enough. “No, we don’t have any duck food, and if you ask me that again I’ll nail your webbed foot to the floor!” he shouts. The next day, the duck returns and waddles up to the chef. “Got any nails?” The chef is confused, and answers, “No, no nails here. We’re a restaurant.” To which the duck replies, “Cool. Got any duck food?”

I am pleased to share my finest duck joke with you after watching this game.

  • Just 23 seconds into the matchup, Corey Perry put the Ducks up 1-0 after a bad Alex Edler booboo. The defender was stripped of the puck behind the net by Antoine Vermette and Nick Ritchie. Instead of making the safe play, Edler decided to make the exciting one, trying to slowly sweep it up the middle. Boy, did it work! Every Ducks fan in Rogers Arena found it very exciting. Edler’s attempt was picked off by Ritchie, who then fed Perry for an easy goal and the early lead.
  • Moments later former Canuck Kevin Bieksa held the puck in at the line and got it deep to Rickard Rakell, who then slickly passed to Patrick Eaves slicing right down the middle for a top-shelf goal, doubling the lead. It was a fantastic wrister and Ryan Miller missed ‘er. This was a frustrating goal to observe. Vancouver’s defensive coverage, like Hugh Grant’s hair in the 90s, was effortlessly parted. Eaves is having a fantastic run with Anaheim, what a savvy pickup by Bob Murray. Anaheim fans may have been skeptical about this trade, but I’m certain that now, like his fantastic follicular facial forest, Eaves is really growing on them.
  • Tuesday against Anaheim was not Miller’s finest showing. Minutes after the Eaves goal, there was yet another dangerous Ducks chance that eluded him. A Cam Fowler test trickled through his pads and sat dangerously on the blue line until Chris Tanev cleared it to safety. It’s tough for anything to look dangerous while sitting, excepting mob bosses, who somehow look even more dangerous when seated. Back to Miller: after playing so well while digesting loss after loss, he can be forgiven for producing the odd stinker.
  • Suckers for beauty and aesthetics, Anaheim decided to score near the end of the first period too. For visual symmetry. After all, according to Edgar Degas, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Truly, the watercolour effect of teary eyes made Rogers Arena look quite magical for Canucks fans. Vancouver lost the puck in their zone and Josh Manson fired a shot from the point, which was tipped into the net by young Nick Ritchie. Vancouver meanwhile is dedicated to their own art style. This vomitous performance resulted in several thousand spontaneous Jackson Pollock replicas.
  • Done? Not even close. After a faceoff, Sven Baertschi “won the loss”, but Brandon Montour was the real winner. The defender took the opportunity to fling the puck on Miller, and it squeaked through the goalie for Anaheim’s fourth goal.
  • What does one say at this point? I’ve run out of silver linings. We’ve moved on to bronze, which isn’t really a common lining and is cheap as borscht. No one is fooled.
    “Why does this have a bronze lining? Where’s the dang silver?”
    “We were all out of silver sir, so sorry. But enjoy our finest bronze.”
    “I want my money back.”
    I’ll give it my best shot. Here’s what I can tell you: the Canucks sure utilized their feet. Yep, there were loads of skate sounds, indicating that all Vancouver players were using their bladed feet for motion. Yes, there was a high degree of skate blade to ice contact for this scrappy group. So that’s pretty encouraging.
  • Miller wasn’t actually the liability you’d expect with such an unfavourable score. He had some good moments, like when he calmly defused a Corey Perry breakaway with a smart pad in the second. But I am confused why he wasn’t pulled after the third or fourth goal. Anyway, Miller ended up facing 39 shots, along with his inner demons and deepening sense of regret. Poor guy. How many times has he faced shot totals like that? Like a muffler repairman stuck in a busy garage, he must be exhausted.
  • Vancouver did start to show some confidence later in the second period, putting a few shots on Jonathan Bernier and drawing a penalty against Ryan Kesler. But Vancouver’s two power plays featured neither power nor play. It was a weak work. One positive note: Boeser is just what the doctor ordered for the Canucks’ fizzling special teams; he shoots and hits the net. But is he too much of a rush scorer?
  • Oh happy day! The Canucks finally scored early in the third period, and you guys, it was the Boes-t. Firstly because by this point I really needed any good thing to happen, and secondly because it came off the stick of rookie Brock Boeser. Brandon Sutter, unable to keep hold of the puck, decided to fall on it instead. He regained control, tossed it over to Boeser, and then made a beeline for the net. Boeser aimed, fired, and scored with Sutter screening. It was a hard, beautiful shot that muscled its way through Bernier’s pads. With two goals in three games, Canucks fans went from buzzing about Brock to full-blown Boesermania. He had a great game, with at least two other solid chances alongside Sutter and Michael Chaput.
  • Here's the goal:
  • After that the Canucks turned up the heat a smidge, from “Is this thing on?” to full “Yes I’m fairly confident this will melt butter.” Bo Horvat had a nice look on Bernier after Baertschi threw a sweet pass up to him for a shot at the side. Later, Drew Shore skated into Anaheim’s end, spun around and sent a long cross-rink pass to Alex Biega for a solid scoring chance. Biega actually had a couple of chances, because Biega was playing at forward, because reasons. But there was no further scoring and Anaheim went home happy, one step closer to securing the Pacific Division.
  • Vancouver had a respectable shot total of 35, but Anaheim outchanced them heavily in shot attempts with a 53% Corsi rating. And take a look at this heatmap and where Anaheim’s shots were taken and goals were scored.

    Ducks Canucks Heatmap

    When you’re pushed to the outside as often as the Canucks are, you make life a lot easier for the opposing netminder.
  • Be sure to tune in next time, because Vancouver’s young, exciting prospects Brock Boeser is certain to be given plenty of ice time.