On Friday, the Canucks were Inspector Clouseau: utterly incompetent, getting out-shot 46-13 and yet, through dumb luck, managing a 4-2 win. Ryan “Dumb Luck” Miller was superb, making 44 saves.
On Saturday, the Canucks were Brienne of Tarth: completely competent, outplaying the Flames for the majority of the game, and yet everyone they ever loved or swore to protect is now dead. Er, I mean, they lost.
I don’t know what to tell you: hockey is a weird sport. But part of the reason I enjoy hockey so much is that there’s so much more room for a stunning upset than in most other sports. I saw the Canucks’ improbable win streak improbably come to an end when I watched this game.
- Ben Hutton took the pre-game skate, but was unable to play due to an injured hand from Friday’s game. That left the Canucks with just five defencemen on the second night of back-to-back games after playing the bulk of the first night with just five defencemen as well. Like a real apple in Plato’s Theory of Forms, it was less than ideal.
- With Hutton a last-minute scratch, Anton Rodin dressed as the 13th forward, but was stapled to the bench all game, hopefully metaphorically, though I wouldn’t put it past Willie “Milton” Desjardins to carry a red Swingline stapler around for just such a purpose.
- Honestly, for most of the game I didn’t have an issue with Rodin sitting. He wasn’t supposed to be in the game and rotating him in could have caused confusion and, with the way the team was playing, particularly after the first period, there wasn’t really any need to shake things up. Sure, it looks bad to have him dressed and on the bench and not play him, but think of it as a healthy scratch where they also had him on hand in case of injury. I was all ready to defend Desjardins’ decision-making, but then the last three minutes of the game happened.
- With less than three minutes left and down by one, it was desperation time. That’s when Willie Desjardins sent out a line of Markus Granlund, Alex Burrows, and Michael “Are You Freaking Kidding Me” Chaput. Trying to explain why Chaput is on the ice in that situation is like facing a properly-executed crane kick: no can defence. I’m not saying Rodin should have been out there, but literally any other player would have made more sense.
- I was so completely ready to give Desjardins credit too, as he paid attention to my hashtags and finally put Loui Eriksson back with the Sedins, demoting Jayson Megna to the Sutter line. The Tre Kronor Line responded with a strong possession game and several great scoring chances, even if they weren’t able to convert, forcing Chad “Lobster” Johnson to make some of his best saves.
- Johnson’s best save, ironically enough, came on Megna, as the chemistry came quickly with Sutter and Granlund and he fired a team-high four shots on goal. He nearly scored on one rebound, pulling it around a seemingly down-and-out Johnson, but the goaltender did what Navin R. Johnson could not: he laid the paddle down, making a spectacular stick save that was curiously underplayed by the commentators.
- With an undermanned defence, Nikita Tryamkin stepped up like he was the plucky underdog in a dance movie. Despite missing a chunk of the first period shaking off a Micheal Ferland hit, Tryamkin played a second short of 22 minutes and looked superb as he jumped up in the play with his smooth skating and erased Flames’ chances with his reach. It wasn’t a perfect game — he could have done better covering for a pinching Luca Sbisa on the Flames’ third goal — but the Canucks out-shot the Flames 15-6 when he was on the ice.
- Alex Edler was the big minute man for the Canucks, playing over 27 minutes after playing over 25 minutes on Friday. That's nearly 53 minutes of hockey in two nights, the majority of it against the Flames' best players. Now, if only he could remember how to get his shot through traffic: Edler had a game-high 9 shot attempts; just one made it through to the goaltender.
- The Flames coincidentally scored both their first period goals while Tryamkin was tending to his injury, scoring both just over a minute apart. Like the Legion of Superheroes always has Invisible Kid, each goal also had clear goats: Brendan Gaunce and Jack Skille failed to clear the puck on the first goal and Troy Stecher completely lost track of his check on the second goal.
- The Canucks dominated the start of the second period, making the first few minutes look like a power play. Bo Horvat extended his point streak, peeling out from behind the goal into some open space created by Alex Burrows and Sven Baertschi going to the net, then made like pre-teen me opening up the comics section of the newspaper, going straight to the far side.
- Unlike the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Canucks’ power play was hapless on their first two opportunities, not even managing a single shot on goal. Late in the third, however, the power play began to click like Hamm going HAM on a remote control. Unfortunately, Johnson was up to the task, robbing both Sedins on great scoring chances and securing the win for the Flames.
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The best columns are tall and sturdy. Johnny Gaudreau is short and got knocked down incredibly easily by a Sbisa crosscheck. All I’m saying is that Gaudreau would make a bad column.
