Is it just me, or did Jannik Hansen’s return to Vancouver get overshadowed by the re-signing of his off-brand replacement?
Jayson Megna got a contract extension prior to this game, signing a one-year, one-way deal for $675,000. Megna has been the target for a lot of fans’ frustration with Willie Desjardins’ deployment decisions, so the move was met with the exact opposite of enthusiasm. I suggest that Megna avoid reading the replies to the Canucks’ tweet announcing the signing.
I make the comparison to Hansen because, at times, it seems like that’s who they think Megna is. Like Hansen, Megna is a speedy skater, but that’s where the similarities end. Unfortunately, Desjardins seems to be under the impression that Megna, like Hansen, can also play on any forward line and make them better. Instead, he makes almost every line he plays on markedly worse.
I really, really missed Hansen when I watched this game.
- I swear it’s possible for a team to lose games and simultaneously play fun, entertaining hockey. Just not this team. This game was basically Iron Fist on Netflix: ponderously slow before finally getting pretty good right at the end, but not good enough to rescue it as viably entertaining television.
- It seemed fitting that the first two good scoring chances of the game came from Megna and Hansen. Boucher sprung Megna on a partial break and he did well with it, cutting around a defender before getting robbed by Martin Jones. Hansen did it better, getting a breakaway and, nostalgically, failing to score. Nearly brought me to tears.
- Congratulations are in order for Drew Shore, who officially had the worst giveaway of the season on the Sharks’ opening goal. With the puck on his stick and under no pressure whatsoever, he somehow managed to simultaneously fan on a 10-foot outlet pass and backhand it directly to Tomas Hertl. We’ll hand out that award at the same time as Megna’s Unsung Hero award.
- Hertl relayed the puck to Hansen, who set up Mikkel Boedker for a great scoring chance that Ryan Miller slid across to save, unfortunately leaving the net wide open for Hertl on the rebound. As is tradition, Alex Edler got blamed for the goal instead of Drew Shore as he was unable to tie up Hertl in front of the net. Someday I want to make like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting and give Edler a hug while repeatedly saying “It’s not your fault.”
- It was Edler’s fault again on the Sharks’ second goal, as Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s point shot hit him and went right to Hertl, who once again had a wide open net. I mean, how can you not hip-check that puck out of play like a proper number one defenceman?
- Ugliest moment of the game came late in the first period when Joe Thornton went to the dressing room doubled over in obvious pain. He was injured on an innocent-looking collision with Michael Chaput, who just backed into Thornton while playing the puck. The replay showed Thornton’s left knee buckling in a season-ending kind of way. I really hope I’m wrong.
- At one point Hansen tripped Miller behind the net and Hansen actually went to Miller and apologized after the next whistle. I guess Honey Badger do care.
- Miller and Hansen had a couple chummy moments in this game. Made me think of the several times Miller skewered Hansen in Canucks videos and now I’m mad that we never got a web series from the Canucks of the two of them being bros.
- Except for a long shift at the end of the first where he and his linemates got stuck in the defensive zone, Reid Boucher had a strong game. The Canucks out-shot the Sharks 12-6 while Boucher was on the ice at even-strength and he had a team-high four shots on goal himself, including the Canucks’ best chance in the second period, when he nearly beat Jones glove side with a quick shot off a Brandon Sutter faceoff win. Picking him up off waivers is looking like a smart move by Jim Benning.
- Open nets were a theme for Sharks goals in this one, but they failed to score on one of them. Joel Ward set up Chris Tierney with a wide open net, but Luca Sbisa gave him the shaft...er, he blocked his shot with the shaft of his stick.
- The Canucks finally got on the board with four minutes left when Sven Baertschi burst past his man on a lost faceoff and fluttered the softest shot of all time while falling to the ice. Somehow, Jones completely whiffed on the save. It was like Dave Laroche striking out Gorman Thomas with an eephus pitch.
- Like "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell, that was all she wrote. Horvat had a couple good chances in front with Miller pulled for the extra attacker, but it was Patrick Marleau who scored, clearing a puck from his own end into — yet again — a wide open net.
