Jacob Markstrom was an absolute beast in this game, keeping the Canucks in it into the third period with save after monstrous save. He transformed like the Wolfman into a dominant number one goalie or perhaps he was Frankenstein’d together out of the body parts of great goaltenders of the past.
On a couple plays, he seemed completely dead and buried, but he scrambled out of the grave like a zombie to devour the Stars’ scoring chances. He was a creature of the night, a ghoul out to haunt the dreams of the Stars and turn them into nightmares or bury his teeth in their necks and suck out all their joy.
Alas, Markstrom’s devilish designs were thwarted by Alex “Van Helsing” Radulov, who stuffed Markstrom’s mouth with garlic, staked him in the heart, buried him in a sanctified graveyard, then salted the earth. It was a thriller, thriller night when I watched this game.
- Despite the low score, this was one of the most entertaining games of the season, with plenty of back-and-forth action, great goaltending, and unique moments. The in-arena content crew did their job as well to create a great atmosphere with a Halloween theme, even if several of their commercial-break games fizzled without a prize winner. At least the guy in the penguin costume with the sign “Fin ate my parents” won the costume contest, as well he should have. Someone has to call Fin out on his monstrous actions.
- The Canucks thoroughly outplayed the Stars throughout this game. Shot attempts were 45-25 at 5-on-5 and shots on goal were 39-29 overall. The Canucks assaulted and peppered the net, but couldn’t solve Ben Bishop until the third period. That’s a coaching issue: he has to do his scouting and inform them Bishop can only move diagonally.
- With no Brock Boeser in the lineup, Travis Green turned to Sam Gagner to play on the top line with Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi. Like a pickle-loving man putting condiments on hot dogs, Gagner took to the task with relish, firing a game-high six shots on goal.
- With the Canucks unable to capitalize on their multiple power plays in the first period, it was up to Jacob Markstrom to shut the door and keep the Canucks in the game. He was fabulous and cannot be blamed for the loss. It’s the greatest injustice since Injustice 2.
- Markstrom’s first great moment came on a power play chance by Tyler Seguin at the backdoor. He came out of his crease to cut down the angle, made the save, then somehow scrambled back to make a textbook save on Jamie Benn at the other side of the net. I thought that was going to be his best save of the night. That’s because I am a poor, naive fool.
- When Thomas Vanek has a good game, it normally means that he is invisible all night until he assists on or scores a goal. When he has a bad game, it’s because he’s noticeable for all the wrong reasons until he assists on or scores a goal. This was a bad game for Thomas Vanek.
- Vanek took two bad penalties in this game and it cost the Canucks. At the end of the first period, he made a blind backhand pass to nobody on the power play, sending Gemel Smith in on a breakaway. Vanek took a hooking penalty trying to track him down, but didn’t prevent a scoring chance, which meant no to a penalty shot, but yes to the Stars getting a power play to start the second period. They didn’t score on that power play, but Vanek was nice enough to give them another one immediately after he stepped out of the box, can-openering Jamie Oleksiak like he was brown beans with pork and molasses. I mean, I don’t blame him, that’s a nice quick lunch.
- On Vanek’s second penalty, Markstrom couldn’t stop Seguin for a second time on a backdoor play with the man advantage, as Seguin went back against the grain like an obstinate wood carver, slicing the puck into the top corner. It was an unstoppable shot and Markstrom may have inadvertently helped it into the net. When he slid across into the post, he slid hard enough to lift the opposite side of the net up. Since Seguin’s shot went top corner, it might have hit the crossbar and stayed out if Markstrom hadn’t lifted the net up.
- Markstrom continued his excellent night in net with a kick save on the improbably-named Remi Elie as he cut across the crease. He was quicker with his kicks than Chun-Li in this game, making him unbeatable along the ice. The Stars needed to practice their aerial attacks to face Markstrom.
- Markstrom got even better. His best save wasn’t even on a shot; it was on a pass, as he lunged out with his left pad to kick aside an Alexander Radulov pass that would have given Tyler Seguin a wide open net. He then recovered to make another left pad save on a Dan Hamhuis slap shot. The pucks might as well have been blue liquid, because they weren’t getting through Markstrom’s pads.
- That was Markstrom’s best save, but it still wasn’t his best moment. That came in the third period when he came charging out of his net to prevent an Antoine Roussel shorthanded breakaway. He barely got to the puck in time and went crashing into the boards, but it sent the Canucks the other way. The Sedins set up Vanek in the high slot, his shot created a rebound, and Gagner poked it past Bishop with one hand on the stick. It was one of the craziest sequences you’ll see all year.
- It was a great game for the shutdown line of Markus Granlund, Brandon Sutter, and Derek Dorsett, as they were hard-matched against the Seguin line and shut them down. Sutter played 12:37 against Seguin at 5-on-5; the Canucks out-shot the Stars 7-3 in that time. Chris Tanev and Ben Hutton were likewise lined up against Seguin and did an equally good job. The Seguin line got both Stars goals, but it wasn’t at 5-on-5 and it wasn’t against the Sutter line.
- As good as the Sutter line was, their ice time is getting concerning. Granlund added the power play to his repertoire and finished with 22:25 in ice time. Sutter had 20:40, while Dorsett played 19:31. The line prevented goals, but is that too much time for a line that isn’t much of a threat to score? Granlund and Sutter played more than Chris Tanev, for Pete’s sake!
- But speaking of ice time, Jayson Megna played just 4:18 in this game. After the game, Green said, “I started...double-shifting Gagner and Vanek kind of in-between so Megna didn’t play.” He really didn’t want Megna on the ice in a tight, one-goal game. I don’t know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like Anton Rodin’s music.
- Jacob Markstrom deserved a win in this game, but so did Ben Bishop. It was up to the goaltender’s best friend, the goalpost, to decide in overtime and it declared “Friendship ended with Markstrom; now Bishop is my best friend.” When Mattias Janmark fell in the neutral zone, it gave Bo Horvat room off the rush, but his shot dinged off the inside of the post and stayed out. When Radulov got a similar chance, he beat Markstrom cleanly to the blocker side to end the game.
