They say that the devil is in the details. That was never more true than in New Jersey on Tuesday night, where the Devils offered a detailed critique of the Vancouver Canucks. Ever fastidious, the team in red and black highlighted cracks in the Canucks’ penalty kill, possession game and goaltending.
But the most prominent shortcoming identified by New Jersey's voluntary and unrequested audit was Vancouver’s defence. The Canucks corps was gasping, overworked and overwhelmed after the mid-game loss of Philip Larsen, who was knocked flat by Taylor Hall and carried out on a stretcher. That wasn't all Hall did, as he also scored a goal, assisted on another, nearly got in a fight, wrote a heroic epic and danced an Irish jig. Across the ice another important Devil, Cory Schneider, stood tall when he had to and further fortified one of the NHL's stingiest teams. I watched Philip Larsen not see an incoming freight train when I watched this game.
- New Jersey got to work early in this match. Taylor Hall retrieved the puck after a scramble in front of the net, took a few steps and then rifled the puck off the post and into the net from below the hash marks. I don't blame Jacob Markstrom on this one, it was such a tricky wrister. It’s not the kind of shot that many players can score on, but then Hall isn’t your average goal scorer. I think there’s only one player on the Canucks who has the mittens to score like that, and his last name is Sedin. Needless to say there were Hall kinds of skill on display here. He’s Taylor-made to score beauties like that.
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Brendan Gaunce had a first-period fight with Damon Severson. It was a funny bout, apparently the first NHL fight for both players. Gaunce landed a couple of lefts before the pair tumbled to the ice. It wasn't a very brutal display of fisticuffs, but Gaunce definitely scored the win. I know what you’re thinking here:
I certainly wasn’t expecting the fight, or that Gaunce would be effective throwing punches, but what do we really know about him anyway? The dude is straight up mysterious, an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a Canucks jersey. Seeing Gaunce fight was like finding out that a parrot sings Sia better than Sia: totally unexpected, but way more entertaining than you would expect. - Michael Chaput is known for his sharp wit and smashing play, but he’s got nothing on local New Jersey cut-up, Dasher McEndboards. Late in the first period, Chaput shoved Travis Zajac off the puck. Zajac slid forward, mostly carried by momentum, and lifted his head up at exactly the wrong time. He caught the dasher with his face, breaking his nose in the process. John Moore immediately jumped off the bench to tackle Chaput, because of honour or something. The chants of “Refs, you suck!” rained down, and New Jersey head coach John Hynes was a little too animated in his disapproval of the non-call, so the referees handed the Devils an extra bench minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Vancouver a two-man advantage for a full two minutes. It was ugly for Zajac, but the referees made the right call here; this was not boarding, just an unfortunate injury.
- Vancouver evened up the score early in the second period while on that selfsame two-man advantage. Daniel and Henrik Sedin must be playing a lot of hot potato with their young children. How else to explain why they’re so reluctant to hang onto the puck? After passing back and forth to Brandon Sutter about sixteen times, Daniel finally realized that this spud was not cooling down, so he'd just have to toss it away. He yelled “Ouch ouch ouch, hot hot hot!” and then hurled it at net. Luckily for Daniel, Cory Schneider was mesmerized by this clever hypno-Sedin potato gambit and Daniel’s one-timer squeaked through the pads for his 8th goal of the season.
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Then a bad thing happened. Oh, so very bad. Philip Larsen was fed a puck behind the net by Luca Sbisa. He started to turn and skate, head down, when he was absolutely leveled by Taylor Hall at full speed. Larsen was knocked unconscious and then kicked and nearly stepped on during the ensuing scrum. He was put on a stretcher and sent to the hospital. I saw him moving his hands, and later reports said that he was awake and responsive, which is great news. No jokes for this bullet point Bulies, it was a very scary play and our prayers are with Larsen this evening.
No word on whether Hall will receive supplementary punishment for the hit, but my spidey senses tells me that this will be seen as a clean hit and an unfortunate injury. Here's how it went down:
maybe a better angle here pic.twitter.com/aMdCi6sffk
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) December 7, 2016 -
Both sides were pretty emotional after the Larsen hit, and shortly after recommencing play things devolved into a scrum involving Devante Smith-Pelly, Erik Gudbranson and Alex Burrows. Vancouver was awarded an extra penalty for roughing, giving New Jersey a power play.
On the advantage, Kyle Palmieri one-timed a goal on a cross-ice laser from (who else), Taylor Hall, putting the Devils up 2-1. This is clearly Hall’s team now. He's their best forward by a mile. With him and Cory Schneider, they have quite a lot to build around. An insider source informs me that the team will soon be changing its name to the New Jersey HallSchneiders. Catchy! - Ben Lovejoy’s name is the biggest misnomer around. He caused neither for Vancouver fans. You know what, Mr. Lovejoy? I'm gonna call you Ben Hatedespair from now on. With Palmieri screening (and perhaps interfering) with Jacob Markstrom, Hatedespair slapped a bomb on net which went right underneath the big goaltender. I was expecting to see a coach’s challenge, but Willie Desjardins opted not to, because evidently his brain and eyeballs work entirely differently than mine.
- Like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expects improbable Sedinery. Remember earlier when I said that only one player on the Canucks could score a goal like Hall’s? I was wrong, make that two players. One of them simply doesn't do it nearly often enough. Against the momentum and flow of the game, the Sedins broke into New Jersey's defensive zone. Henrik Sedin roofed his twin brother's rebound, firing a seeing-eye shot that somehow found the three square inches of net that Cory Schneider gives you to work with. That goal pulled Vancouver to within one and shifted the momentum back in the Canucks' favour.
- With just two minutes remaining, Desjardins pulled Markstrom and the team laid on heavy, extended pressure, but coach John Hynes saw it coming and pressed the Devils Shutdown Mode Button, which has been affixed onto the New Jersey bench since 1995. The Canucks controlled the zone the entire time, but Cory Schneider is an active member of the New Jersey Skeptics Society, and true to form the Canucks weren’t able to put a thing past him.
- Jacob Markstrom must be really into crossfit these days, because the guy sure likes his lunges. He’s big and athletic, but sailing across the net five or six times per game leaves an awful lot of open mesh for a patient player to shoot at. Markstrom's game on Tuesday was a mixed bag. He was all over the place at times (unlike his steady, well-positioned counterpart across the ice), but he had a few big stops, including a well-timed poke check on a breakaway chance by Miles Wood halfway through the final frame.
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This wasn’t exactly a showcase game for Vancouver’s makeshift defensive pairings. Erik "Should Never Pinch" Gudbranson ignored his nickname and blew all four tires late in the second period, which sent Kyle Palmieri off on a breakaway opportunity. That was unfortunate. Early in the third, Luca Sbisa retrieved the puck from Taylor Hall, only to pass the puck right back to a waiting Taylor Hall. That was painful. And poor Nikita Tryamkin was puffing late in the third period as the extra minutes from Philip Larsen’s absence began to catch up to him. That made Prudential Center very windy.
Tryamkin's conditioning is getting better, but I haven’t seen a Russian so tired since my friend Ivan accidentally knocked over a shelf at the Goodyear factory. - The Canucks may have lost the battle, but they also lost the advanced stats war. What, were you expecting a silver lining? Those are only found inside a live action role player’s cloak, silly. New Jersey clearly powered up the Ice Tilter 6000 at the start of each period, heavily outchancing Vancouver and controlling the puck the whole way through the game. Vancouver’s Corsi For was a miserable 44%, and they constantly seemed to be chasing the puck. They will look to return to Corsi dominance in Tampa Bay on Thursday.
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Last thing: I hope you enjoy our new title image, now with 100% less Radim Vrbata!
