Through six games so far the Vancouver Canucks have spent 30 minutes with a lead. Thanks to the wonders of the modern calculator, I can tell you this means the Canucks have only been in the lead for 8% of their total time on the ice. I’m no math whiz, but that seems like an unsustainable method for winning games. You can only defy the odds for so long. I watched reality catch up to the Canucks when I watched this game.
- Seriously, the Canucks are like me at middle school dances: they never want to lead. The Ducks opened the scoring on a very simple shot on Miller that bounced right to Andrew Cogliano. As John Garrett made abundantly clear on the broadcast, Tanev and Edler were both backing off a little too far on the goal, allowing Josh Manson lots of room in the middle to take the shot.
- The Sedin line looked slow in the first period, especially in comparison to the Kesler-Cogliano-Silfverberg line, who hemmed them in the defensive zone on several shifts. Things got better for the Sedins by the third period, but you could tell the back-to-back game was taking its toll on them. I’m starting to think this might be the year where a new bona fide first line needs to emerge.
- Did you know prior to this game the Canucks had not scored in the first period? Bo Horvat got tired of waiting and decided to break that streak himself with a lovely short-handed goal. He had lots of help from Loui Eriksson though, who delivered a perfectly weighted backhanded pass right on his stick. If Loui is that good with his backhanded passes, I wouldn’t want to hear his backhanded compliments. I imagine they are devastating.
- Eriksson was by far the Canucks’ best player tonight. Besides assisting on both goals, he was speedy and difficult to contain all night. One of his best plays was around the 12:00 mark of the second period, when he shot the puck of the wall and blew by Clayton Stoner in the neutral zone, creating a chance at the Ducks goal that was neutralized by a sprawling Sami Vatanen. He earned the second star on the night for his efforts. In my notes I also gave his hair the fourth star. That hair, man. That hair.
- There were some scary moments in the second period, including Ryan Getzlaf hitting the post. The scariest, however, was Philip Larsen’s broken stick leading to Jakub Silfverberg’s breakaway. Fortunately Ryan Miller stood his ground against Silfverberg’s slapshot. But that dude really needs to make up his mind. Is his last name Silferberg or Silverberg? He can’t have it both ways.
- The Canucks had a couple power play chances in the third period. The first one looked like they were trying to recreate this play. I counted at least three drop passes, two of which were in the defensive zone. I’m not completely opposed to the power play drop pass, but that seemed a little excessive.
- Of course, the first unit scored on that same shift, right after the power play ended. So who am I to judge? After being denied by Gibson on a long shot during the power play, Henrik managed to get in close and squeeze one by Gibson. I am 95 percent sure his shot was an attempted pass to Daniel behind the net. We all know Henrik doesn’t shoot from there. He prefers to be below the goal line.
- Things were starting to look promising for the Canucks, but like someone who missed the last cab, the Ducks killed the party again. Only four minutes after Henrik’s goal, Nick Ritchie put the Ducks ahead for good. After Getzlaf’s shot deflected in the air, literally every Canuck lost sight of it. Ritchie saw it coming down and swatted it in to the net before Miller even had a chance to move off the far post. Someone should give these guys gravity lessons. If the puck goes up in the air, it doesn’t just continue going up. That’s not how it works.
- Once that third goal went in you got the sense Vancouver wasn’t coming back in this one. Corey Perry was rude enough to not even wait for Miller to be pulled, scoring a trickler through his legs with about a minute to go. At that point my 4 month old son started crying and screaming. My wife had to leave the room, since she can only handle one of us doing that at a time.
