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I Watched This Game: Canucks 2, Panthers 4

Canucks fans have lionized their fair share of replacement-level players over the years, turning the likes of Jeff “The Brabarian” Cowen, Ronalds “Plural” Kenins, and Tanner “Scrabble Champ” Glass into momentary folk heroes.
Daniel Wagner
I Watched This Game

Canucks fans have lionized their fair share of replacement-level players over the years, turning the likes of Jeff “The Brabarian” Cowen, Ronalds “Plural” Kenins, and Tanner “Scrabble Champ” Glass into momentary folk heroes.

It might be time to add Jack “Actually Has” Skille to their ranks after he followed up a two-goal performance against the Tampa Bay Lightning with another gorgeous goal against the Florida Panthers. This sudden outburst of skill has seemingly come out of nowhere; the one-time Panther seemed to take inspiration from his former stomping grounds and, for once, actually looked like a former first round pick.

I started writing a heroic folk ballad called “You Don’t Know Jack About Skille” while I watched this game.

 

  • Let’s start with Skille’s goal, because it truly was fantastic. He picked up the puck in his own zone, then tossed aside Colton Sceviour in the neutral zone like a mascot wrecking a kid in a half-time football game. After humiliating Sceviour, Skille split the defence, weaving through Mark Pysyk and Aaron Ekblad like the weft through the warp before beating Roberto Luongo on the short side: his left side. Luongo’s left leg is secretly a half-inch shorter than his right. Tru Fakt™.
  • Skille wasn’t done. On his next shift, he picked up the puck in the offensive zone and skated a lap around the Panthers’ defence, creating an opening for a great scoring chance and forcing Paul Thompson to slash him to keep him from getting the shot off. The Canucks’ scored their only other goal of the game on that power play. Then Willie Desjardins messed up by not making the obvious choice and double-shifting Skille for the rest of the game. Come on, let Twitter coach the Canucks!
  • Now I’m imagining something like Twitch Plays Pokemon: Twitch Coaches Canucks. It would be a glorious disaster full of random line changes, constant attempts to use timeouts we no longer possess, and repeatedly pulling the goalie with the puck in the defensive zone.
  • Alas, Skille’s efforts were too little, too late, as the Canucks were down 3-0 by the time he went into hero mode. The Canucks gave up a whopping 42 shots as the Panthers attempted to answer the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. They’re still not sure what the question is, but they’ve got their best former Canucks Army bloggers working on it.
  • Poor Luca Sbisa. Tasked with the relatively easy role of anchoring the third pairing to start the season, Sbisa was putting together a solid start but has struggled since he was forced into a top pairing role. On Saturday, he was saddled with facing the legendary Jaromir Jagr and got schooled by the elder statesman of the NHL. First he lost the puck to Jagr behind the net on the Panthers’ first goal, then lost the puck at the blueline to Jagr for a 2-on-1 that Troy Stecher defended brilliantly, then getting caught in no man’s land on a Jagr shot that he couldn’t block that allowed Ekblad, who was Sbisa’s man, to put back the rebound for the Panthers’ third goal. The Canucks got out-shot 9-2 when Sbisa was on the ice against Jagr at 5-on-5.
  • It’s hard to fault Jacob Markstrom for the loss, as he made 39 saves, including several that would have been highlighted as gamesavers if the Canucks had actually completed their comeback. Unfortunately, he was also kicking out pucks like MC5 kicked out jams (NSFW), giving up a ton of rebounds, two of which directly resulted in goals.
  • With Jannik Hansen set to return shortly, that hopefully spells the end of Brandon Sutter playing on the top line with the Sedins. Unfortunately, it also likely means we won’t see Loui Eriksson back with the Sedins anytime soon. He was reunited with the twins on the top line in the third period and they immediately created chances, with Henrik hitting the post on an open chance and Daniel forcing a great glove save from Luongo late in the third. It makes me wonder whether we’ll ever get another full-length record from Loui and the Twins instead of all these EPs and cassingles.
  • The power play struggled to make anything happen all game, but struck midway through the third, pulling the Canucks within one. In the slot, Daniel Sedin got crosschecked to the ice, but got right back up. The puck took inspiration from Daniel bouncing back up off the ice, so when Daniel tipped Troy Stecher’s shot, the puck did the same, making like Jean Ralphio on the dance floor: bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce (now all the ladies say it) bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce.
  • It's appropriate that Stecher got an assist on a shot, as he had a whopping eight shots on goal in this game. Eight! He had to make up for lost time, as he had fewer than three shots on goal in four straight games. It was bringing down his average. But add his eight shots in this game and he has 15 in his last five games: a perfect 3.00 shots-per-game average.
  • Finally, shout out to this guy. It takes a lot of team spirit to do something like this for a team in 28th in the NHL.