All the talk heading into this game was about Brock Boeser and how he wasn’t in the lineup. Keeping the Canucks’ number one prospect in the press box is a hard sell to a fanbase desperate for some hope for the future and, in particular, some goalscoring. Some were a little more worked up than others about the decision.
Boeser skated in the warm-up and was even the subject of one of the fan messages projected onto the ice during the pre-game: “Boeser: #6 on the ice, #1 in my heart.” But Travis Green was not influenced by fan excitement over the Canucks’ number one prospect, which is as it should be. As much as fans may want him to, the coach has to make the choices he feels are right in order to win the game.
The decision to sit Boeser certainly looked a lot better after the game than it did before the game, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. I wasn’t happy that I didn’t see Brock Boeser when I watched this game.
- Green’s decision-making process on sitting Boeser is pretty understandable: when you face the Oilers, you have to shut down Connor McDavid. He wanted Markus Granlund, Brandon Sutter, and Derek Dorsett to do that job. Therefore, Dorsett was in the opening lineup, as was Jake Virtanen, with his all-important speed. And, somehow, McDavid was held off the scoresheet. While you can argue with results, you can't expect anyone to listen.
- Derek Dorsett was particularly noticeable, haranguing both McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at every opportunity. It was less gritty, fighting Dorsett and more, grindy, pain-in-the-ass Dorsett, which was a welcome change. Considering he was the player most fans wanted out of the lineup, it was a nice redemptive moment for a player whose career many thought was over after he had to have pieces of hip bone surgically “sprinkled” in his neck.
- Credit has to go to Alex Edler and Chris Tanev as well, who were tasked with playing the bulk of the minutes against the McDavid line. McDavid and his line still got chances, because they always will, but Edler and Tanev did well to limit those to one-and-done chances, clearing rebounds and boxing out forwards like they were cleaning up their email inboxes.
- The game got off to a rough start for the Canucks, with Kris Russell scoring on the Oilers first shot of the game. If that’s not bad enough, the two assists went to Milan Lucic and Zack Kassian, two Vancouver-connected power forwards. It had a whiff of “here we go again,” with hints of “what could have been.” In other words, it stunk.
- This wasn’t Erik Gudbranson’s best game. He provided the inadvertent screen on the Oilers’ first goal, then completely lost sight of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on their second goal. On top of that, he didn’t have a single controlled zone exit all game. And that was while he and Michael Del Zotto played just two minutes against the McDavid line, the lowest of the Canucks’ defence.
- Thomas Vanek’s first notable act as a Vancouver Canuck was a rare “playing the puck from the bench” penalty. To be fair to Vanek, it sure looked to me like both skates were on the ice and it was a less embarrassing debut than Loui Eriksson’s own goal. He and the Sedins seemed to mostly be kept quiet, but they were the only Canucks’ line to out-shoot the Oilers at 5-on-5 when they were on the ice.
- The first Canucks’ goal of the season was a stone-cold stunner, as Ben Hutton hit Bo Horvat in stride streaking down the wing on the power play and he drove to the net, holding off Jim Benning’s nephew, Matthew, along the way. When Cam Talbot went for the poke check, Horvat quickly released the puck, and it ramped up Talbot’s stick like Evel Knievel and I was about to make a “hit the bar” joke, but then it turns out Knievel was an alcoholic, so that’s not cool at all. Let’s just say the puck went in.
- Most notable thing about that goal might be that Bo Horvat’s unit was the first on the ice. It came after a TV timeout, so fatigue should not have been an issue and, on subsequent power plays, Horvat and his pals were first on the ice yet again. We’ll belay the coronation ceremony of his unit as the new PP1: Travis Green said, “They got a goal, that was part of it. Part of it’s faceoffs; Bo’s good on faceoffs. Going forward, we’ll see.”
- Kris Russell giveth and Kris Russell giveth away. When he misplays a puck behind the net, he really misplays the puck, sending it directly into the slot where Brandon Sutter was waiting. Sutter roofed it like he discovered a leak in a house he was flipping.
- Bo Horvat scored his second of the game like he was just given a six-year contract and wanted to prove he’s a legitimate first-line forward. He picked Oscar Klefbom’s pocket behind the net, and Klefbom, like a guy tricked by a down-low-too-slow-five, never recovered. With Leon Draisaitl in front focused on taking away the passing lane, Horvat had all day to take the shot, but it really only took him a couple seconds.
- Horvat nearly had a hattrick, like so many other NHLers in their season openers this past week, but missed the net on a golden opportunity. To make him feel better, McDavid took the puck and immediately missed the net at the Canucks’ end. It was like when Adam Sandler wet his pants in Billy Madison to make his friend feel less self-conscious about his own pants-wetting problem, except way less problematic, because you know those kids started peeing their pants all the time.
- With Dorsett playing more of a pest role, it was up to someone a little more unexpected to drop the gloves: Troy Stecher. The pint-sized defenceman leveled Ryan Strome with a clean hit in the neutral zone, then didn’t give an inch when Strome came after him. When the gloves dropped, Stecher gave Strome a good pop-pop in the attic to start things off, then hung in for the rest of the fight.
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Jacob Markstrom may have given up a goal on the first shot he faced as the new number one goaltender, but he stayed mentally strong and shut the door for the rest of the game, turning away more shots than an anti-vaxxer. His best save came with less than a minute remaining, as an Oscar Klefbom shot got deflected up high and he reacted to the bouncing puck, stretching out his right pad in the splits, then covering up the rebound. Like a star-post in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it was a game-saver.
