There’s a tendency as a fan to describe every loss as a terrible game. It’s an understandable response: it judges the game emotionally rather than aesthetically.
But this game wasn’t terrible. It had two hattricks! It had a third period comeback and then nearly another one! It had gorgeous goals and silly bloopers and amazing saves! This was a tremendously entertaining game.
And the Canucks didn’t play all that badly. In fact, you could argue that this was the best game the Canucks played on their current road trip and a good sign for the future.
It’s just that a 6-minute stretch in the third period ruining everything. I’ve had days like that. Everything going well, but then 6 minutes (or 10 or 20) were terrible and I let that ruin my whole day. Fortunately, days don’t have final scores like games do, so a bad 6 minutes doesn’t have to make the whole day bad.
I guess all I’m saying is have a good day. I watched this game.
- Jannik “Honninggrævling” Hansen was all kinds of awesome in this game, opening the scoring just 27 seconds in by blowing past Olli Maatta like the Finnish defenceman was skating into a very narrow headwind, then put the puck inside the far left post like an article by Arianna Huffington.
- The Canucks played an inspired first period, creating numerous quality scoring chances by challenging the Penguins’ defence. Bo Horvat put the puck through Derrick Pouliot’s legs to get a great chance, then Hansen did the same to Ben Lovejoy. They were going through more legs than Sergio Ramos.
- Hansen was far from done, scoring again shorthanded before the period was done. He stole the puck from Sidney Crosby at the blue line, then set up Derek Dorsett on a 2-on-1. Dorsett rang his shot off the crossbar, but Hansen stuck with the play and swatted the rebound home. That’s Hansen for you: less of a playmaker, more of a playsticker.
- Crosby deserves all the blame on this one, as he lost the puck, dogged it on the backcheck, then lazily peeled away from Hansen as Dorsett shot, leaving him all alone to score. Crosby ended up on the ice for all 4 Canucks goals; remember when the argument between him and Ovechkin hinged on Crosby’s better defensive play? If I were a Penguins writer, I’d be ripping him to shreds after that game, but since he scored the empty netter to extend his point streak, he’ll likely get a pass. Like the one from Carl Hagelin to gift him that goal.
- The Canucks got into penalty trouble early in the second, with quick calls to Mike Zalewski and Alex Burrows giving the Penguins a 5-on-3. Bo Horvat won the first faceoff, but Luca Sbisa failed to clear the puck. One pass later and Evgeni Malkin had one-timed it into the net. It was an ugly play for Sbisa in a mostly decent game. The Canucks out-shot the Penguins 13-5 at even-strength with Sbisa on the ice and, like Crosby, he was on the ice for all 4 Canucks goals. It’s just he was largely to blame for two of the Penguins goals too. Sbisa giveth and Sbisa taketh away. But mostly giveth away.
- Marc-Andre Fleury may have allowed 4 goals, but this could have been a blowout. In the second period, he robbed Daniel Sedin after a nice pass by Jared McCann, then delayed Hansen’s hattrick with a pad save after Daniel sent him in on a breakaway with an aerial pass. In the third he made a point blank save on Horvat on a shorthanded chance set up by Hansen. After that sequence of events, he was surprised when Horvat shot the puck instead of setting up a teammate. “You broke the pattern!” he could be heard screaming, “And you didn’t even have the decency to say ‘C-C-C-C-Combo Breaker!’”
- Horvat’s shot on his goal was unreal, whipping the puck perfectly into the top corner, but you have to give Kris Letang a lot of credit too, as he lifted up his leg to let the shot through at just the right moment. It was an amazing flamingo by Letang, but not as amazing as this one.
- That’s when things went horribly wrong. Malkin was forced behind the net by some aggressive goaltending by Ryan Miller, but Malkin swung the puck in front, where Linden Vey attempted to sweep it away from the net. Unfortunately Alex Edler tried to sweep it away from the net at the same time. Somehow their combined efforts at preventing a goal caused one instead, as their sticks collided and the puck clanked off Vey’s stick and into the net. It was like multiplying minus-1 by minus-1, resulting in plus-1, which gave each of them a minus-1.
- Malkin completed the hattrick 3 minutes later, taking advantage of a sloppy change. Then 3 minutes after that, Bryan Rust scored a soft one on Miller, assisted by Tom Kuhnhackl. I am assured that Rust and Kuhnhackl are real people. So, an own goal, a terrible line change, and a soft goal along the ice that should have been stopped. 6 minutes. Game over.
- Except not! Almost! Jannik Hansen wasn’t done being awesome, completing his hattrick with 16 seconds to go, tipping in a desperation point shot from Zalewski, who is averaging an assist every two games in his NHL career. I’m definitely expecting him to put up 41 assists as soon as he plays a full season.
- The Canucks came inches from sending this game to overtime. With Vrbata alone in front, Alex Edler sent a hard centring pass through the crease. And Vrbata missed. Just clean missed the puck with one second left in the game. Vrbata has one goal in his last 15 games. That would have been a really good time to bust his slump.
- Daniel Sedin, the Canucks’ franchise-leading goalscorer, played barely over 15 minutes in this game. With Henrik out, we are already only getting half the Sedins. I don’t want to get any less than that, but with Jared McCann centring that line, Willie Desjardins is seriously cutting down their minutes. Give me my full half Sedins, dammit!
- That also meant that Hansen got fewer minutes as well. The guy who scored a hattrick and was clearly the team’s best player, tallying 7 shots on goal, played just 16-and-a-half minutes. Instead, Linden Vey led all forwards in ice time. Sure, it was just 40 seconds more than Hansen, but, just, why? Hansen deserved to get double-shifted in that game. He’s already ineligible for the Unsung Hero award and well on his way to Most Exciting Player.
