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I Watched This Game: Canucks can’t recover after Panthers’ four-goal first period

Canucks 3, Panthers 4
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It’s not fair to judge a hockey management group by one game, much less one period, but hoo boy was that the wrong time to have that kind of first period.

The Canucks were certainly “competitive,” the watchword for Trevor Linden and Jim Benning as they answered questions about Benning’s contract extension, but they were also a mess. The two teams traded goals until the Panthers took a two-goal lead after 20 sloppy minutes.

That was essentially the game. While the Canucks showed no quit and battled hard right ‘til the end, which is another way to be “competitive,” they still fell short, as they have time and time again this season.

But hey, Brock Boeser got a goal (and should have had two), so it wasn’t a total loss. It was merely a partial loss when I watched this game.

  • That first period was frenetic, with goals coming in rapid succession and frequently off strange bounces and mysterious caroms. I assume a Lovecraftian horror invaded the bowels of Rogers Arena, causing the first period to be played using non-Euclidean geometry until assistant equipment manager Brian Hamilton banished the beast by unleashing the combined smell of all the Canucks hockey gloves during the intermission.
  • Things got off to a strong start in the first minute when Sven Baertschi won a puck battle against Aaron Ekblad along the boards and fed the puck to Bo Horvat. He could have tried to drive to the net on his backhand, and he probably would have done so a year ago, but Horvat has developed into a savvy playmaker and instead made a pass to an open Michael Del Zotto at the top of the slot. Like The Very Large Man from The Tick, Horvat just keeps growing. At some point he’ll become a danger to the populace, but for now we can enjoy his development into a more well-rounded centre.
  • The Canucks have had some horrendous luck with bad bounces and own goals, so it was somehow reassuring when Ekblad ekbatted Del Zotto’s rebound into his own net. There was a review to make sure Brock Boeser didn’t knock it in with a high stick, but the review missed that Boeser actually touched the puck. It still wouldn’t have been a disallowed goal, as the first person to touch the puck after Boeser was Ekblad, but Boeser should have been given credit for the goal. He should be at 28 goals right now, but we’ll have to settle for 27*.
  • I secretly had high hopes for Erik Gudbranson and Alex Edler as a pairing. Something about two sizeable defenders spoke to the old-school hockey sensibilities I grew up with and I wanted to believe that Edler’s strengths could balance out Gudbranson’s weaknesses and vice versa. They looked pretty good against Dallas. Against Florida, they looked horrendous.
  • Baertschi giveth and Baertschi giveth away. While he made a strong play on the opening goal, he got his pocket picked by Nick Bjugstad, who set up Evgenii Dadonov for a breakaway when he slipped in behind Alex Edler. Dadonov slipped the puck five-hole on Jacob Markstrom, who, like a chronic over-sharer, opened up a little too easily. No one wants to hear about your emotions, David!
  • Here’s the thing: I think that was a set play. Aleksander Barkov didn’t try to win the faceoff back: he batted it to the side, where Bjugstad jumped up and was first to the puck. At the same time, Dadonov immediately took off out of the zone, pausing only briefly to make sure Bjugstad won the puck. That’s why Bjugstad was so unexpectedly on top of Baertschi and how Dadonov got in behind Edler. It was all planned out.
  • Baertschi made up for his mistake on the second Canucks’ goal, with Horvat setting the example. Horvat forced a turnover from James Reimer behind the Florida net, then tried to centre for Baertschi twice. When the Panthers took the puck back, Baertschi attacked Barkov, forcing another turnover. This time, Horvat was out front and chipped the puck over Reimer’s right pad, seemingly by accident. It looked like he was trying to deke, but never got control of the puck, which was a fortunate break.
  • The Panthers’ second goal bounced in off Jamie McGinn’s back. Why does anyone try to make sense of this sport?
  • Of course, this is one of the key reasons why corsi matters. The longer you keep the puck in the offensive zone and out of the defensive zone, the more likely those ridiculous bounces go your way and not the other way around.
  • I can just imagine Jim Benning looking down as Erik Gudbranson gave the puck away to Jared McCann leading to the 3-2 goal and just sighing heavily. “We musn’t dwell,” he probably said to himself. “No, not today. We can’t! Not on Rex Manning Day! I mean, Jim Benning Day!” And then Jay Swing pumped “Video Killed the Radio Star” through Rogers Arena.
  • Henrik Sedin doesn’t take many defensive zone faceoffs. In fact, in this game he took just one and it came after he unnecessarily iced the puck. It went poorly. He lost the faceoff to Barkov and Bjugstad stepped in and beat Markstrom under his right arm.
  • This must ahve been frustrating for Markstrom. One game removed from his second shutout of the season and he gives up 4 goals on 14 shots and gets pulled after the first period. He had some bad luck with the bounces and some sloppy play in front of him, but he was too easily beat on the Dadonov breakaway and left a big hole on the Bjugstad goal. “It never goes smooth,” Markstrom probably muttered. “How come it never goes smooth?”
  • Ekblad had a weird game for the Panthers. He was on the ice for every Canucks goal and was directly to blame on one of them, but was also on for two Florida goals and knocked in another with a high stick that got waved off. It was the second time he knocked the puck in with a high stick.
  • Alex Edler wasn’t great at 5-on-5, but he also ate up a lot of minutes. He finished with 29:20 in ice time and played 8:37 on the power play, which is crazy. His best moment came at even-strength, when he drilled NHL penalty minute leader Michael Haley with a clean check, then laughed Haley off when he tried to start a fight. Edler had some choice words for Haley and I’m desperate to know what they were. What does Edler sound like when he’s talking trash?
  • The Canucks made the most of a 9-second 5-on-3 after penalties drawn by Jake Virtanen and Derrick Pouliot. It was a great set play to indirectly get the puck to Brock Boeser off the faceoff. Horvat won the draw to the side, Daniel Sedin tipped it back, and Boeser did what he does best: flip his hair back and look dashing. Wait, what he does second best: score goals.
  • The Canucks’ power play couldn’t get anything else done despite 6 opportunities. They should have had a bit more time to make something happen, however, as Troy Stecher was cut by a high stick. The ref investigated, signalled a four-minute double-minor, but then only a two-minute minor was assessed. It was baffling. The closest we got to an explanation is that Michael Del Zotto lifted Haley’s stick, so the refs somehow felt it wasn’t fair to give out a double minor, I guess? That’s not a judgement call: it was a high stick that caused an injury. There’s not really any grey area.