This game has been lurking in the shadows all season, just waiting patiently for the right moment to strike.
This game was a monster from another realm, one not exactly parallel to our own, but intersecting at intervals, like a sine wave along a horizontal plane. When its influence wanes on our dimension, it is translucent and substanceless, with little impact on our world. We can only barely hear it as Jacob Markstrom or Anders Nilsson stand on their heads to deliver a win: “They’re just glorified backup goaltenders,” the voice whispers, echoing across dark dimensions into your brain, but you dismiss it.
Gradually, the monstrous game becomes more real and solid, seemingly gaining reality from our world, sucking it in like an old sponge at the bottom of a sink full of dirty dishes. Every Canucks injury feeds it, every cold streak strengthens it, until it’s unavoidable, surrounding you, its long fingers simultaneously clammy and clawing. “There is no depth,” the game says, its voice bolder and stronger.
Then it pounces and nothing so voluminous should be so fast and agile. It tears apart everything in its path, but pays special attention to the metaphysical — hopes, dreams, wishes — until there’s nothing left. I looked on, empty inside, when I watched this game.
- This was the worst game of the season, adding a healthy dose of bad luck, weak goaltending, and terrible defending to the already existing injury issues. The Canucks have had things go wrong one thing at a time lately; it seemed inevitable that they would eventually all go wrong at the same time.
- If I told you heading into this game that Anders Nilsson would make 41 saves, you likely would have been excited for an incredible goaltending performance. The issue is that the Predators took 48 shots. On Monday, Jacob Markstrom had his worst game of the season, making this a perfect time for Anders Nilsson to step up and make a statement. Unfortunately, when he reached into his pocket for his prepared statement, he realized that he accidentally put the worst picture of Nicolas Cage in his pocket instead.
- The two worst goals of the game both came off the stick of PK Subban, who I guess got revenge on the Canucks for trading his little brother by forcing Nilsson to flub two saves. The first came off a Michael Del Zotto turnover, but Subban flubbed the shot, sending the puck fluttering towards the net like a drunken butterfly. Nilsson never picked it up and it went fluttering right over his shoulder. Nilsson should read this guide to picking up a butterfly for next time.
- All eyes were on Nikolay Goldobin as he got back in the lineup and the added scrutiny saw him get blamed for things that really weren’t his fault. He was on the ice for four goals against, but was only really at fault on one of them when he went to go for a line change at the wrong time and couldn’t get back into the play.
- One of those goals came on a shorthanded 2-man breakaway, which just sounds impossible. Derrik Pouliot made a weak dump-in that went straight to Roman Josi, then went full sunk-cost-fallacy on the dump-in, chasing it in himself. Meanwhile, Sam Gagner, the other point man on the power play, had no idea two Predators were making a break for it behind him. Godobin saw it and tried to get back, but it was too little too late.
- It looked like Gagner made up for his lapse of concentration with an assist on the Canucks’ first goal, but it instead got called back on the chintziest of offside challenges, as Thomas Vanek’s right skate momentarily hovered over the ice instead of being directly in contact with the ice. The call was technically correct, which is not, contrary to what Number 1.0 might say, the best kind of correct.
- Just do away with offside. Offside is an archaic rule that harkens back to when forward passes weren’t allowed, so get rid of the rule. Erase the blue lines. Embrace chaos.
- The unfortunate part of Dan Cloutier being the Canucks goaltending coach is that we end up with a lot of jokes every time the Canucks let in a goal from centre. What’s that you say? That shouldn’t be a problem because goaltenders shouldn’t allow goals from centre ice? Particularly ones that were going wide before the goaltender deflected it in off his own glove? Someone should have told Nilsson that, preferably without the rhetorical questions, before Subban scored on a shot from centre that was going wide.
- It truly is incredible that Brock Boeser keeps putting up points despite the complete clustercuss around him. He continued his point-per-game pace with an assist on the Canucks’ only goal. After passing to Henrik Sedin, he dragged his skate at the blue line, demonstrating to Vanek how to stay onside. Henrik looked to saucer a pass cross-ice to Daniel, but Alex Burmistrov knocked it down while heading to the net. The puck hit Boeser’s skate and Burmistrov lifted it over Rinne’s left pad. You can’t stop Boeser, nor can you contain him; but you can watch him score his points and safely win hockey games because the rest of the team provides nothing.
- The Canucks need bounces to go their way, particularly with so many players injured. So when Filip Forsberg’s pass on the power play hit Michael Chaput’s skate above the faceoff circles and somehow found its way into the net, I just threw my hands up in the air. That’s it. Game over. The skill, speed, defence, and toughness were already in the Predators favour, so them getting crazy bounces like that was just a little unfair. I’m lodging a complaint with my local temple of the hockey gods.
- To make matters even worse, Chris Tanev may have gotten injured in this game. He left a few minutes into the third period after an awkward fall from a late hit by Austin Watson. He returned later, but was seen limping after the game. If Tanev misses any time with Horvat and Baertschi already out, you may as well turn out the lights, lock the doors, shutter the windows, and close up shop.
- Either someone with the Canucks reads the blog or they came to the same conclusions I did, as Travis Green and Nolan Baumgartner split up Tanev and Alex Edler in this game, reuniting Ben Hutton with the Tanman. It worked, at least for Hutton and Tanev, who were the Canucks best pairing in this game. It did not work for Edler, who got crushed by the Predators’ possession while playing with Troy Stecher. At some point, they have to try Edler with Derrick Pouliot again, particularly since Pouliot and Del Zotto struggled in this game as well.
- What is there to say about the fifth, sixth, and seventh Predators goals? As the game got out of hand, the Canucks got sloppier and sloppier, with missed assignments all over the place, and a lot of puck-watching. Coach Green preaches details, but the Canucks were like bad Abstract art: just vague shapes and gestures, with no definition or detail. No artist’s statement could save this one.
- At one point the Canucks had a 4-on-1 with Loui Eriksson carrying the puck, but everyone skated in so slow that the Predators caught up on the backcheck and Eriksson simply lost the puck trying to cut inside. A 4-on-1 and they didn’t even get a shot attempt. You could practically see the shoulders sag on every Canuck and Canucks fan in the building.
- Jake Virtanen was noticeable for almost all of the right reasons in this game. He created chances to use his shot, but missed opportunities to drive to a more dangerous scoring area. He was physical, providing some pushback against the Predators, including a big hit on Alexei Emelin late in the third period, but he unfortunately got his stick up for a high sticking penalty in the process. He was so close to having a legitimately good game, which is pretty impressive considering how terrible the game was.
- PK Subban seemed to think Virtanen’s hit was a lot worse than it actually was. He went after Virtanen, who didn’t see him coming, and grabbed his face from behind. It was a massive overreaction to what was a clean hit apart from the high stick, and it led to a big scrum where everyone grabbed a partner and hugged it out.
- Some fans want to make a big deal about Scott Hartnell shoving Stecher and Burmistrov after the Virtanen/Subban scrum, but on the list of embarrassing moments in that game, that doesn’t even register. If anything, I thought it was embarrassing for Hartnell. Really? That’s your “tough guy” move? Getting your hand in the face of two of the smallest players on the Canucks after the scrum is over? It was the actions of a child and not even close to the worst moment of the game.
