I watched a bunch of Slopestyle at the Olympics this past week, partly because it was on TV at that magical time when the kids were asleep and partly because it’s a crazy sport that is tremendously entertaining to watch. This particular Canucks game reminded me of a Slopestyle run, perhaps spurred on by the snow-themed name of their opponents.
It started off well in the rail section, with just a minor mistake, but the Canucks came out of the first-half of the course tied 1-1. Then came the first big jump, where they nailed it, pulling off a triple-cork 1260 and stomping the landing with three goals in quick succession to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
That’s when the troubles started, as they faltered on the second jump, going with a less-difficult 720 octograb and barely holding the landing together, heading into the third period holding onto a one-goal lead.
Then on the final jump, they didn’t get enough speed, under-rotated, and hit the knuckle hard, tumbling down the hill and coming to a grinding halt in an undignified faceplant, as one goal took the game to overtime and another ended it.
The Canucks were well off the podium when I watched this game.
- There are lots of positives to take from this game, of course, particularly if you were hoping to see some glimmers of potential from a couple players who haven’t solidified their place in the NHL. Nikolay Goldobin had a strong performance and Darren Archibald came through with a goal to go with his usual physicality and grit. You could practically see them solidifying throughout the game, like they were being beamed up by Scotty.
- It’s not often that you can praise a goaltender in a game where he gave up five goals, but Anders Nilsson was legitimately very good. His best save was on Gabriel Landeskog in the second period, sliding to his left and getting his toe on the puck on a delayed penalty to Henrik Sedin. You could argue that all he needed to do was make one more save in regulation to ensure a win, but it’s hard to blame him for giving up goals on the penalty kill.
- The line of Loui Eriksson, Brandon Sutter, and Darren Archibald was the Canucks’ best in this game, combining for ten shots and two goals. They combined for the opening goal less than a minute into the second period. Erikson won a puck battle off a dump-in and passed to Sutter, who lifted the stick of his check and centred for Archibald while on his knees and with just one hand on his stick. Archibald finished strong, snapping it upstairs like Bird Fitcher in Polaroid.
- The Avalanche replied ten minutes later when Tyson Barrie’s point shot was tipped in by Tyson Jost. The physics of the deflection were then explained by Neil Degrasse Tyson, while Sylvia Tyson wrote a song about it, and Mike Tyson was there even though no one remembered inviting him.
- Like someone walking down the sidewalk in Derry, Maine, Nikolay Goldobin was on top of It in this game. It wasn’t just that he scored a goal on the power play when his wrist shot deflected off a stick, or that he created offensive opportunities: he was dialed in on the details, playing well at both ends of the ice. It was encouraging to see.
- Goldobin’s assist on Brandon Sutter’s goal is an example of defensive details turning into offensive opportunity. With Eriksson pursuing Nikita Zadorov out of the Avalanche zone and Sutter disrupting Zadorov’s path through the neutral zone, Goldobin was in the right place to pick off the puck and spring himself and Sutter on a quick 2-on-1. That gave Sutter enough time and space to release his hard and accurate wrist shot that overpowered Semyon Varlamov’s glove hand to make it 2-1.
- One random thing I noticed: the only players that took faceoffs for the Canucks in this game were their four centres. That means none of them got tossed from the circle for a faceoff violation, as I don’t recall Green ever sending out two centres for any faceoffs. That seems unusual. By comparison, the Avalanche had 10 players take faceoffs, as their centres got tossed out more than the third cucumber in a Costco three-pack that you just never seem to get around to eating.
- The Triple-B Line of Sven Baertschi, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser created some good offensive zone pressure, but struggled to get the puck on net. The Canucks had 14 shot attempts at 5-on-5 with Horvat on the ice, but just three shots on goal. Fortunately for them, one of those three shots went in.
- You have to wonder if Boeser’s injured wrist might be hampering his wrist shot — though it seemed fine during the accuracy shootout at the Canucks’ Superskills — but Boeser’s well-rounded game means he keeps contributing even when he’s not putting the puck in the net. Off a lost faceoff by Horvat, Boeser hustled to the end boards and won the puck back, then swung it in front. Baertschi was checked as he tried to shoot, but his miss acted as an accidental dummy, giving Varlamov no chance to stop Horvat’s one-timer.
- That should have given the Canucks a 4-1 lead heading into the third period, but two undisciplined penalties late in the second period gave the Avalanche two goals. Archibald and Sutter got sucked up high like Anne Pope in The Forgotten, leaving Edler and Gudbranson dealing with a 3-on-2 down low. Mikko Rantanen got the puck at the left faceoff circle and ripped it top corner on the short side.
- I didn’t hand out any individual glove-drops for most of the goals against. The stick-taps and glove-drops format asks for someone to credit or blame, but it wasn’t really one specific player at fault on each of the Avalanche’s power play goals. Instead, the Avalanche power play picked apart the Canucks’ penalty kill as a whole, pulling it in different directions to open up gaps in coverage and exploiting those gaps with precision passing and some excellent shots.
- On the second Avalanche goal, the Canucks lost their shape on the penalty kill, almost ending up in a straight line. Then, when Nathan Mackinnon got the puck at the right faceoff circle, Gudbranson moved out slowly to him when he probably should have been more aggressive to close the gap. Gudbranson moving out meant Gabriel Landeskog was wide open at the back door for the deflection, while Edler once again had two checks to contend with. That’s where Archibald needed to rotate down to help with the man in front.
- After the Avalanche tied the game on a shot Nilsson never saw past two of his own penalty killers, Loui Eriksson and Troy Stecher, it seemed almost inevitable the Avalanche would win in overtime. And it seemed inevitable that it would come on an Avalanche power play. Perhaps that’s because the refs seemed intent on ignoring every hook and hold committed against a Canuck, but were bamfoozled by every dive committed by the Avalanche. I’m not one for conspiracy theories — it looked more like game management, which is an entirely different thing to get angry about — but the penalty calls in this game were, pardon my language, a butt.
- The dive in overtime was the most egregious because it came at such a crucial time and because a 4-on-3 power play is so much more dangerous than a 5-on-4 power play and, considering how the Avalanche were scoring on their 5-on-4 power plays, that’s really, really dangerous. More dangerous than Harvey Danger guest-starring in a Dangeresque 3 deleted scene about Carlos Danger.
