There has been only one constant since Bo Horvat got injured: Brock Boeser. With 13 points in 10 games heading into Saturday, Boeser made sure to give fans something to cheer about every game, even as the losses piled up.
The only game in which Boeser didn’t record a point was the one where his foot was sliced off by Mark Giordano and he miraculously grew a new one in time for the Canucks’ next game, so he has a pretty good excuse for not showing up on the scoresheet.
That makes Saturday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings particularly hard to stomach: Brock Boeser didn’t record a point. On the one hand, it’s amazing that the Canucks have a 20-year-old rookie who is so good that it’s legitimately surprising when he doesn’t get a goal or an assist. On the other hand, Boeser didn’t get to pad his rookie scoring lead when I watched this game.
- My New Year’s Resolution? Get these I Watched These Games out more quickly for you guys in 2018. A combination of winter illness and fatigue from school and daycare being closed over the holidays has caused some of these IWTGs to come out a little late.
- After a hot streak, the Canucks’ power play has gone cold, failing to score in four straight games. They only had one opportunity against the Kings, but should have had a goal when Brock Boeser set up Henrik Sedin with a wide open net at the back door, but Henrik passed on the scoring chance, both literally and figuratively.
- Troy Stecher opened the scoring with a fantastic individual effort. He held the puck in at the line when his initial shot was blocked, jumped down the boards with the puck, and ripped it into the top corner where Apple keeps the battery-level indicator.
- Stecher seemed to gain confidence from his first goal of the season and was one of the best players on the ice. He evaded pressure on the forecheck with sure hands and quick feet, had one thrilling end-to-end rush, and was the only Canucks defenceman to finish with a positive shot differential at the end of the night. Hopefully this represents a corner turned on what has been a pretty underwhelming sophomore season for Stecher.
- The Kings tied the game then took the lead with two goals in one minute. I didn’t like the way Michael Del Zotto and Derrick Pouliot played the rush on the first Kings’ goal, but it was made worse when neither Thomas Vanek nor Sam Gagner took Tyler Toffoli heading to the net. Gagner was closest, but just gently put his hand on Toffoli’s back, like he was reassuring him. “I’m here for you,” said Gagner, probably. “Believe in yourself.”
- As an added embarrassment, Gagner tripped over Gaborik’s stick and went sprawling to the ice, comedically throwing his hands up in the air like he had just taken an improv class on how to do a pratfall.
- The Kings took the 2-1 lead on the power play when Del Zotto gave Marian Gaborik a free path to the net, an excellent demonstration of why Del Zotto should probably be playing a lot less on the penalty kill. Del Zotto gave Gaborik more room than a television producer gives two struggling waitresses literally described as “broke.”
- The highlight of the game might have been Ben Hutton’s hit on Dustin Brown, partly because it was so uncharacteristic of Hutton, but mainly because it was Dustin Brown. Canucks fans don’t particularly like Brown. I can’t imagine why.
- Cancel that: the highlight of the game was Nikolay Goldobin’s gorgeous goal. Goldobin caught Drew “Didn’t Deserve the 2016 Norris” Doughty fishing for the puck with his stick and toe-dragged the puck around him, cut to the middle of the ice, and sent his backhand, like Maximus after he died, against the grain. With moves like that, Travis Green needs to find a way to get him more ice time, because the sub-10 minutes he played is this game just isn’t enough.
- The Canucks took the lead early in the third period. Ben Hutton came out of the penalty box and sprung Markus Granlund and Nic Dowd on a 2-on-1. Granlund was looking pass the whole way, giving Dowd the chance to score on his former team. He did so, which means the Canucks won the trade, I guess. That’s just how it works. I don’t make the rules.
- Ben Hutton and Erik Gudbranson should not play together. Stop trying to make that pairing happen. It's not going to happen.
- My initial instinct on the Kings’ third goal was to blame Gudbranson, but he was only partly to blame, and, like being mostly dead, that meant he was slightly not to blame. There was Hutton, who pivoted at the wrong time and lost his gap like a store manager fired by the Fisher family. There’s Daniel Sedin, who peeled off Kyle Clifford, the eventual goal scorer, to go after Hutton’s man. There’s Loui Eriksson, who stood in no-man’s land covering nobody, leaving a 2-on-1 down low. And yes, there’s Gudbranson, who took neither man in the 2-on-1 and actually kicked the puck to Clifford for the goal. Pretty much the only Canuck on the ice not to blame was Michael Chaput, who recognized the danger and tried to get back to the net to knock the puck away, but couldn’t get back in time.
- Eriksson was a complete non-entity in this game. The Canucks only got one shot on goal when he was on the ice 5-on-5 and he had just one shot attempt, which was blocked. Normally when he’s invisible, he still contributing with subtle work in the neutral zone or strong puck possession numbers. In this one, he was just plain bad.
- The Kings’ game-winner was a bit controversial, as there were seven Kings on the ice when Drew Doughty scored. That’s two too many Kings for hockey and four too many kings for this time of year. Sure, the Bible doesn’t say how many wisemen/kings there were, but you can’t go adding kings all willy-nilly, Los Angeles! Typical Hollywood hyperbole.
- The referees missed the call, but so did CBC in their post-game analysis, seemingly excusing the refs by saying the Canucks had too many men on the ice as well. Even if that were the case, this isn't football. There are no offsetting penalties in hockey and two wrongs don't make a right.
- I saw a lot of people blaming Alex Edler for Doughty’s goal, which is baffling to me. Edler stayed in Doughty’s shooting lane the whole way in and kept a decent gap to prevent Doughty from getting around him. He blocked Doughty’s initial shot. I’m not sure what else people think Edler could have done.
