Lord, that was dull.
That was duller than a bowling pin. Duller than a data-entry job in Dulles, Virginia. Duller than an unpolished turd, which are eminently polishable, as proven by Mythbusters.
I haven’t endured anything that bland since that time I discovered we were out of brown sugar until after I had already prepared myself a bowl of oatmeal. That was a sad, tasteless morning, just like this was a sad, tasteless evening.
Maybe I’m pouring it on a little thick — much like that oatmeal — but it was a tough slog when I watched this game.
- The nice thing about a 1-0 game is that it makes for an easy three stars selection: winning goaltender, other goaltender, the only goal-scorer, job done, hit the bar.
- Bo Horvat returned to the lineup and Travis Green didn’t ease him in: he was reunited with Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi on the first line and played over 19 minutes. It took him a bit of time to get up to speed, but Horvat showed flashes of his pre-injury self in the second and third periods. Hopefully soon it won’t just be flashes, but the full monty.
- Unfortunately, the reunification of Boeser with his former linemates left Thomas Vanek Boeser-less. Instead, he skated with the Sedins, forming a very experienced and very slow line. The Jets’ youth and speed neutered their possession game — the trio had the worst corsi percentage on the Canucks — and they were unable to create any scoring chances at even strength.
- Vanek was still very involved in the game, but it wasn’t always for what he did with the puck. For instance, he got knocked down and turned the puck over in the neutral zone midway through the first period, resulting in the Jets’ possession that led to the lone goal of the game. Because he didn’t get the puck in deep, Derrick Pouliot got stuck on the ice and ended up chasing in the defensive zone; by the time of the goal, Pouliot had been on for 1:15.
- I’m not sure if the cage affects Chris Tanev’s peripheral vision, but he seemed to have trouble picking up where everyone was on the goal. You could see it when Patrick Laine pushed off him to create room for himself in the slot: Tanev checked over his shoulder and seemed to miss that Laine was open or misread that Boeser was covering Laine when Boeser had his own man to worry about. It’s not like Tanev to be caught unawares like that.
- This was a pretty uneventful game, so I want to key in on one moment at the end of the second period. It could have been the biggest moment of the game, except that only one goal was scored in this game so it ultimately had no impact on the final result, much like most events in life.
- The moment came with 25 seconds left. Sam Gagner had the puck poked away from him and the Jets broke out 2-on-2. It didn’t look particularly dangerous until Nikolaj Ehlers suddenly burst past Michael Del Zotto on the outside, stopped up to let Chris Tanev slide past him, then set up Mathieu Perreault for what looked like a sure goal. Instead, Anders Nilsson lunged across and made a stunning blocker save, a potential turning point if the Canucks had come through with a comeback in the third period. It was Nilsson's best save of the night.
- Here’s a gif of the moment from Wyatt Arndt. I want you to watch it and count how many strides Del Zotto takes during the gif.
- I count two strides, three at most, and I feel like that’s being generous, as you could just as easily suggest those strides were simply Del Zotto turning around. Is it any wonder Ehlers blew past him and that Del Zotto’s half-hearted pokecheck attempt came nowhere near the puck? He was coasting from centre.
- Del Zotto played just short of eight minutes in the third period. He finished with the second most shifts and ice time behind only Alex Edler. Only one defenceman in the entire NHL has played 500+ minutes and allowed a higher rate of shots against than Del Zotto. Why in the world is he second on the Canucks in average ice time?
- I know not everyone agrees with my assessment of Ben Hutton as one of the Canucks’ four best defencemen, but can we at least agree that it’s ludicrous that Hutton keeps getting scratched while Del Zotto plays top-pairing minutes? Am I crazy?
- When Anders Nilsson allows a goal within the first three shots, you may as well pull him immediately because he’s about to have an atrocious game. If he can survive past the third shot, he’s going to be nearly impossible to beat. The Jets made the mistake in this game of taking their first three shots from an absurd distance, including a 114-foot slapshot from the neutral zone. Nilsson stopped all three and went into lockdown mode, with only an absurdly quick release from Laine beating him from the slot. It’s just a shame the Canucks squandered his excellent performance.
- I got some flak for my mid-season grade for Markus Granlund. Apparently a C was far too positive, but when I watch Granlund, I see a guy who’s doing a lot of the right things and not getting rewarded for it. For instance, in the most exciting play of the third period, Granlund picked off a pass then out-hustled Laine in the neutral zone to create a breakaway opportunity. Then it was immediately erased by an aggressive Connor Hellebuyck launching himself out of his crease to poke the puck away between the hashmarks. Granlund has been doing so many things right and the puck just hasn’t bounced his way.
- Poor Vanek got the blame from the Jets players and fans when he cut in front of Hellebuyck and seemed to get his elbow into the goaltender’s grill, knocking him to the ice. Instead, it was defenceman Josh Morrissey’s stick that got caught between Vanek and Hellebuyck, snuck through his mask, and cut the goaltender near his right eye. No one put Morrissey in a headlock though, and no one in the arena boo’ed him. Hypocrites, the lot of them.
