Stick-taps and glove-drops is a recurring feature after every Canucks game giving some quick kudos and criticism before the longer I Watched This Game feature. Feel free to leave your own stick-taps and glove-drops in the comments.
I’m dropping the gloves with Troy Stecher, as the Blues opened the scoring in the opening minute when Patrik Berglund blew past Stecher in the defensive zone, took a pass from Alex Pietrangelo, and roofed a backhand into the top corner. Stecher got caught flat-footed and it cost the Canucks an early goal.
Tap of the stick to Nikolay Goldobin, who may not have had a single shot on goal, but was distributing the puck well on a line with Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen. It wasn’t a perfect game, but he was a team-high plus-7 in shot attempts at 5-on-5, and he was noticeable when it came to pushing the puck up ice.
I’ll drop the gloves with the Canucks after the initial 20 minutes. In the first period, the Canucks out-shot the Blues 12-4. They got out-shot 21-8 through the second and third periods. Down by two early in the third period, the Canucks could only muster three shots on goal.
Derrick Pouliot gets the gloves dropped on the 2-0 goal. His soft pass along the blue line on the power play was far too risky and Kyle Brodziak easily picked it off as Goldobin desperately dove to try to keep the puck in. Pouliot came back to try to make up for his giveaway, but he overplayed Brodziak, missing that it was actually a 2-on-1 with Berglund skating in behind. Brodziak made the pass and Berglund surprised Nilsson with a quick, low shot.
A tap of the stick to the Sedins for busting out some old-school wizardry, like they were playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. As a second period power play expired, the Sedins cycled along the boards. Daniel dropped the puck to Henrik and ran some casual interference, allowing Henrik a clear path to the net. That’s when he fired a pass through Colton Parayko’s legs to Sam Gagner at the backdoor for a slump-busting goal.
I’m dropping the gloves with Chris Tanev for a rare giveaway. Jaden Schwartz picked his pocket behind the Canucks’ net, then swung it in front of the net, where Vladimir Tarasenko slid a backhand five-hole. The goal came just 14 seconds into the third period.
Anders Nilsson deserves some dropped gloves on that goal as well. Schwartz’s centring pass came right to Nilsson, but he poked the puck away instead of covering up, sending it through Alex Edler’s legs to Tarasenko. His backhand shot slid slowly across the ice, fooling Nilsson with its molasses pace as he lifted up his right pad to move it out of the way of the puck.
Hate to do it, as he had a decent game overall, but I’m dropping the gloves with Reid Boucher, as he failed to get body position and got outmuscled in front of the net on the 4-1 goal. There was a lot of standing around on that goal — Jake Virtanen wasn’t in great position either — but it was Boucher’s man, Dmitrij Jaskin, who shoveled home the rebound.
I’ll give Alex Edler a stick-tap for playing over 26 minutes and tallying a team-high nine shot attempts and five shots on goal. A lot of those minutes came against the Blues’ top line of Schwartz, Tarasenko, and Brayden Schenn.
I’ll drop the gloves with whoever decided it was a good idea for Chris Tanev to return for one more 40-second long shift at the end of the third period after he twisted his leg in a battle with Alexander Steen and left the game. In what way was it worth risking Tanev’s health in a meaningless game that was already 4-1?
Hey, remember when Tanev was told he could go back into a game after an injury and then he missed 5 weeks with a broken leg? Good times. #Canucks https://t.co/aXeSq1XITL
— Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis) March 24, 2018
