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.
A tap of the stick to the Chicago Blackhawks for inexplicably being the Canucks’ punching bag this season. The Canucks completed the series sweep of the Blackhawks with a dominant 5-2 win. The Canucks beat the Blackhawks by a combined score of 14-6 over their three games this season.
Stick-tap to Alex Edler for his two-goal game. He may have struggled to move the puck up ice, but he excelled in every other way, scoring the first and fourth goals for the Canucks and making a couple great defensive plays.
Brendan Leipsic deserves a stick-tap for his fantastic pass on the opening goal. After taking the pass from Henrik Sedin to enter the zone, he delayed and drew in a defender before whipping the puck over to Edler, the trailer on the 3-on-2. One quick snap shot later and the puck was in the back of the net.
I’ll drop the gloves with Michael Del Zotto for blindly following the puck-carrier on the Blackhawks’ tying goal. He was tracking Patrick Kane, but when Kane skated to the top of the zone and into traffic, Del Zotto needed to read the play and recognize the danger of Brent Seabrook coming down the right side. Wide open, he loaded up a slap shot that deflected in off a jumping Nick Schmaltz.
A big tap of the stick to Henrik Sedin for finally ending his goal-scoring drought. 56 games after scoring his second goal of the season, Henrik finally potted his third, banging in a rebound from his brother’s point shot. It was only his third shot on goal in his last five games.
I’m dropping the gloves with Andreas Martinsen, much like Derrick Pouliot did. After Martinsen sent Brendan Leipsic flying with a hard hit, Pouliot stepped in for a fight. That’s all well and good, depending on your definition of “good,” but Martinsen continuing to throw punches after Pouliot was down on the ice definitely wasn’t.
damn pic.twitter.com/HfslaChPKa
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) March 23, 2018
Stick-tap to Nikolay Goldobin, who had an assist on both of the Canucks goals in the second period. He still has to work on his play away from the puck and avoid giveaways in the defensive zone, but putting up points and out-producing his mistakes will go a long way towards him sticking in the NHL next season.
Bo Horvat gets a stick-tap for his pretty move to the backhand. He took Goldobin’s pass at full flight in the neutral zone, drove past Erik Gustafsson, and fooled J-F Berube into thinking he was cutting all the way across the net. Instead, he tapped the backhand through the five-hole almost immediately.
Let’s split up a single stick-tap between Edler, Horvat, and Goldobin on the 4-1 goal. Goldobin made a nice pass to Edler to keep the puck from going offside, then Horvat took Edler’s ring around the boards and smartly banked it back up to Edler. His one-timer dipped after hitting Vinnie Hinostroza’s glove and fooled Berube.
Stick-tap to Brandon Sutter, who paid the price to make the score 5-1 for the Canucks. He was battling in front of the net when Michael Del Zotto’s point shot hit his foot and went in. That’s not the most pleasant way to score, as he collapsed to the ice in pain. He stayed in the game and appeared to be okay.
One more stick-tap for Edler, as he saved a goal by deflecting a Hinostroza shot on an open net up over the glass. Not that it was a game-saver, given the score, and the Blackhawks eventually added a second goal anyway, but it was still a nice play.
Alex Edler is the best back up back up goalie the Canucks have. Jakey V tries to steal his job but nope, Edler calmly reaches in and steals the save. Glorious. pic.twitter.com/DXPNSTZn1P
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) March 23, 2018
A tap of the stick to long-time Chicago Blackhawks colour commentator Eddie Olczyk, who announced today that he is cancer-free. Fantastic news.
