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.
Dropping the gloves with the Canucks for losing to the Arizona Coyotes for a second time in the past week. They just can’t seem to muster up any offence against the basement-dwelling Coyotes, which is embarrassing considering they allow the sixth most goals per game in the NHL.
Team Tank, however, must be giving the Canucks stick-taps galore: two losses to the Coyotes could do wonders for the Canucks’ chances in the draft lottery.
A tap of the stick to Bo Horvat. He played over 21 minutes, faced the Coyotes’ top line, and gave the Canucks some of their most dangerous chances. He had a game-high five shots on goal and eight shot attempts (tied with Clayton Keller in both categories).
I’m dropping the gloves with Travis Green for shaking up Horvat’s line heading into the third period. I’m obviously not an NHL coach, but I can’t fathom why he would break up the only line that was really working well in the first two periods, taking Nikolay Goldobin off Horvat’s wing and replacing him with Reid Boucher and Sam Gagner. Horvat didn’t get another shot on goal after Goldobin was taken off his line.
Jacob Markstrom gets a tap of the stick. He wasn’t overly busy, facing just 24 shots on goal, but he was equal to the task when called upon. I wasn’t fond of the one shot that got by him, but when you only allow one goal, you’ve had a good night in net.
A tap of the stick to Erik Gudbranson, who had a great game defensively. He played three dangerous odd-man rushes perfectly: a 5-on-2 (seriously) in the first period, then a 2-on-1 and 3-on-1 in short succession in the third, which got Markstrom seriously pumped up.
Markstrom gets JACKED if you stop two odd man rushes in a row. Guddy feeling the love! pic.twitter.com/yKZDgUvX2w
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) March 12, 2018
Alex Edler gets a stick-tap as well. Apart from one giveaway up the middle that led to a long shift in the defensive zone, he and Gudbranson were solid all night. The Canucks out-shot the Coyotes 10-5 with that pair on the ice at 5-on-5, although they were on the ice for the penalty kill when the Coyotes scored the only goal of the game.
I’ll drop the gloves with the referees for overdoing it with the make-up calls on Derrick Pouliot. When Brendan Perlini got in behind him for a breakaway, he hooked and hacked Perlini with no call. Perhaps the referees reviewed the play during the intermission, because they seemed eager to tag Pouliot with penalties. His first interference minor was understandable, but neither Pouliot nor the broadcast seemed to understand his later high-sticking penalty.
The Coyotes only goal was scored on that power play, so I’ll drop the gloves with the Canucks’ penalty kill, which continues to be one of the league’s worst. There were opportunities to clear the puck, but they just couldn’t get it out, leading to nearly a minute-and-a-half stuck in the defensive zone. Darren Archibald’s stick broke, giving the Coyotes even more of an advantage, and eventually Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s one-timer got past Markstrom.
I’ll drop the gloves with Darcy Kuemper for robbing Daniel Sedin in the dying seconds and robbing those watching the game of a fantastic buzzer-beater goal. Brendan Leipsic set up Daniel at the back door and his one-timer nearly snuck between Kuemper’s skate and the post with a thousandth of a second remaining. But I suppose this game didn’t deserve that epic of an ending.
