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 Philip Holm, who finally played his first NHL game. The 26-year-old did not look out of place, though he was unfortunately on the ice for two goals against. I wouldn’t pin either goal on him, however, and it’s fair to cut a guy a little slack in his first game.
Erik Gudbranson gets no slack and the gloves dropped. After he was on the ice for four goals against last game, he was on the ice for the first four goals against in this game too. Gudbranson certainly wasn’t 100% at fault on all four goals, but there was an overall lack of situational awareness for him in this one. To top it off, he also knocked the Canucks net over on top of Jacob Markstrom, with the crossbar clanking against the back of Markstrom’s helmet.
I’ll drop the gloves with Sportsnet, however, for putting together an entire Gudbranson “lowlights” package, highlighting Gudbranson on every goal against. Gudbranson had a brutal game, but that felt a little over-the-top and unnecessary.
Anders Nilsson gets the gloves dropped. He was shaky in his two periods of action, giving up some big rebounds and allowing several shots to slip under his arms. That’s how the Golden Knights opened the scoring: Nilsson gave up a big rebound with his glove, then couldn’t squeeze the subsequent shot. While Holm tied up his man in front, Tomas Hyka snuck around the net and tapped the loose puck in.
Stick-tap to Jake Virtanen, who was one of the Canucks’ best players. He had ten shot attempts — five of them on net — including a couple great scoring chances. Early on, he set up Sam Gagner for one of the Canucks’ best early chances, then drew the first penalty of the game by getting in behind the defence and forcing a Marc-Andre Fleury pokecheck that caught him in the skates and sent him sprawling.
Tap of the stick to Sam Gagner, who played a solid game in his return from injury. He made a great play to get the Canucks on the board, stealing the puck in the neutral zone, squeezing past his check along the boards, then saucering the puck over a sprawling Luca Sbisa to Sven Baertschi for the finish.
Sven Baertschi deserves a stick-tap too, for his fantastic hand-eye coordination to pick Gagner’s pass out of mid-air and send it past Fleury. Baertschi was buzzing early and deserved the goal.
Tap of the stick for Daniel Sedin, who made the 2-1 goal happen. He drove across the front of the net and nearly scored past Fleury, instead sending the puck off the post and back into the slot. That’s where Thomas Vanek jumped in and whacked the puck into the vacated net.
I’m dropping the gloves with Bo Horvat on the Knights' second goal. While Alex Edler pursued the puck-carrier, Horvat needed to identify the wide open William Karlsson as his man. Instead, he swooped in on the backcheck, set up shop in the slot, and missed that the Knights’ leading goalscorer might be worth checking.
Brock Boeser gets the gloves dropped on the next Karlsson goal. As he was slowly skating through the neutral zone on the backcheck, Karlsson darted past him, took the pass from Jonathan Marchessault, and whipped a wrist shot under Nilsson’s left arm.
Gloves dropped with Gudbranson on the 4-2 goal, as he ran right into Nilsson, knocking him backwards into the goal, leaving half the net for Marchessault. Gudbranson seemed to just skate away from Nilsson without an apology or stick-tap to the pads. In an overall rough game, that was his lowest moment.
I’ll drop the gloves with Derrick Pouliot, who got caught at the Vegas blue line as the puck broke out the other way on the stick of Tomas Nosek. That led to a 2-on-1. Holm took away the pass, but Nosek’s shot beat Nilsson under his right arm.
Stick-tap to Jacob Markstrom, who stopped all eight shots he faced when he came into the game in the third period.
Tap of the stick to Daniel Sedin and Alex Edler, who worked a neat give-and-go to score the Canucks’ third goal just six seconds into their third power play. Henrik Sedin won the faceoff to Brock Boeser, who tapped it back to Daniel at the point. Two quick passes later, Daniel was alone in the slot, sending the puck past Fleury before he could even react.
Troy Stecher gets the gloves dropped on the final goal of the game, though it was really just bad luck. With Markstrom pulled for the extra attacker, Jake Virtanen banked a pass off the boards to Stecher at the point, but the puck hopped on Stecher, going over his stick and between his legs, then travelling the length of the ice into the empty net for an own goal. It’s Stecher’s job to hold the line there, something he’s been adept at all season. This time it just didn’t work out.
