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. That’s right: two post-game articles for the price of one! That price is still zero dollars.
I’m dropping the gloves with Jacob Markstrom, who struggled right from the first shot. It was a long wrist shot from Dmitry Kulikov that seemed to change direction, but still looked very stoppable. He didn’t, and it was 1-0. To cap off the game, he gave the puck away on a bad pass up the middle, leaving the net wide open for the 5-1 goal from Matt Hendricks. Altogether, he gave up five goals on 24 shots, his worst game of the season.
A tap of the stick to Brock Boeser, who scored his 16th goal of the season on a line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Some strong work on the cycle by the Sedins seemed to captivate the Jets’ defence and Boeser found some open ice between the hashmarks. Henrik found him there and Boeser ripped the shot past Connor Hellebuyck.
The Sedins get a stick-tap each. They found some immediate chemistry with Boeser, forming the Canucks’ best line. The trio combined for 10 of the Canucks’ 26 shots and led all Canucks’ forwards in ice time, each playing over 18 minutes.
Let’s drop the gloves with the Canucks’ penalty kill, which gave up two goals on three opportunities. Technically, Matthieu Perreault’s 2-1 goal came right as the penalty expired, making it an even-strength goal, but in spirit, it came on the power play. The Jets seemed to be able to pass the puck around with impunity.
I'll specifically drop the gloves with Michael Chaput on that 2-1 goal. He had the chance to skate the puck out of the defensive zone or clear it down the ice prior to the goal, but tried to make a short pass instead. It got picked off just inside the Canucks' blue line and some quick passing turned the turnover into a goal.
I want to drop the gloves with somebody on the Jets’ 3-1 goal, but it’s hard to say who. The refs for not calling a penalty for knocking Chris Tanev’s stick out of his hands? Michael Chaput for trying to pick up Tanev’s stick after giving his to the defenceman, giving Nik Ehlers too much room? Alex Edler for going down into a butterfly and trying to make a glove save instead of charging out to Ehlers to cut off the angle?
I’ll drop the gloves with both Edler and Henrik on the 4-1 goal: Edler got caught in deep trying to make something happen in the offensive zone, while Henrik, covering for Edler, stepped up in the neutral zone at the wrong time, giving up a 3-on-1. Adam Lowry snuck a pass behind Tanev and Josh Morrissey finished it off.
I have to drop the gloves with Travis Green for not getting Nikolay Goldobin in the lineup with Sven Baertschi injured. Rumour has it that Goldobin was supposed to slot in, but Green was cagey with the media after practice, then when warm-up came around Alexander Burmistrov was in the lineup instead. There must be a story there, but for now, it’s just the gloves hitting the ice.
Honestly, I’ll give Burmistrov a tap of the stick, if only a gentle one. He played pretty well with Loui Eriksson and Thomas Vanek, I thought, and they had the best puck possession on the night. Shot attempts were 14-4 in favour of the Canucks when Burmistrov was on the ice at 5-on-5. He was only 3-for-13 on faceoffs, so that’s not ideal, and he didn’t get any of his shots on goal, but he didn’t play all that badly.
