Stick-tap to the Canucks for scoring four goals in back-to-back games. Heading into Friday’s game against the Sabres, the Canucks had yet to score more than three goals in a game; now they’ve done it twice.
Stick-taps to Sven Baertschi and Jake Virtanen for scoring their first goals of the season. That leaves just Sam Gagner and Henrik Sedin as the lone (uninjured) Canucks forwards without a goal this season.
Tap of the stick to Baertschi in particular for scoring not one, but two goals. He neatly knocked down a deflected shot by Bo Horvat, then swatted home the backhand for his first, then picked off a clearing attempt and ripped a shot past Jimmy Howard’s blocker for his second.
The 99-B Line of Baertschi, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser get stick-taps all around for their dominant performance. The Canucks out-shot the Red Wings 12-to-3 with Horvat or Boeser on the ice at even-strength, 13-to-4 when Baertschi was on the ice.
I hate to do it, but I’m dropping the gloves with Jacob Markstrom for once again letting in a soft goal. This one was a bit more forgivable — it was a hard shot that may have been tipped by Troy Stecher coming off Anthony Mantha’s stick — but it was still from distance and one that it really seemed like Markstrom should have stopped.
And once again, Markstrom gets a tap of the stick for bouncing back from the bad goal and becoming a brick wall. He didn’t have to face a lot of shots, as the Canucks dominated the pace of play, but the Red Wings still created some quality scoring chances and Markstrom was equal to the task. The one soft goal was the only one that got past him.
An incredulous stick-tap to Derek Dorsett for scoring yet again, extending his team-lead in goals. I’m getting flashes of Jeff Cowen here, even if Dorsett is a significantly better player. Horvat picked up his second primary assist of the night on Dorsett’s goal.
Time to drop the gloves with the fragility of knees. Ridiculous things, knees. Troy Stecher limped off the ice in the second period after some knee-on-knee contact and barely made it down the hall to the locker room. He was done for the game and it is unknown how long he’ll be out.
Tap of the stick to Mike Green, for springing Daniel Sedin and Jake Virtanen on a 2-on-1. It was a great pass. Daniel gave the puck to Virtanen early and Virtanen cleaned up his own rebound to make it 4-1.
Extra tap of the stick to Virtanen, who had his best game of the season. He fired eight shots on goal! It’s the most dangerous he’s looked all year. He was also relieved to the point of profanity to finally score a goal.
cc @passittobulis pic.twitter.com/WB0txyY7v8
— steph (@myregularface) October 23, 2017
Tap of the stick to Travis Green for actually giving Virtanen more ice time in the third period than in the previous two periods instead of sitting him on the bench. He even gave him some power play time!
Not to many gloves to drop in this one, so I guess I’ll drop the gloves with Thomas Vanek for continuing his trend of passing off on great scoring chances. He tried to set up Alex Burmistrov with an open net when he had time to pick a corner and the pass got picked off by Trevor Daley. When the Sedins do it, I understand; when Vanek, a two-time 40-goalscorer does it, I shake my head in dismay. Shoot the puck!
