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.
Stick-taps for the entire Canucks lineup for massively out-shooting the Sabres through the first two periods, dropping 17 shots in the first period, then not letting up and tallying 20 shots in the second.
Dropping the gloves with Derek Dorsett for completely losing his man, Justin Bailey, allowing him to get to the net unimpeded and score the opening goal on the Sabres’ first shot of the game. It was a terrible defensive lapse that could have provided easy justification for Travis Green to bench him for the rest of the game.
Stick-tap to Travis Green for not benching Dorsett for the rest of the game.
Dorsett gets a benchful of stick-taps for his performance after the Sabres opened the scoring. He finished the game with two goals, an assist, and four shots on goal in just over 18 minutes of ice time. That’s what you call making up for a mistake.
Tap of the stick to Markus Granlund for scoring his first goal of the season, which was also his first point of the season. It was a grindery style of goal, as Dorsett won a battle in front of the net to swat the puck on goal and Granlund cleaned up the rebound.
Markus Granlund scores for the #Canucks to tie game at 1 pic.twitter.com/zCPAG4W0km
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 20, 2017
Ben Hutton gets a glove-drop on the Sabres’ second goal for getting caught watching the puck as Jack Eichel dangled past him. That was an occasion for keeping your eyes planted on Eichel’s chest, then planting a pair of gloves in the same spot.
Jacob Markstrom gets both gloves dropped, however, for letting Eichel’s subsequent shot sneak five-hole. It was an incredibly weak goal, continuing his pattern of allowing one soft goal per game. It’s a pattern that has to stop.
Markstrom gets a stick-tap for bouncing back and not allowing another goal the rest of the way. He was particularly good in the third period as the Sabres pushed hard for the tying goal.
Stick-tap to the Bo Horvat line with Brock Boeser and Sven Baertschi for matching up against the Eichel line and winning the battle. That line didn’t get a goal, but they had some long possessions in the offensive zone that we’re not used to seeing from Horvat.
Brandon Sutter gets a stick-tap for going 12-for-18 on faceoffs, assisting on Dorsett’s first goal with a deflected shot off the rush, and for playing a team-high 4:15 on a Canucks penalty kill that blanked the Sabres during their three power plays.
Boeser gets one dropped glove and a facewash for taking two of those penalties, one a faceoff violation after Horvat got tossed from the circle. Burmistrov gets a glove-drop as well, as he took a bad hooking penalty midway through the third to give the Sabres a chance to tie the game.
Stick-tap to Jake Virtanen and the Sedins for making the most of what was essentially fourth-line ice time. Burmistrov was the only forward that played less. The Sedin line didn’t come out for a single defensive zone faceoff and used that shelter to badly out-shoot the Sabres; the shots were 9-2 for the Canucks at 5-on-5 with Henrik on the ice.
Daniel Sedin gets a tap of the stick for finishing off a nice passing play from Virtanen and Henrik for his second goal of the season.
A tap of the stick to the refs for being incredibly lenient on the definition of “control of the puck” during the offside review for Daniel’s goal. Virtanen was determined to have control as he backed into the zone, despite having just knocked the puck down out of mid-air.
Here is the Virtanen play that was under review - was determined that he was onside#Canucks pic.twitter.com/1P2ltYSYR6
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 21, 2017
One last tap of the stick for Dorsett, as his empty net goal not only sealed the victory, but also moved him into the team-lead in scoring with 4 goals and 5 points. Boeser was held pointless for the first time this season, leaving him stuck at 5 points. Clearly, Dorsett is the real future of the Canucks.
