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Stick-taps and Glove-drops: Canucks at Senators, October 17, 2017

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.
Daniel Wagner
Stick-taps and Glove-drops

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.

A tap of the stick to the fire alarm at the Canadian Tire Centre, which disabled the Senators PA system, leading to the first part of the game to be played without any music during the stoppages. It was fantastic. Can it be like that every night?

Dropping the gloves with the Senators in-arena content team for two egregious typos on the arena scoreboard instructing fans to sing the national anthem: “Do to a technical issue please join your fellow fans in the singing of O’Canada.” Due to the national anthem not being an Irish last name, “O’Canada” is incorrect.

 

 

Stick-taps to Ben Hutton and Erik Gudbranson, because, for at least this one game, the pairing worked the way it was supposed to. Gudbranson played the physical, stay-at-home role, throwing four big hits and blocking a couple shots, while Hutton was the free-wheeling offensive defenceman, tying a team-high 5 shot attempts and creating scoring chances with his skating. I still don’t trust this duo long-term, but it worked in this game.

Chris Tanev and Michael Del Zotto get stick-taps. The pairing played a bit of a shutdown role, playing mostly against the Senators’ top-line. Tanev gets a slightly bigger stick-tap: when he was on the ice against Erik Karlsson at 5-on-5, the Canucks out-shot the Senators 4-0. That’s a nice and tidy night for Tanev.

Brock Boeser gets a couple stick-taps, as he extended his point-streak to start the season to three games. He opened the scoring, shoveling in the puck on the power play, to give him goals in back-to-back games, then provided the primary assist on Alex Burmistrov’s goal.

Speaking of Burmistrov, a stick-tap for him as well, as he assisted on Boeser’s goal, creating chaos in front of the net, then tapping the puck back to Boeser at the top of the crease.

I’m also dropping the gloves with Burmistrov, because he totally lied to me during training camp. “I play everywhere on the power play,” he said, but then made sure to clarify, “Probably not in front of the net, because I’m not that big guy.” His assist came from being in front of the net, then he scored by tipping in a Boeser shot from in front of the net.

Stick-tap to the Sedins: they get a lot of flack for being “done,” but when they were on the ice together at 5-on-5, the Canucks out-shot the Senators 10-to-4. They may not be elite first-line forwards any more, but they can still play an important role.

With that in mind, I’m giving Henrik Sedin a tap of the stick, but then a drop of the gloves as well. He made Kyle Turris look silly with a gorgeous spinorama that sent the Senators centre sliding helpless to the ice. Unfortunately, he then did his usual Henrik thing, looking off the clear path to the net and skating into traffic to set up a scoring chance for Daniel.

 

 

A huge stick-tap to Thomas Vanek for making me laugh out loud with his ridiculous goal. After Erik Karlsson hit the post at the Canucks’ end of the ice, Vanek got an unexpected breakaway. He absolutely blasted a slap shot off the post and in. It was a laser of a shot that gave Craig Anderson no hope whatsoever of stopping it. Just absurd.

 

 

The biggest stick-tap of the night, however, goes to Anders Nilsson, who posted a shutout in his Canucks debut. He made 32 saves, some of them outright larcenous, but he mostly made it look easy, using his sizeable frame and excellent positioning to take most of the Senators’ shots into his crest. It was an outstanding performance that will have some in Canucks-land eyeing a goaltending controversy.