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Stick-taps and Glove-drops: Canucks at Wild, January 14, 2018

Quick kudos and critiques from tonight's game.
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. Feel free to leave your own stick-taps and glove-drops in the comments.

Like Brock Boeser, I’ll give a stick-tap to the Minnesota Vikings for their incredible and improbable playoff win on the final play of the game.

Stick-tap to Newton’s three laws of motion, which were on full display in this game. External force was applied to objects, and the rate of change of momentum in those objects was directly proportional to the amount of force applied. And, incredibly, there was an equal and opposite reaction to all of the actions on the ice! Amazing.

Yes, this game was rather dull, so glove-drops to the Canucks and Wild for the overall lack of entertainment value. Things picked up a bit towards the end of the third period, but the two teams combined for just 48 shots, including overtime.

Dropping the gloves with Daniel Sedin’s back, for spasming and taking him out of this game. Loui Eriksson and Jake Virtanen skated with Henrik instead.

The Canucks’ penalty kill gets the gloves dropped for giving up the opening goal. Nic Dowd lost the faceoff, then some quick passing exposed gaps in coverage, particularly when Erik Gudbranson committed to blocking a shot that never came, leaving Jason Zucker open in the slot.

Tap of the stick to Alex Edler, who played nearly 25 minutes, including big minutes against the Wild’s top line, and picked up two primary assists.

Loui Eriksson gets a stick-tap for his finish on the 1-1 goal. Alex Edler took the pass from Henrik Sedin and spotted Eriksson, who slowed just enough to create some space to shoot and beat Devan Dubnyk.

 

 

Quick stick-tap to Jake Virtanen for his nifty kick pass off the boards on the outlet pass that led to Eriksson’s goal.

Stick-tap to Brock Boeser, who had a solid game despite being held off the scoresheet. He had a game-high six shots on goal and missed the net on two other attempts.

Dropping the gloves with Erik Gudbranson and Michael Del Zotto, who had a dreadful game together. The Wild outshot the Canucks 12-2 when they were on the ice at 5-on-5 and they got stuck on the ice for a three-minute long shift at one point in the second period. They got victimized in the third, as they each lost a puck battle along the boards, leading to Eric Staal centring for Daniel Winnick to make it 2-1.

 

 

Stick-tap to Thomas Vanek for his deft tip on a Sam Gagner point shot to make it 2-2. Tap of the stick to Chris Tanev as well, who made a nice drop pass behind his back to Gagner for the secondary assist.

 

 

Tap of the stick to Chris Tanev and Ben Hutton, who got an easier assignment in this game and took full advantage. The Canucks out-shot the Wild 10-4 when they were on the ice together and their strong possession game led to Vanek’s game-tying goal.

Big tap of the stick to Jacob Markstrom, who had his first legitimately great game in a long time. He only faced 23 shots, but he made some fantastic saves and couldn’t be faulted on either of the goals against. His toe save on a Jared Spurgeon backdoor chance in overtime was huge.

Brandon Sutter gets a tap of the stick for scoring the overtime game-winning goal in his return to the lineup. Edler sent a gorgeous stretch pass from behind his own net, banking it off the boards to Sutter, who stepped into the offensive zone, cut into the middle, and beat Dubnyk back against the grain with a laser of a wrist shot.