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Stick-taps and Glove-drops: Canucks vs Kings, January 23, 2018

Quick kudos and critiques from tonight's game.
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.


Stick-tap to Loui Eriksson, who had his best game as a Canuck, all within the first six minutes of the game. That’s how long it took him to tally two goals and an assist for his first ever three-point game as a Canuck.

A tap of the stick to Travis Green, who shook up the lines after Sunday’s borefest and landed some inspired combinations, including an Eriksson, Bo Horvat, and Thomas Vanek combination that lit up the scoresheet.

The Canucks also reunited Ben Hutton with Chris Tanev, so I’ll give Nolan Baumgartner a stick-tap. I approve and I’m sure my approval means so much

Eriksson gets another stick-tap for his determination on the opening goal. Vanek picked off Jonathan Quick’s weak ring-around along the boards and swiftly swung it in front for Eriksson. His deflection got through Quick, but sat in the crease until Eriksson poked it in.

Horvat gets a tap of the stick on the 2-0 goal, making a lovely move to evade Drew Doughty’s pokecheck on a 3-on-2, then sliding the puck to Eriksson on the backhand for the finish. Horvat was also on prime faceoff duty, going 21-for-28 in the faceoff circle for a dominant 75% winning percentage.

 

 

Stick-tap for Thomas Vanek, whose slap shot finish on a breakaway set up by Eriksson was glorious. Like Eriksson, Vanek finished with a three-point night.

 

 

I’ll drop the gloves with Alex Edler for the Kings’ first goal, as he missed the puck behind the net, allowing Anze Kopitar to pick it up and centre for a wide open Alex Iafollo. But I’ll also give Edler a stick-tap, as he led the canucks with 25:43 in ice time, blocked six shots, and had two assists on the power play.

The Canucks power play deserves a stick-tap. They went 3-for-7 with the man advantage against the best penalty kill in the NHL. Their puck movement was superb.

Stick-tap to Sven Baertschi, who made it 4-1 on the power play. He got a little lucky, as his initial deflection hit Doughty and came right back to him for an easy backhand into the open net.

Another stick-tap for Horvat, as he provided a boost to the first power play unit. He had three great scoring chances on one power play shift and, on the third chance, the rebound came out to Brock Boeser, who chased Jonathan Quick from the game with the 5-1 goal.

 

 

Brock Boeser gets a tap of the stick. He busted his mini-slump with a two-goal performance and had a game-high six shots on goal. For his second goal, he drew both penalties that led to the 5-on-3, including a dangerous cross-check from behind by Trevor Lewis that sent him face first into the boards. He didn’t get mad; he got even, blasting a slap shot from the right point past Darcy Kuemper to make it 6-2. Okay, he might have been a bit mad.

 

 

Stick-tap to the Canucks’ coaching staff, who effectively managed minutes in the third period with the game thoroughly in hand. Nobody played less than 12 minutes in this game and only Edler played more than 20, with a lot of Edler’s minutes coming on the power play.

It will be overshadowed by the lopsided score, but Jacob Markstrom deserves a stick-tap for his performance. He made 30 saves on 32 shots and now has a .921 save percentage in his six starts in 2018. That’s not too shabby after a pretty rough December.