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.
A tap of the stick to the Canucks for avoiding a new franchise record for longest goalless streak by opening the scoring midway through the first period, then opening the floodgates with two more goals. Yes, that counts as opening the floodgates for the Canucks at this point.
This was the most entertaining Canucks game in weeks and I have to give a stick-tap to the Rogers Arena crowd, which was the loudest and liveliest I’ve heard and seen all season. You have to suspect the St. Patrick’s Day festivities might have contributed to a looser atmosphere.
The Canucks’ power play gets a stick-tap for providing all three goals. The power play has struggled since Brock Boeser got injured, but somehow facing the best penalty kill in the league reinvigorated it, I guess.
Stick-tap to Nikolay Goldobin, who played some inspired hockey against his former team. He opened the scoring with a perfectly-placed wrist shot into the top corner. Later he sliced through the defence for another power play chance, then hit the post on a deflection in the third period. On top of that, he dominated at even-strength with Bo Horvat and Brendan Leipsic: 5-on-5 shot attempts were 19-9 for the Canucks with Goldobin on the ice.
Tap of the stick to Jake Virtanen, who helped create that opening goal with a great zone entry, as he cut right through the Sharks’ blue line defence, then set up a screen in front of Aaron Dell for Goldobin’s shot. That's an appropriate use of his skillset.
I have to drop the gloves with Brandon Sutter on the first Sharks’ goal. He got caught watching and let two Sharks go to the net, creating a 3-on-1 down low as Logan Couture shot the puck. Joe Pavelski backhanded the rebound across the crease and the player Sutter should have taken, Kevin Labanc, deposited the puck in the open net.
Jake Virtanen gets the gloves dropped on the 2-1 goal. He stopped moving his feet in the neutral zone as Logan Couture skated past him, then just dug his stick in for what would have been a penalty, but Couture was still able to chop the puck over Markstrom. Coasting is inexcusable for everyone, but particularly for someone who skates like Virtanen.
Derrick Pouliot gets the gloves dropped. He let Timo Meier skate past him off the faceoff, and he deflected Brenden Dillon’s point shot past Markstrom. Pouliot didn’t have a terrible game and picked up an assist on Goldobin’s goal, but the little bunny hop he did as Dillon shot instead of engaging with Meier wasn’t a good look.
A tap of the stick to Sam Gagner, who fired a team-high six shots on goal and had the primary assist on the Canucks’ second and third goals. He set up Bo Horvat’s 19th goal of the season with a hard centring pass that hit Horvat’s right skate and went in.
Stick-tap to Alex Edler, who looked confident in both his skating and his shot in this game. He knocked Melker Karlsson out of the game early when the Shark forward stepped in front of one of his slap shots. In the second period, he tied the game with a bomb of a one-timer that beat Dell on the blocker side.
I’ll drop the gloves with Jacob Markstrom. He knows why: “It's just bad, I was bad today and that's how it goes.” On the game-winning goal, Timo Meier beat him cleanly under the right arm from the top of the right faceoff circle. It was an ugly goal, but at least it led to an exciting finish as the Canucks pressed to tie the game.
