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I Watched This Game: Canucks comeback against Kings

Canucks 3, Kings 2
Daniel Wagner
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I would not have blamed you if you turned off this game five minutes into the first period. It was a laughably bad start for the Canucks. The Kings opened the scoring on the first shot of the game from a terrible angle; Derek Dorsett engaged in a pointless fight off the ensuing faceoff; Brendan Gaunce took a bad penalty in the offensive zone less than a minute later and the Kings scored again on the subsequent power play; and Brock Boeser put the Kings back on the power play two minutes later.

It had all the makings of one of “those” games. The Canucks were letting the Kings walk into the slot with impunity for scoring chance after scoring chance and it seemed pretty clear that 2-0 was just the beginning.

Except, it wasn’t. Anders Nilsson made like Hodor the rest of the game, the Canucks’ skaters out-played the Kings at even-strengthm and the power play went to work after apparently being on EI for weeks. It was a jaw-dropping performance: the Canucks spotted the best team in the Pacific Division a two-goal lead, then came back to win the game. This is not what I was expecting when I watched this game.

  • The Kings opened the scoring just 23 seconds. Markus Granlund couldn’t handle Michael Del Zotto’s bouncing pass and Tanner Pearson stole the puck, walked down the board, and fired a hard shot from a bad angle. Like Thomas doubting the resurrection of Jesus, the puck found a hole in the side.
  • Kevin Woodley pointed this out on Twitter: Anders Nilsson dropped down into a Reverse-VH as Pearson came down the boards, a goaltending technique popularized by the goaltender at the other end of the rink, Jonathan Quick. The move is best used, however, for shots below the faceoff circles, as it allows you to seal the post, yet quickly get back up to your skates or push across the crease in case of a backdoor pass. Since Pearson was higher up, Nilsson was still playing the angle, and did not get a good seal on the post, leaving the gap that Pearson exploited. Ryan Miller had a similar issue when he added the Reverse-VH to his repertoire in his first season with the Canucks.
  • There wasn’t anything Nilsson could do about the second goal, however. Anze Kopitar was left all alone in front of the net on the power play and finished off a quick pass from below the goal line. Bo Horvat had position on Kopitar heading to the net, but peeled off instead to take away a passing lane to the point. Erik Gudbranson, clearly expecting Horvat to stay with Kopitar, was too slow to get to the front of the net to check Kopitar. This is your regular reminder that Horvat is really not very good at killing penalties.
  • Boeser got a second slashing penalty late in the first period. The call was weaker than a Bald Eagle’s, as Boeser got all stick and it was barely a tap. I like to think that was the TSN Turning Point, even though the game was on Sportsnet: the Canucks were motivated by that lousy call to come back for the win.
  • The Canucks practiced with three new power play units on Monday. On Tuesday, they used none of them. Instead, they trotted out an entirely new first unit: Daniel and Henrik Sedin cycling between the boards and the slot, Bo Horvat as the net-front presence, Alex Edler at the point, and Brock Boeser at the left faceoff circle. People have been clamoring for Boeser and Horvat to play in these positions on the power play for weeks now and, without any practice with this particular unit, they moved the puck effectively and set up a goal. It’s almost like players will do well if you put them in a position where they’ve succeeded in the past.
  • But first, the Canucks got some luck. Loui Eriksson, who had another excellent game, took a feed from Derrick Pouliot coming down the left wing and forced a tough blocker save from Quick. He then fed Henrik Sedin at the right boards and his centring pass deflected in off Nick Shore. Ironically, that would have been a good time to use Reverse-VH.
  • Boeser and Horvat combine to tie the game on the power play. After Henrik hit Boeser with a beautiful cross-ice saucer pass, Boeser ripped a wrist shot that was too hot to handle and too cold to hold. The rebound popped up in the air and Horvat patiently waited for the puck to come down before poking it over the goal line like a cat knocking things off a table.
  • Brandon Sutter had a chance to give the Canucks the lead when he earned a penalty shot, but he couldn’t beat Quick. He got some flak for his seemingly lame attempt, but his decision to quickly shoot for the five-hole when Quick went for the poke check was a defensible one. Normally when a goaltender goes for the poke check, the five-hole is open.
  • It’s good that all three members of the Horvat line got on the board on the power play, because they got crushed at even-strength. The line saw a lot of Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty and it did not go well. The line was out-shot 11-to-3 when they were on the ice at 5-on-5. Fortunately, the Sedin line thrived while facing lesser competition, like an invasive species brought where they have no natural predators.
  • Erik Gudbranson led the Canucks in ice time in this game, mainly because of all the penalties the Canucks took. Gudbranson had a massive 7:35 in shorthanded ice time, followed by Ben Hutton at 7:06, and Brandon Sutter at 6:36. At even-strength, Travis Green somehow managed to shelter Gudbranson and Hutton while still playing them giving them a lot of minutes. It was particularly impressive given that they didn’t have the last change on the road.
  • After the soft goal on the first shot, Anders Nilsson was stunning throughout the rest of the game. His save on a Pearson shorthanded breakaway early in the third was a gamechanger, as was his late stop on Adrian Kempe, swallowing the puck like he was Michel Lotito. It was an incredibly impressive performance that brought him up to fifth in the NHL in save percentage.