It was just one of those nights. The Canucks weren’t going to get a break, and by the sound of the final horn, they hadn’t done anything to create a little bit of their own luck either. It was a calamity of errors.
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) December 14, 2017
Little over a minute in, Michael Del Zotto turned over the puck on a fairly standard in-zone retrieval, and PK Subban sent a fluttering, knuckleball of a shot over Derrick Pouliot’s shoulder and past a confused Anders Nilsson to open the scoring. Victor Arvidsson doubled the Predators lead by the end of the frame converting on the rare two-on-none shorthanded breakaway goal.
Of course, the Canucks looked to have a goal of their own in the first frame. Pouliot led a Canucks rush into the Preds zone and fed Sam Gagner high in the slot, who found Thomas Vanek in front for the deflection goal. Predators head coach Peter Laviolette challenged the goal on the grounds of offsides, though, and the review found that Vanek lifted his skate, putting himself offside, as Pouliot entered the zone. No-goal.
Well, this is why you have Dan Cloutier on staff.
"It happens. At least it wasn't the playoffs, Anders." pic.twitter.com/RCTKVsNfKk
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) December 14, 2017
Then, in a 2002 flashback, Subban scored early in the second period, bouncing a slap shot that was going wide off of Nilsson’s glove and in. The Canucks responded with a power play goal two minutes later as Alexander Burmistrov batted down a Henrik Sedin pass in the slot, put it on net and sent his rebound past Predators netminder Pekka Rinne.
That was the oasis of good feelings for Canucks fans in a game that sandwiched it on both sides with misery. I’d like to tell you the Canucks rallied from that goal, but the opposite is true, really.
Filip Forsberg gained that goal back for the Preds less than a minute after the fact, and that was the start of a four-goal run for the Preds hit with an exclamation mark in the third period. Craig Smith, Kevin Fiala and Calle Jarnkrok all got in on the party. Nilsson, well, he was less than enthused.
#WeAreAllNilsson pic.twitter.com/fpwHXjXemC
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) December 14, 2017
Nilsson stopped 41 of the Predators 48 shots. Opposite Nilsson, Rinne stopped 25 of the 26 Canucks tries.
The Numbers
#Canucks D-Men Defensive Zone Transition Chart Vs. #Preds
2nd highest team failed zone exit rate of the season tonight at 20% (21.31% Vs STL)
Primary Shot Contributions and Zone Entries coming up. pic.twitter.com/Efkk0iqZtI
— Darryl Keeping (@dkeeping) December 14, 2017
#Canucks primary shot contributions Vs. #Preds
— Darryl Keeping (@dkeeping) December 14, 2017
Quick Hits
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/941189808239415296
- The Canucks haven’t won a single game since they dealt Jordan Subban to the Los Angeles Kings for Nic Dowd. They’ve been outscored 16-4 in that span. Tonight his older brother PK Subban scored two of the flukiest goals I’ve ever seen. Is it the curse of Jordan? One of Canucks Twitter’s more vocal members has been championing the notion. Maybe he’s onto something?
Curse of Jordan continues. PK putting up a 3 spot tonight.
— Taj (@taj1944) December 14, 2017
- Alright, let’s get back to serious business. Forgive me for trying to lighten the mood. I had to watch that game, too. It was awful. Perhaps no one suffered through it quite like Anders Nilsson though. There’s no way around it — give up seven goals, and it was an ugly night. Nilsson looked unhinged at moments. At one point, he stopped a routine shot and sent the puck flying to centre ice with his blocker hand in frustration; at another, he snapped his stick in two over his net and sent what remained in his blocker hand flying into the netting above the glass. There were a lot of fluky goals. Perhaps just as many that Nilsson should have had, though. According to Corsica.Hockey, Nashville had over four expected goals tonight. You can’t pin this one on the goaltender, but Nilsson could have been better.
“It was a tough game for our team tonight. I need to play better than this.” – Nilsson
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 14, 2017
- Remember the first month of the season, when Canucks head coach Travis Green was playing Michael Del Zotto all of the minutes on a nightly basis? His play has been in steep decline since, and his ice-time has started to follow a similar trend. Tonight was another bad one for DJ MDZ. That first goal doesn’t happen if Del Zotto doesn’t turn over the puck, and really, there’s no reason for that turnover in the first place. It was just a bad play. In total, Del Zotto was on the ice for three goals against at five-on-five and was a minus-ten on on-ice shot attempt differential. Is a healthy scratch on the way? If this blue line is healthy, he might be the best option, if the Canucks feel they have to create room for Erik Gudbranson upon his return.
- Chris Tanev left in the game in the third period, so they might not have to sit anyone for Gudbranson’s return. I didn’t see the play, and I haven’t heard anything new on Tanev’s status. We’ll keep you updated on that as new information is available to us at CanucksArmy.
- You can’t avoid conversations about Nikolay Goldobin’s defensive game whenever discussing the need to get him into the lineup. Tonight won’t help, if you’re in the camp that needs to see development on that front. Goldobin was on the ice for three goals against at even strength, and was the Canuck caught in the frame chasing Arvidsson on the Preds shorthanded goal. Before tonight’s game, Goldobin was in the black for five-on-five goal differential. Goldobin was one of the Canucks better players by on-ice shot attempt differentials, and he has been whenever he’s been in the lineup. I’d think it best to avoid looking too much into tonight’s defensive struggles where Goldobin is concerned. There’s enough of that to go around for the entire Canucks roster that we don’t need to single out the young, budding offensive star as he tries to break into the NHL.
Luckily, I was busy and only had the game on in the background. I could hear Grapes talking about not running up the score when Virtanen hit Emelin. “You don’t embarrass the other team” I listened to it on 650 the last week on my way to work. I had to watch it from several angles before I was convinced the refs got the call right. That was painful to watch. Bad bounces and bad goals, either way the Canucks looked listless again. 5.5 mil for Horvat seems like a bargain after watching the last 4 games.
Was the Virtanen hit a charging? Hit him in the numbers? It definitley wasn’t late, it might have been a little mean, but I didn’t see it as that bad, maybe just seemed bad in contrast to the rest of a relatively non-physical game. I only saw it once, but it didn’t look “game misconduct” worthy.
Rough game for Nilsson, I feel for him, looked like he was almost about to have a meltdown like Luke Wilson’s tennis pro in Royal Tenanbaums.
Bright spots of the game (or dimly lit spots) is Burmistrov looked alright, Boeser got another point, and the fourth line still looked aright to me. And, of course, slowly positioning for the draft.
It took me watching several angles to see that he had his hand in Emellin’s face. His stick was also high and potentially caught Emellin in the face. They called high sticking.
Everyone wants Jake to play like Tkachuck (or Burrows in the hey days) – but every time Jake makes a questionable hit – Canucks fans lose their collective minds and says he’s immature and concentrate on hockey. Anyone see the crap that Tkachuk does on a nightly basis?
Yeah, he is awesome. A superstar in the making power forward pest and exactly what the powder puff Canucks need… woops.
Hahaha…now he’s a “superstar in the making” huh? 6 goals…..hmmm 2 goals behind Baertschi. I guess that makes Sven an actual superstar right now! hahaha…
Hank 5FW 12FL 29%
Granlund 6FW 12 FL 38%
Burmistrov 5FW 7FL 42%
Sutter,please.
Another day, another fork tongued troll from this loser…
“The Canucks are over paying for the assets they are acquiring. The Sutter trade is a good example. They trade Bonino, Clendening and a 2nd for Sutter and are paying him double Bonino’s salary.” – Bud Poile
We have not won a game since Number 53 went down…
BO HORVAT please.
Another hour another obsessive boy/man love post from you TO your bud, bud.
You Bastard! where did you get that goalie from? Fallin’ for Dauhlin? Here come the Oilers.
The decades old chant, here come the oil. Or did you mean, here come the oil for another lotto pick? Another handful of first overalls and they’ll be right back in the playoffs. And an oil fan mocking another teams goalies, haha. ok then
The problem wasn’t face-offs, but it really would be good to have another competent center. Any team would struggle down so many top-six players, but where are the vets here? The Sedins at least look like they are trying and Eriksson being juggled up and down the lineup means that his hot streak is effectively cooled. Gagner is -3 and completely ineffectual. Vanek has gone missing. Add to our lack of depth the fact that both goalies have had average-to-bad games the last few after standing on their heads for about a month, there doesn’t appear to be much hope in sight. I want to see the vets pick up their game so that at least by the time Horvat and Baertschi return (near the TDL) we would actually be able to sell them off. Gagner would get us nothing, especially with the contract he still possesses. MDZ shouldn’t be a candidate to come out when Gudbranson is back, he has for at least two weeks and perhaps longer been significantly worse than Biega. Sit him now. And as unpopular as this might sound, I would advocate trading Tanev this TDL. His reputation is still high but I feel like this is the worst he’s looked in several years. He should still fetch a pick and a prospect. A team as thin as the Canucks simply cannot sustain having all the bad luck at the same time too.
I’m Ok with a tanev trade for the right return, but I always get the feeling like he is usually doing it all with no support, I think other than his own netter, he has been one of the most competent people on the team, especially in the D zone. But, yeah, as long as a team sees the value I do, then I’m good with a trade. I’m scared to think where a team like oilers would be now if they had him instead of larsson. I also think MDZ should sit for one or two, not because I think he’s bad, but he needs to reset the computer, kinda like Baerschi last year.
All your points make sense, but it reality, the team needs to come to terms that their just not good enough… trading assets like Tanev, Vanek and a few spare parts are the only realistic players that will bring this long winded rebuild to a it’s final inevitable story line.
The team has been in a peril mode the last 3 years… time to sell
Off
The opportunity to maintain puck possession occurs with every faceoff.
The Canucks averaged 43% while Nashville averaged 57%.
In this league of parity momentum favors the winning team.
You have scant few offensive opportunities w/o a puck.
Bo has a 52.4 FO% and Sutter has a 51.6 FO% ranking 43rd and 53rd in the entire league.
Sutter was matched up against the league’s top centers for most of this team’s wins this season.
Sutter,please.
Except that this has been looked into multiple times by multiple different people, who have found that faceoff wins have a negligible impact on puck possession, and more importantly, there’s no correlation between faceoff win percentage and games won.
Give your head a shake
Take ten seconds to look at the actual data.
Have you ever played hockey? Winning a faceoff clean in the opponents zone is an obvious advantage data or no data. Furthermore, winning a faceoff in the defensive zone, let’s say on the PK, is even more vital to success. It may not contribute to shot success but it definitely contributes to puck possession and control.
There may not be a direct correlation from faceoff wins % to games won % but your not setting yourself up for success with sun 40 winning percentage. 45-55% is a wash and probably wouldn’t yield much of an advantage either way but any wider margins than that and I bet the data would tell a compelling story.
Yours your own brain for once bud
Talking to the goon is a waste of time. If he had ever lost a face off in his end that resulted in a goal then headed to the bench and received the death stare from a coach he might be able to see the “correlation “ of winning a face off.
not too mention there is no correlation between puck possession a and winning either. So the whole argument either way, is nothing more than speculation.
“The only thing that matters is the playoffs” – Bud Poile
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won BACK-to-BACK Stanley Cups with some of the worst puck possession numbers in the playoffs (they were also bottom half in the regular season)… nextttttttt
I’m all in favour of Tanev if Pouliot cements a top 4 position, and the Sedins stay another year. With EP, Dahlen, Juolevi, and maybe Gaudette coming into the fray (along with Brock, Jake, and Goldobin getting regular minutes) – I think you still need a veteran presence.
I’m still not sure Goldobin makes it. His defensive effort is better, but he still does puzzling turnovers.
Simply outclassed by a better opponent
Nashville is a (much) better team than us. Winnipeg is a better team than us. I think Calgary is only a marginally better team than us. Our injuries leave us decimated; that said, there are other teams who have been hit as hard or harder. Anaheim has had Getzlaf, Kesler, Lindholm and now Perry out for long stretches. Oilers would have been much better with Sekera in the lineup. Nashville didn’t have Johansen. St. Louis is down Schwartz AND Pietrangelo. But all of them have better teams than us.
Yep 👍
I was at the game – you are 100% correct. Anyone who thinks otherwise is not admitting reality. Our goalies have played very well in most games – but not this one. All those who are saying put Goldobin in the lineup are not coaches. He was – 5 last night and from where I was didn’t appear to do very much. Sorry fans but there will be more nights like last night – unfortunately.
Top teams like San Jose don’t give up bluechip prospects in a hurry unless they are a lost cause. Goldobin has still not learned how to play a 200 foot game and likely never will, as the Sharks already knew.
Apparently we don’t need to consider trading for a minute munching, 2 two time Norris trophy winning defencemen. So let’s keep marching out the Edlers, MDZ and expect our goalies to pull off miracles. Where’s old Beer Can Boyd with his wisdom now?
He’s right here, love. Of course, you should be the GM of the team, we all know that. So lets get to it, and trade every prospect we have for Karlsson. BTW, how are the Sens doing with that minute munching D-man in their lineup this year? Oh, thats right.They are 10-13, and just coming off a 10 game losing streak. Genius.
Why do you want to “trade every prospect”. My position continues to be that our current defence are completely overmatched by their roles. MDZ and Edler cannot play 20 plus minutes per night. Tanev can but that’s it. Every one else on the roster is a 4-5-6 dman. You seemed to have appeared when truthseeker disappeared. Coincidence?
Everyone ( and I expect Mr. Boyd as well) knows the Dcorps needs serious upgrades. Everyone knows the cost for Karlsson is high and will include top prospects and 1st round picks. Trading for Karlsson is placing winning in the short term ahead of a longer term rebuild of a perennial contender.
Gotta side with Beer Can on this one. No thanks to Karlsson. Building a team around a franchise player like Karlsson needs to happen well before they are 25 not when their production is starting to slip.
Simply laughable that CA dreamers would A) Turn their noses up at (one of) the best offensive defenceman in the world and B) Think that Erik would even consider coming to us!
Guys, Erik Karlsson wouldn’t touch Vancouver for all the tea in China, he is a top three player in the league, last year’s top playoff warrior, a two time Norris winner and regardless of money wants to go to a legit Stanley Cup contender with plenty of years left in the tank…and any contender with the relevant resources wants him. It ain’t us. End of story.
f…k you you f….king piece of sh…..
I don’t need any other user name to make my point. So go f…k yourself you stupid f…king c…t
This comment should be deleted.
LT a lot of stuff should have been deleted long before this comment got here
why? I should have to put up with some piece of garbage slandering me by claiming I post under multiple accounts? I don’t suffer fools. If he has evidence of me posting as multiple accounts than present it. Check the IP addresses. I don’t give a f…k. Otherwise he should keep his f…king mouth shut.
Brutal hockey and a disgrace to paying Canucks fans. It looks like the chickens have come home to roost and the blowouts are starting to occur, as all us informed hockey intelligentsia predicted. That’s four losses in a row now, outscored 20 to 5 in the process – heads must roll, starting with a terrible GM unable to add suitable NHL depth in four seasons.
The only positives are a better shot at a legit elite D in the draft and the long awaited departure of the fraud Jim Benning, our worst GM since Mike Keenan … make no mistake guys, this is all on him, no one else.
On a personal note, some of you clowns need to wise up and stop using this board as your own private joke/therapy, because this is serious. After 50 years of failure we deserve better than this, don’t we?
haha, you’re lecturing fans here on how to use this board, troll? and Mike Keenan was a canucks GM? or did he just get the ok to make trades? Maybe I should ask a real fan.
Need Dowd back if we’re ever gonna snag Rasmus Dahlin – & for sure, keep Boucher in the AHL where he can pot 50 & not cost team tank a lottery spot. As usual, Benning’s free-agent signings are off the map – in a bad way: Gagner, Del Zotto not doing much at all & Wiercioch? Better days ahead, but not this season. My prediction as of Oct 16 was 29th place & 71 points – looking good!
Your prediction is dependent upon excessive injuries. Green will cobble together something. This team will fall to no lower than 24th.
the game is over we lost and lost bad this was going to happen with all the bad luck and crappy news and falling behind early. Time to put the game behind us and get ready for the next game. We need the goalie whoever it is to make some good early saves to give the team some confidence. Surrendering early bad goals takes the jump out of the teams fight back night after night, then having Tanev leave the game early just shattered the team. Need someone to take the team on their back and carry them through the rut Gudbranson and Sutters return will be welcomed.
This season is falling apart, like a crack hoe working the corner of Hastings and main.
Were you at the game bob? Would Derek make a difference?
That’s not very nice.
Game was ugly and unlucky bounces. My concern is the fragility of the team when they dont have any grit or push back .
No push back to Hartnell’s ( Marchand-like) face rubs at end of game . This team sorry lacks team toughness , loss of Dorsett. No one stands up for each other. I think Benning needs to add some sandpaper to the lineup in a tough Western Conference as teams will start to take liberties knowing we got no toughness.
This trainwreck against the best in the West emphasised just how bad the Canucks would get beat down in a seven game playoff series.
Obviously the GM’s position is now untenable because the loss of Horvat and perhaps Sven should not result in a meltdown like this. Sutter and Guddy have not been missed however, we were still winning without them. Bo is now better in the circle than Suts.
Bottomline, there is no depth in the lineup or on the farm, no physicality to step up and the goaltending is pourous. Averaging 5 goals a game against in the four game loser streak.
Every team in the league has the book on the Canucks and their sleepwalking goalies. Hit them hard early, score early, break them down mentally and physically and the game is won. Works like a charm.
Oh for a Tkachuk, Sergachev, McAvoy or Tuch.
good observation chuckey. hmm.. Juolevi over Tkachuk? not looking like a good draft pick now. Got to have a balance of scoring and grit. good pipeline 2-3yr with Petterson and Dahlen (sedin replacement) but dont see the grit in the system.
Lame narrative of keeping Goldy in, despite BRUTAL defensive play, ‘cuz his offensive stats are comparatively “OK”……
Taken right out of the 2006-2016 Edmonton model…..
I think this game is an example of Benning wanting to build a winning culture. When Horvat is here, he wants to win. If he’s losing, he works HARDER rather than giving up like most of the Canucks roster. The last few games has shown who drives play (i.e. Boeser and the Sedins) and who is merely complimentary or a warm body to meet the salary floor. We clearly need to leadership and drive on the roster. No, this is not an endorsement for Gudbranson. But I do think we should insert Biega into the line-up because at least he works his @$$ off. And maybe we should sign Chris Bourque.
Breaking down that one play (the power play). Pouliot has the puck, crosses center line, met by two defenders if he crosses the blue line, no where to go, attempts a pass to the winger on the boards, pass goes to no one, defender gets puck, makes long pass, short handed goal.
What went wrong? Pouliot is the only Canuck skating. The other four are standing still waiting to see what he does. He can`t carry it in. He doesn`t shoot it in. He makes a pass to no one. Why are the other four skaters stationary? Why is the zone entry so predictable and easy to defend – that`s on the coach to use different zone entries. No point in shooting it in if nobody is moving. Defenceman gets the puck and the forwards are immediately on the go. Canucks defenders (Goldobin and Gagner) don`t read the play and don`t react until the pass is made. Who`s at fault? Pouliot 20% for the pass to no one. The other forwards 20% for standing still waiting to see what Pouliot will do. Goldobin and Gagner 20% for not reading the play. The coaches 40% for not varying the zone entries and being too predictable and easy to defend against.
110% goes to you for being a plug and picking 1 horrible play from 1 horrible game. This is called “selective sample” or “cherry picking data” to prove your own agenda.
That said, derek is found money and doing pretty good all things considered, gold is still young and working on his game… and Gagner is a space filler… aka a plug just like you.
It’s gonna suck for awhile people. No Bo, Baertschi or Tanev. Those are tough lumps for a team that’s still thin of high end talent … not going to enjoy watching the inevitable slide during the next 4-5 weeks.
Wah!