Canucks lose Tanev, a 2-0 lead, hockey game in overtime to Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Rundown
Brock Boeser scores his 22nd of the season.
Stops the clearing, passes to Vanek, gets the pass and scores. No big celly – just another day for Boeser#Canucks pic.twitter.com/wTDZvPoMlK
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) January 7, 2018
Auston Matthews scores to make it a 2-1 game. Don't go away.. pic.twitter.com/cauJCrJTa6
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) January 7, 2018
FINALLY! Great pass from Rielly to set up Bozak on the break, who gets his own rebound.
2-2! pic.twitter.com/Ud1KuaNHvN
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) January 7, 2018
Boeser so close. So very very close. pic.twitter.com/UdW25lCaDh
— Wyatt Arndt (@TheStanchion) January 7, 2018
Matthews-Y Gagner-Y, Marner-N Boeser-N, Bozak-Y Vanek-N….#Leafs win 3-2 in the SO over Vancouver.
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) January 7, 2018
The Numbers
#Canucks Zone Exit Chart Vs. #TMLtalk
Liked Del Zotto tonight, steady, neutral zone game, safe and effective with the puck in his own zone while playing 26:17.
Overall, the d-men really struggled getting the puck out tonight. pic.twitter.com/8f3VXGwCXf
— Darryl Keeping (@dkeeping) January 7, 2018
Quick Hits
- Anytime you blow a 2-0 lead in the third period; it’s a bad look. Understandably, a lot of Canucks fans are going to be pretty miffed by tonight’s loss — all the more so because it was against those damned Maple Leafs! In fairness to this team, they’re without a lot of their key contributors up front and the Maple Leafs are supposed to be Stanley Cup contenders, so really, I think a result like tonight’s is to the Canucks credit.
- This Nic Dowd thing is getting out of hand. I thought when the Canucks acquired him, Dowd would be a fourth-line centre or a 13th forward, and that made sense. Tonight, the difference in ice-time between Dowd and Boeser was barely a minute. Dowd took at least two shifts that I caught in overtime. I know the Canucks are banged up, but no team is ever going to be injured enough to justify Dowd playing 18 minutes. It’s not like he was playing a good game either. The Canucks were out-attempted with Dowd on the ice, and he didn’t do anything noticeable at any point in this game.
Don Cherry says leafs would have to give up Brown or Marner to get Gudbranson. Sounds fair to me.
— Jackson McDonald (@Johnny_Perogy) January 7, 2018
- In-between his usual insane, mildly racist and over the top nationalist rant about the World Juniors, Don Cherry said that the Maple Leafs should trade Mitch Marner for Erik Gudbranson. Wouldn’t that be neat?
- Sam Gagner continues to pile up the points. Gagner’s been a funny one for me all season, because all the underlying data suggested he would bounce back, to a certain degree, eventually. Offensively, Gagner was just getting really unlucky. After tonight’s game, he’s on pace for something close to 40 points. The Canucks are starting to get their money’s worth on Gagner when they need it most.
- Chris Tanev left today’s game in the first period after taking a deflected shot off his own stick in the chops. Tanev lost a couple teeth and didn’t return to the hockey game. This would, obviously, be a huge blow to a team that’s already decimated by injuries. Here’s hoping Tanev didn’t suffer anything in the way of a long-term injury. That would be most unfortunate.
- Jacob Markstrom got lucky. He let in a floating fly-ball that was u-g-l-y, but the goal was called back on a missed offside call. To Markstrom’s credit, he bounced back and played a mostly excellent hockey game for the Canucks otherwise.
- I’m about to head to TSN 1040 Studios with Jackson McDonald to provide post-game coverage on Nation Network Radio! We’ll be taking callers and have a poll question at the ready, so be sure to tune in and offer your thoughts on the Canucks 3-2 OTL to the Toronto Maple Leafs and every other Canucks storyline.