Breaking down a loss to LA and Lekkerimaki’s first practice ft. Jeff Paterson: Canucks Conversation
1 month ago
On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal were joined by Rinkwide’s Jeff Paterson to recap the Canucks’ 3-2 loss on Monday night and give some insight on Jonathan Lekkerimaki’s first practice with the Abbotsford Canucks.
“They didn’t play poorly; they just didn’t play well enough to win,” JPat stated. “Against this Los Angeles team, this is three games now the Kings have opened the scoring in. The minute they do that, they get to dictate, dig in even more so, and make you come at them. I thought the Canucks did a nice job of that after the Kings opened the scoring. The rest of the first period and the first ten minutes of the second, there were opportunities for the Canucks, but ultimately they didn’t make the most of them… If there was a disappointment to me, it was those first fifteen minutes of that third period; they had one shot on goal. How can that make sense to anybody? Look desperate – if the Kings lock you down, you tip your hat to them – but make it difficult on them, and I don’t think the Canucks did enough of that. While I don’t think the Canucks’ top players played their best, it wasn’t Rick Tocchet’s finest moment. This guy has pushed about every button and has been above reproach most nights in the work he’s done, but he went to the line-blender, and some of his decisions in that third period didn’t make a whole lot of sense… It felt like he was grasping as much as his team was last night.”
JPat moved on to discuss the Canucks’ homestand so far and where they’re headed.
“I never expected they were going to run the table on the nine-game homestand,” he said. “When they lost to Colorado and Washington, obviously they had two losses but responded from those with three straight wins. It felt like if they could get two of the three games this week, it’s a 6-2-1 homestand at this time of the year; [with] Oilers spinning their wheels a bit, thirteen of a possible eighteen points would allow the Canucks to maintain that cushion atop the Pacific division. Then they go and lose to the Kings; that put some heat on the Canucks now. You’ve got a Dallas team that’s coming in battling for top spot in the conference – that’s not going to be easy, one of the highest-scoring teams in the league. If it doesn’t go well for the Canucks against the Stars, suddenly that game against Anaheim is an absolute can’t-slip-on-the-banana-peel kind of game at the tail end of a homestand.”
The guys then moved on to talk about Jonathan Lekkerimaki’s first skate with the Abbotsford Canucks, as Quads was in attendance obtaining some valuable insight.
“He was skating with John Stevens and Arshdeep Bains, two of Abbotsford’s most trusted defensively-sound forwards. With Abbotsford being in Colorado to take on the Eagles on Friday and Saturday, that made me think he’s getting into the game,” said Quads. “And more, when they showed power-play units, he was on PP2 getting work in the bumper – he looked right at home there. Jeremy Colliton was very non-committal to him playing this weekend, also really wanted to temper expectations. He talked about how guys in the AHL need some time if they’re coming over from Sweden. Colliton spent time in Sweden and has a lot of contacts – he knows what’s going on with these prospects. Basically, what he was saying is that if [Lekkerimaki] scores a hat-trick in his first game, you need to temper his expectations. If he has a bad game and goes minus two, temper expectations. He’s a young prospect, he’s going to take time, and you don’t want to be making any sweeping judgments.”
You can watch the full replay of the show in the video below:
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