Stats

• No matter how loathed Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins was to let this happen, tonight was the night of Nikolay Goldobin. It was the young, electric rookies return to the franchise that considered him the most expendable among their crop of prospects. All this, just two days and one game removed from a night when the coach decided to sit Goldobin to play Alex Biega at forward. Oh, the intrigue — it was palpable. And Goldobin delivered in spades. The Russian forward was responsible for the Canucks best chance of the opening frame, had a two-on-one opportunity with Henrik Sedin and sent two pucks astray from a yawning cage. A couple of inches one way or the other on a couple of plays and Goldobin is looking at a goal or two tonight, easy.
  • I’m not kidding, though, when I describe Desjardins as loathed to oversee Goldobin’s big night. It didn’t take much for Desjardins to go right back to Michael Chaput on the Sedin line. And he kept going back throughout the night. It’s like an itch he just couldn’t scratch often enough.

• Nikita Tryamkin had a mostly rough night. He was caught by the Sharks on a few occasions and pinned in the Canucks zone with regularity. Tryamkin came into this season struggling to facilitate a clean breakout pass, and he struggles just as much with this part of his game as the season nears a close. On one occasion, he was on the ice for well over a minute, and the Sharks forced an exhausted Tryamkin to take a tripping penalty. It was an ugly looking play. Tryamkin was also on the ice for the Chris Tierney’s insurance goal in the third. On the bright side, Tryamkin obliterated Melker Karlsson tonight. At least there’s that.
• Notice how 3/5 of the Canucks’ five worst players tonight by five-on-five shot attempt differential are the fourth line? That’s quite the departure from the halcyon days of the Brendan Gaunce, Michael Chaput and Jack Skille glory days — indeed, a sentence I never expected I would ever write. Vancouver is getting starched night in and night out and has at no point in the season looked as lost in their own end as they do now. I wonder how much of that has to do with them losing 2/3 of their best checking line and moving the other component to the first. Underestimate the value of Gaunce at your own peril, especially as the expansion draft approaches.
• How bad have the Canucks been down the stretch? Well, according to Jeff Paterson the Arizona Coyotes have covered 17 points since January 21 and sit just one behind the Canucks after tonight’s overtime loss. That was staggering, certainly, but it pales in comparison to this tweet from Tyler Dellow. I hope you’re all ready for a season like the one they just had in Colorado. I’m not ruling it out for next season.