Adam Lowry Scores Go-Ahead Goal Late to Bury Canucks for a 2-1 Jets Win

Stats

Quick Hits

• I thought both goaltenders played well tonight. For Hutchinson, who entered the night with a .900 Sv%, that’s a departure from the norm; for Miller, perhaps less so — he’s been great. At five-on-five, Corsica.Hockey’s expected goals model suggests the Jets should have scored 3.2 goals. If you expand the sample to all situations, that number is closer to 4. I don’t think Miller stood a chance on either of the two goals that the Jets beat him with and lord knows they should’ve scored many more.
• Tonight was a mixed bag for the #PlayTheKids movement. On the one hand, Reid Boucher played close to fifteen minutes; on the other, Nikolay Goldobin played barely a hair over ten. You can’t win them all, I guess? What really irked me was Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins’ refusal to play the kids as the stakes increased in tonight’s game. Isn’t that the exact kind of learning experience the Canucks should be trying to pass onto the next wave? By the third period, Desjardins took Goldobin off the third line to make room for Drew Shore. Then with about six minutes left, none of Goldobin, Boucher or Brock Boeser played.

• I don’t get why Michael Chaput is playing with the Sedin twins. It makes no sense. I get that options are at an all-time low, but in a world where Golbobin is taking shifts on the fourth line, maybe they have more options than we give credit. If the Canucks are set on attaching a fourth liner to the Sedins hips, then all the power to them I guess. But if Desjardins is coaching to win, and I think that is very much the case here, then what messed up reason is there for having Chaput out with two minutes left, down a goal and the net empty.

• So apparently Boucher and Boeser aren’t going to be the Canucks’ offensive go-to players every night. That’s okay. It’s worth noting, though, that both players were the Canucks’ leaders tonight in individual expected goals according to the Corsica.Hockey model (Boucher with 0.28 and Boeser 0.21). I didn’t think Boucher looked especially threatening at any point, but I thought Boeser had a couple of good chances. Boeser’s best opportunity came with the man advantage in the second. The Canucks have Boeser playing in Brandon Sutter’s place as the right-handed shot in the slot. He had one opportunity stopped by a sprawled out Hutchinson. It was going wide anyway, but it was a good chance all the same.
• I was surprised to see Stecher leave the game after taking that Brandon Tanev hit in the first. It looked innocent enough. Perhaps Tanev caught him in a bad spot? Whatever the case, it sounds like it could be a while before Stecher returns to the Canucks lineup. We’re at the time of the year where that means we might not see him until next season. Fingers crossed that isn’t the case. Stecher’s had one hell of a season.

• Tonight was a good night for #TeamTank. The Canucks lost in regulation, and the Devils landed a point. I don’t think there’s any catching the Arizona Coyotes for 29th, so let’s let go of that pipe dream. It’s all about the Devils now. They’re only two points ahead of New Jersey after tonight and each are stuck at 75 games. Dare to dream.