Canucks Army Post-Game: Minnesota Nice!

Stats

Quick Hits

• How good was the Horvat line tonight? They played significant roles in the fourth and fifth goals on the night, and were flat out dominant otherwise. Horvat and Baertschi had a goal apiece. As a trio, they’ve controlled 56% of shot attempts, 62% of goals and carried 66% expected goals for this season. That’s not first line production. That’s dominance on entirely different level.
• You might’ve noticed, but the NHL credited Baertschi and Horvat with a goal — I allude to as much in my last note. After the dust settled, the NHL came to the conclusion that Horvat deflected Luca Sbisa’s shot for the 4-4 marker. Up until a few minutes ago, that goal was Baertschi’s. I’ll let you decide.

• The Canucks were productive across the board. It wasn’t just the Killer B’s lighting up the scoreboard and dominating play. Loui Eriksson scored his fifth goal in six games, potting a rebound touched by both his rebounds prior. The best part? He scored that goal playing the role of pickup man, driving home the garbage goal after a scramble in front of Kuemper. He’s been the Canucks best Corsi For player all season, so it makes sense that he’s turned the corner. That’s kind of how that goes. Usually.

• As good as Stecher’s been all season — and he’s been great — we shouldn’t discount the fact that he’s playing alongside the Canucks best defenceman. That counts for something. Tonight he faced his first real test. And no, it wasn’t the Wild’s 11th ranked offence. Tonight, Stecher played alongside Luca Sbisa. It’s like going from a Ferrari to a Ford Pinto — and that’s taking into account Sbisa’s renaissance. Stecher passed with flying colours. He was on the ice for a better share of shot attempts (53%) than his partner (43%) and contributed nicely on the go-ahead goal in the third.
• Hard to believe, but the Canucks got defensive contributions on all five of their goals from defenceman. Ben Hutton led the way tonight offensively, contributing on the power play and at even strength alike. As Canucks Army favourite Ryan Biech was apt to point out, this pass on a Baertschi breakaway was especially great.

• I poked fun at Sbisa — imagine that — but I genuinely think he’s turned something of a corner. How much of a corner he’s turned remains to be seen. For now, I’d settle for Sbisa playing semi-productive hockey on the Canucks’ third pair. Injuries aren’t affording Vancouver that option, though, and that’s kind of tragic. He’s playing on the first pair, alongside Stecher. We’ve had two years to see how well that’d go. And he didn’t disappoint on the first goal, essentially setting up Nino Niederreiter for the opening marker. Sbisa can be a useful addition to the Canucks lineup. I just hope that playing in this large a role doesn’t erode his confidence and nip that potential in the bud. Everything was going so well for the guy, and you really want him to succeed. He seems like the nicest human!

And this…