Canucks Army Postgame: Bo Horvat vs. The World

Bo Horvat is the only player on the Vancouver Canucks that isn’t in the doghouse with me right now – and ‘m not sorry, either. 

I think I’m cursed. Let me tell you why: 

When the game started out, I was watching for Matt Bartkowski to do something utterly ridiculous to get himself banished to the press box for life. Instead, the spent a chunk of the game looking… if not like a legitimate top-five defenseman, like someone who could hold his own as a replacement-level blue liner in the NHL. He had an assist and at least one quality scoring chance, both of which were nice and made me feel like maybe he was ready to get his game together. 

Then, the game-tying goal went in off his skate, and I remember that the Canucks can’t have nice things. 

Overall, it was a mediocre effort from the Canucks that resulted in a near-loss before being ultimately saved by the team’s most exciting young player in recent weeks. There really isn’t much else to say about this, except that Linden Very scored and it was kind of surprising. 

No. Are you kidding? Just stop this. 

The good news is that Bo Horvat is finally out of that sophomore slump. He looks like one of the best players on the team right now, which is good news for the Canucks when they inevitably have to rebuild correctly. 

I’ve seen great stuff all year from Ben Hutton, decent flashes from Pedan and plenty of good games scattered in for both Jared McCann and Sven Baertschi. Even Jake Virtanen has had some solid moments, although I still think that he needs more work in the minors before he’ll actually reach his potential. 

Tonight, though, Bo Horvat was the guy of the hour; he was smart, offensively relentless, and had enough drive to actually help the team win a game where they had the puck like once every five minutes. Bo Horvat is pretty aite, guys. 

The bad news is that the Canucks got outshot 40-22 and blew their lead in the final minutes of the third to be forced into an overtime period. The team ultimately won, but it was a crapshoot – 3 vs. 3 overtime hasn’t been Vancouver’s strong suit this year, and that could have hurt them in the long run. 

Also, Luca Sbisa is back soon. 

Look. I’ve been hounded by a couple of you this year for being too hard on the Canucks – and maybe sometimes I am. Games like tonight, though, are perfect proof – this team isn’t putting in playoff contention-worthy effort, and they aren’t playing in a way that puts them in a position to easily win. 

It’s never *easy*, per se, to win in the NHL. It’s a pro hockey league. Some games are played in ways that make winning a more likely possibility, though, and those aren’t the games that the Canucks are putting up all that often. From godawful possession figures to blown leads, the Canucks continue to be a flaming disaster – the team just doesn’t seem to be addressing it quite yet.