Canucks Army Postgame: Brock ‘Calder Finalist’ Boeser

Clayton Keller may have 10 goals – but have you seen this Brock Boeser kid?

The Vancouver Canucks came into their game against Pittsburgh hoping that a few things would happen; they’d see a great game from Jacob Markstrom, they’d find their scoring again, and they’d manage to stop their brief losing skid.

Luckily, they pulled off all three.

In peak Jacob Markstrom form, the Canucks gave up the first goal of the game just two minutes in, allowing Jake Guentzel to tap the puck in back-door on the starter during a dynamic power-play sequence around the slot.

The next two goals, though, would come from not only Vancouver, but from Brock Boeser in particular.

He’d manage to not only put the team up in the game, but would have pulled off a natural hat trick if not for a Greg McKegg (yes, he’s actually in the NHL now) goal five minutes into the third period.

He’d tally his third of the night just one minute after McKegg’s tying goal, firing around a beautiful screen by… Matt Murray’s own teammates:

Bo Horvat would give Vancouver the insurance goal with a little under four minutes left to play in the final period, and that would be that.

Vancouver fell victim to some really ugly score effects on their shots. They were outshot 16-8 in the first frame, but then took just nine shots the second period and four the third; they would ultimately walk away from the game getting outshot by a concerning 39-21 in 60 minutes of play.

Make no mistake; if they’re facing another team’s goaltender, this game goes quite differently. Matt Murray and the Penguins have been notoriously struggling both on defense and in net, and Tristan Jarry is unproven – but the only goaltender who seems like he may be capable of turning the season around at this point in time. Murray allowed four goals on 21 shots; if his final goal hadn’t come against so late in the third period, it’s possible he may have been yanked for those kinds of numbers.

That being said, credit where credit is due; Brock Boeser is looking like the most talented Canucks draft pick in years. He, along with Bo Horvat, are what the team has desperately needed.

With his hat trick tonight, he moved to 45th overall in scoring across the NHL, tied with the likes of David Pastrnak, Sidney Crosby, and Jack Eichel. He’s second in rookie scoring to only Arizona’s Clayton Keller, and it’s possible that he could eventually surpass him if Vancouver keeps winning and Arizona keeps losing (although they did take home a 2-1 shootout victory Saturday night, nearly posting a shutout in Antti Raanta’s second game back).

On the other side of the ice, Jacob Markstrom was incredibly lucky to manage to stop Phil Kessel. The former Toronto Maple Leafs anti-hero and two-time Stanley Cup champion was playing like a man possessed – and if Markstrom doesn’t get a piece of those pucks, the game gets out of hand very quickly. That’s how Pittsburgh has managed to pull off so many wins this year; while their goaltending has been fifty shades of ugly, they’ve boasted the offense to make up for it.

We’ve been over this enough times by now that it’s really not even worth repeating.

I have to get up in about five hours for a race, so I’ll try to make this quick.

Vancouver took tremendous advantage of the goaltenders on both ends of the ice tonight. It worked this time – but unless they hope that Markstrom and Nilsson can stand on their heads every night, this isn’t the way they want to get all of their wins.

Except for the Brock Boeser hat trick part. That part they can do again.