CanucksArmy Post-Game: Besoin De Plus But
By J.D. Burke
6 years agoCanucks fall short for the second straight day, lose 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canucks are trying. Damn, are they ever giving their all. For the second straight game though it just wasn’t enough.
That’s worth noting because the score belies the way the Canucks battled.
Everything’s relative. The Canucks are a team without their best defenceman, arguably their best forward and countless complementary pieces. It’s the second half of a back-to-back, known to many as the NHL’s scheduled loss.
Let’s see how it all went down.
The Rundown
A pair of goals, one more questionable than the other, but both ones you’d like to see Anders Nilsson stop, put Vancouver behind the eight-ball. The goal by Habs defenceman Karl Alzner in the first period especially was dubious. By the 25-minute mark, they were down two goals.
Daniel Sedin deflected an Alexander Edler point-shot about halfway through the middle frame though, and the Canucks were back in this hockey game. The comeback was on. Michael Del Zotto caught a Brock Boeser setup uncontested in the Habs zone and scored his first goal since November 6th.
That tie was shortlived though. Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher regained the lead for the Habs barely five minutes after the Del Zotto goal, and Paul Byron added the insurance goal in the final minutes of the game. The Canucks emptied their net in an effort to mount a second comeback from a two-goal deficit, but just surrendered another one to the Habs, this time to the maligned Max Pacioretty.
The Numbers
Quick Hits
- The Canucks goaltending situation has been far from ideal outside of the first month of the year. Jacob Markstrom’s played a role in that. Anders Nilsson especially seems to have lost his game. Tonight was, in my estimation, mostly positive for Nilsson. You’d like to see him get that first goal by Alzner, but it was deflected. The Galchenyuk goal was an absolute laser of a shot. Ideally, Nilsson would have better rebound control on the Gallagher goal. You can’t fault Nilsson for Paul Byron’s goal — it was a breakaway chance. All told Nilsson made 40 saves on 44 shots. The Habs registered 3.6 expected goals, according to the website Corsica.Hockey. I wouldn’t usually call a game in which the goaltender gives up four goals a step in the right direction, but in this case, I think it fits.
- Today was Sven Baertschi’s first game back since suffering a broken jaw some time ago, and he looked like someone playing in his first hockey game in a long time. The Canucks had a -15 shot attempt differential with Baertschi on the ice at five-on-five. That’s bad. And you could tell Baertschi’s timing was just a little bit off. It can take a while to get used to having the extra protection on your helmet, too, which only complicated things for Baertschi. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. I’m just not sure what a bounce back looks like. Baertschi’s results on the season are… iffy.
- A list of forwards with more five-on-five ice-time than Nic Dowd: Loui Eriksson, Markus Granlund and Brock Boeser (barely). I think we’ve found this year’s Jayson Megna.
- Michael Del Zotto played a great game tonight. The breakaway goal was nice, but I was just as happy with the consistent stretch passes. There were bad moments, too. That pair of Del Zotto and Gudbranson shouldn’t play together period. But Del Zotto had a lot of good moments tonight too including a goal.
- Loui Eriksson last scored on November 30th. Never have the Canucks needed him more than now, and he’s vanished. You don’t even notice him most nights. Tonight was another such night for Eriksson who I didn’t notice even once.
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