CanucksArmy Post-Game: Just A Bad Knight
By J.D. Burke
6 years agoCanucks Fall 5-2 to Golden Knights
There aren’t any shoo-ins in today’s NHL. A Canucks team playing at home against an expansion team playing with their fourth-string netminder is about as close as it gets, though. And it’s an opportunity the Canucks squandered spectacularly.
The Vegas Golden Knights, two nights after getting pounded 8-2 by the Edmonton Oilers, came out of the gate with a little piss and vinegar in their game. They caught the Canucks flatfooted and pounced. David Perron made swiss cheese of the Canucks defence for the first goal, and with Henrik Sedin slow to apply backpressure, the Golden Knights winger took his time and picked his spot to beat Jacob Markstrom for the go-ahead goal.
Not too long after, Golden Knights winger Alex Tuch carried the puck behind the Canucks net and hit William Karlsson against the grain in front to double their lead. Alexander Edler, again, was the culprit in coverage.
Canucks head coach Travis Green must’ve had a strong message in the first intermission. Vancouver responded with a strong effort in the second. Brock Boeser got the Canucks on the board just after the halfway mark of the game, converting on an Oskar Lindberg turnover in the Golden Knights zone and snapping it past Maxime Lagace.
About five minutes later, and with Green’s line blender in full effect, the Canucks found the equalizer. Bo Horvat shifted from his usual spot alongside Boeser and Sven Baertschi down to the third line with Sam Gagner and Thomas Vanek, and it worked. Vanek carried the puck into the offensive zone, moved the puck across the top of the slot and pushed the puck into the crease. From there, Gagner made a deft redirection pass from his skate to put the puck on Horvat’s stick, and he buried the opportunity.
All the hard work the Canucks put towards tieing tonight’s game in the second was washed away in the third. The Golden Knights took firm control of the hockey game when it mattered most. On an Erik Gudbranson turnover, James Neal recovered the puck and found Erik Haula in the front, who regained the lead for the Knights. And with the Canucks comeback attempt on its last legs, Derrick Pouliot fumbled the puck trying to make a breakout pass, and Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault recovered the puck and beat Markstrom five-hole on the ensuing breakaway to recapture the two-goal lead.
The Canucks mustered but five shots in the third and surrendered 11 to the Golden Knights. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Canucks didn’t register a single scoring chance. Aligns nicely with what we all saw, too.
Markstrom stopped 25 of the Golden Knights 29 shots. Lagace held the Canucks to two goals on 21 shots.
The Numbers
Quick Hits
- Nights like tonight don’t bode well for Jacob Markstrom’s hold on the starting job. I thought he could have looked better on a couple of the Golden Knights goals. Using the Corsica.Hockey expected goals model, the Golden Knights accumulated under two expected goals in all situations; Markstrom surrendered four. After tonight’s loss, NHL.com has Markstrom carrying a .909 save percentage in all situations (his even strength save percentage is far better) which is decidedly below average. I’m not ready to give Green and his staff a hard time for playing Markstrom as often as they have, but at this point, they might have to consider how much longer they chart this course.
- This was one of Erik Gudbranson’s best games of the season, until the third period. The neutral zone data that Darryl Keeping tracks suggests he was efficient in transition (no, seriously) and he was around even by shot attempt differential until the third frame. Then, of course, he trips on a puck, and it’s in the back of the net not long after. Gudbranson finished the night minus-nine in shot attempt differential, and I’ll remember this as one of his better games of the season. That says a lot about where his game is right now. Green has to start rolling back his minutes and in a big way.
- Speaking of poor defensive efforts, the Edler and Pouliot pair had themselves one of their worst nights together. Edler played a significant role in at least one of the goals in the opening frame and was on the ice for three goals against; Pouliot handed the Knights fourth goal to them on a silver platter and was also on the ice for three goals against. Neither was good in transition. Both were poor in transition.
- Tonight’s game was almost exactly what I thought the Canucks would get out of Thomas Vanek when they signed him in the summer. Vanek’s setup in the second period was fantastic; he also tied Gudbranson at minus-eight for the lowest shot attempt differential on the team and was on the ice for four goals against. In general, I think the Canucks have gotten full value out of Vanek so far, and that he’ll be a solid trade chip for them at the deadline.
- Before tonight’s loss, the Canucks were the 18th best team in the league at controlling shot attempts at five-on-five. That number isn’t improving after getting beat by the Golden Knights on the shot clock. It seems like years ago that this team was in the top ten of the league by this metric. Of course, it’s not all that matters, and yes, we know this at CanucksArmy, but it’s one of the best predictive tools for future goals. The Canucks are still above 50%, which is good. It’s sinking fast, though. November was supposed to be a gruelling month for the Canucks based on their schedule, and so far it has been. I think that’s what makes a loss like tonight’s against the Golden Knights all the more grave — they needed this! And if they don’t tighten things up and get back to controlling the run of play, losses like tonight’s are going to continue to mount. That’s not the worst thing imaginable, especially if you’re a #TeamTank card holder, but if you’re the Canucks, that’s not good news. Not good news at all.
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