Postgame: Smooth Lions
5 years ago
I have been watching scrambled versions of tonight’s game for the past four years. It’s the NHL’s version of Groundhog Day, but less entertaining. For what felt like the millionth time, the Canucks went into California looking to get things back on track and got stomped.
The Canucks came into San Jose having lost seven straight. You’d think a team that’s hid the skids so early in the season might come to play like a night tonight, but alas, this was not the case. The Sharks got on the board midway through the first period and while the Canucks managed to keep pace for much of the first frame, they gave up a late goal to Timo Meier; effectively deflating any and all momentum they may have had. Karlssons Melker and Erik would add a pair of goals, putting the game well beyond reach.
The Canucks would would get blanked, 4-0, their eight consecutive loss. They would hold their own at even strength, but get killed on a penalty kill that went 3-for-6 on the night. The fact that Antoine Roussel took approximately 75 penalties did not help matters.
Oh, and he also bit a guy, for some reason. It was that kind of game.
STATS
HIGHLIGHTS
QUICK HITS
- The Canucks have surrendered at least one power play goal in seven consecutive games, allowing ten in total over that time span. Is that bad? It seems like that might be bad.
- Speaking of the penalty kill, the team could really use Brandon Sutter back right about now. He’s an imperfect player on an imperfect contract, to say the least, but he’s a legitimately good penalty killer. It would also be nice if Bo Horvat didn’t have to take more faceoffs than the rest of team’s centres combined in every other game.
- Derrick Pouliot had a very Derrick Pouliot game tonight. The Canucks controlled two-thirds of the shots at even strength, which was good; but he also took two penalties, one of which was a boneheaded double minor for high-sticking on Lukas Radil, which was bad.
- Antoine Roussell gave an undisciplined performance tonight, even by his standards. He took four minor penalties over the course of the game in addition to a ten-minute misconduct for biting Sharks Defender Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
- Honestly, I find between-the-whistles shenanigans to be exhausting to talk about even at the best times, so I’ll just say this: it would be great if they could avoid garnering a reputation as “the team that bites people”. It’s been over seven years since Patrice Bergeron stuck his finger in Alex Burrows mouth and people still have not forgotten. This does not help.
