The Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings on a Wednesday night. What could possibly be better?
A lot, apparently.
I guess you could forgive Angelenos for not being enticed by this matchup. A lot of locals’ priorities were bound to change after fires devastated surrounding communities – the Kings’ new faceoff circle honouring the LA Fire Department providing a stark reminder of bigger things going on – and with limited entertainment dollars to spend right now, you’d probably rather pay to see Luka Doncic in a Lakers uniform instead of two teams allergic to scoring more than three goals a night.
And for the vast majority of this game, the people who passed on it probably weren’t experiencing much FOMO. This contest had all the hallmarks of being ‘a game that happened’, Drew Doughty was ruled out by the Kings prior to puck drop, and it truly was a snooze for about fifty minutes.
When it didn’t suck, it was largely because the Canucks were creating problems for themselves and letting the Kings take over what could’ve been an extremely painless regulation win. But when the dust had settled, fans were treated to a character-building penalty kill, a Conor Garland performance for the ages, and the triumphant return of Quinn Hughes.
Instead of another blown opportunity leading to questions about the team’s dwindling potential, this game became something much, much better: a chance at a turning point. Time will tell if they seize it.
Let’s make some GIF money, shall we?
Best Ray of Light
Oh. My. God.
The different pregame reports out of ‘the Arena formerly known as Staples Center’ were arguably a lot more interesting than the game itself. First we had Batch reporting that Quinn was skating in the warmups, giving hope to a nation.
Then Drancer tempered people’s excitement when he didn’t see Quinn lining up with a defensive partner.
But before fans could make any dinner plans or opt to spend quality time with loved ones instead, the lineup cards came down: Quinn is IN.
Best back like he never left
Hughes getting the first shift of the game wasn’t a ceremonial gesture by his coach. The Canucks are just that desperate for him to make an impact since no one could without him in Vegas and Utah. And right off the opening draw there he is, covering the right side as Fil Hronek works to regain possession after a failed clear.
The eventual breakout it led to would end up going offside, but Hughes didn’t second guess activating himself on the rush. Whatever injury he’s playing through, a lack of confidence isn’t a symptom here.
Best Foreshadowing
You always know you’re in for a great Conor Garland game as soon as he jumps out for his first shift. On Wednesday, it began when Garland’s initial shot from the blue line was blocked and turned into a breakaway for Kings defender Vladislav Gavrikov, who was randomly hanging out by his own blue line.
Garland immediately atones for the turnover by turning on the rocket jets, catching up to Gavrikov and tying him up before he can get a shot away.
That play ended up being two different omens at once: one was that Conor Garland was in for a great game. The other was that this game wasn’t going to end with high shot totals.
If that wasn’t enough evidence for you, the late hit Garland threw on Jordan Spence that caused an immediate scrum showed just how locked in Corolla was to energize his team.
Then right after a commercial break, he and Dakota Joshua catch the Kings off guard with a quick breakout pass as Garland splits the D for a breakaway, but David Rittich gets in the way on his first real test of the night.
By the way, you are reading the scorebug correctly: both teams had a combined three shots on goal nearing the middle of the first period. Like I said, this is not going to be a barnburner.
Best Höggywood
Nils Höglander doesn’t score often these days. But when he does, it’s always gorgeous. His highlight reel is like a playlist curated by Tom Haverford; there’s only bangers on there.
Höggy does everything right here. He maintains space from the defender, immediately cuts to the middle as Kiefer Sherwood runs a pick, and outwaits Rittich before shooting the puck back against the grain all while being surrounded by four Kings checkers.
This is the version of Höglander is the kind that can reverse a team’s fortunes. And the Canucks need this version now more than ever.
Best Unsung Hero
Jake DeBrusk has gone from a forgettable start to his Canucks tenure to becoming of the team’s most reliable consistent forwards in record time. And that makes sense! While everyone’s been focused on the Petterssons and Boesers of the world, DeBrusk has quietly put together a 21 goal campaign to lead the team, and is in good shape to hit career highs in both goals and points by season’s end.
But tonight he made a difference in a separate way. When the Kings turned a missed keep-in by DeBrusk into an odd man rush, he rushed back and took away the inside lane from a streaking Warren Foegele and pokes the Anze Kopitar centering pass away.
If not for that DeBrustle, Foegele easily ties the game and the Canucks don’t have a lead to close out the first.
Best Legend of Lank
For as uneventful as the first period was overall, the Canucks had at least played a strong road period, outshooting the Kings 6-4 and staying disciplined. The middle frame is where some of the wheels began to come a bit loose.
First came a Marcus Pettersson hooking penalty that gave the Kings their first real chance of seizing momentum. That’s where Kevin Lankinen needed to shine, holding off the Kings power play unit with good puck tracking and rebound control through traffic.
Lankinen was a key component for the Canucks killing off consecutive penalties after DeBrusk got whistled for tripping Phil Danault later in the period, refusing to allow the Canucks to fall apart with a lead.
Well, not yet anyway.
Best ‘how many times do we have to say it?’
TYLER MYERS SHOULD BE A FORWARD!
Depth winger has always been MyTy’s true calling, as illustrated here by a deke that even Quinn Hughes would be proud of to get away from the checker and cut to the net.
Even though Myers’ shot ended up clanging off the post, it was the type of heads up decision making that sometimes alludes the Chaos Giraffe. But not here. He even got back to the blue line before any Kings could try to turn the puck back the other way.
Best Bringing the Boom
One of the loudest plays of the game was one that, thankfully, looked a lot worse live than it ended up being. And that was Carson Soucy bowling over Quinton Byfield and sending him crashing to the ice.
With the way Byfield keels over immediately after the hit, you were initially worried he might’ve taken an elbow to the head. But on replay, it’s clear that Soucy just caught him from a weird angle and Byfield fell awkwardly enough to knock the wind out of him. Byfield stayed in the game, no retrubution was demanded for a clean hit (see how easy that is to do?), and we carried on as normal.
Best Dekes Being Done
It was another quiet night on the scoresheet for EP40, so we’ll keep this brief.
There were flashes of confidence with the puck tonight. First he caught a pass from Höglander and cut through the middle for as dangerous a shot attempt as any Canuck could muster in the second period.
Then with his friend Adrian Kempe in the penalty box for tripping, Petey put the Kings’ PKers in a vintage spin cycle.
Is this a lot of clear momentum? No, but we’ll take the positive strides we can get right now.
Best Prediction
Princess Erica only gets partial credit tonight, but they called their shot a full hour beforehand so it’s still A+ analysis.
A lot of credit here belongs to Filip Chytil, who took the puck around the net – and a Kings defender with him – to open up room for a Garland tap-in as he gets straight up tackled by Mikey Andersom.
Fun fact: this was only the Canucks’ second shot of the period! As you’ll remember from last season, the PDO Machine was definitely going ‘Brr’ through 40 minutes.
But Corolla Garland was far from done pissing off the Kings. Here you’ll briefly notice Kevin Fiala putting him in a headlock as Garland is tracking the puck.
Best Fitting In
20 minutes and a two goal lead to protect against a notoriously offensively challenged Los Angeles team. Should be easy, right?
It would’ve been if every defender was like DePetey. When the Kings tried to spring Kevin Fiala for a breakaway, there was Elias to break it up with far too much ease and confidence for a rookie defender.
DePetey’s work even earned him props from both Carson Soucy and blueline coach Adam Foote when he got back to the bench.
It’s honestly amazing that the Canucks have played so much of this campaign without EP25. Now I already can’t imagine a Vancouver blue line without him. Can you?
Best Playing With Fire
Best Getting Burned
If Rick Tocchet was in a Mr. Beast video and only needed to stop his team from parking the bus to win a million dollars, I’m not sure he’s walking away with the cheque. Because here the Canucks were, nursing a two-goal lead and, as per usual, were being far too passive about it. And that sitting back quickly burnt them, when Adrian Kempe walked right down Main Street before cutting to the left and ripping a shot at the far post. Tyler Myers was able to get his stick in front of it, but that merely helped whip the puck around Lankinen’s glove and into the net with velocity.
They’re not actually about to blow a multi-goal lead for the second straight game, are they?
Best Canucksing (derogatory)
Five minutes after the Kempe goal, we had our answer.
To the Canucks’ credit, they had followed up the first goal by turning some pressure back into the Kings end. But LA eventually won out the battle for momentum and, with Lankinen and the Canucks scrambling, the puck was worked back to Jordan Spence for a slap shot that was tipped by Warren Foegele waiting at the lip of the crease.
The Canucks, in a galaxy brain move that might’ve been panned had this game gone the other way, tried challenging for goalie interference hoping the refs might catch Foegele’s stick above the crossbar, something they cannot challenge for specifically. Of course, the goal stood and the Canucks would need to kill off a late delay of game penalty just to take the game to OT.
Luckily for the Canucks, Lankinen was unfazed by the pair of goals when they needed his stability in the net most.
Still, we’ve all seen this movie before, and we generally haven’t liked the ending.
Best Plot Twist??
There was a moment in time where the Canucks alllllmost made up for everything in regulation. And as has been customary in recent games, that grade-A chance was the result of a terrific read by Filip Chytil.
As Jordan Spence whiffed on coralling a Canucks clearing attempt, it was Chytil who in full stride as the puck caromed off the boards to him for a break. Chytil got a shot away from the outside lane that rolled through Rittich’s pads towards the goal line, but the now-trailing Spence was right there to sweep the puck off the goal line.
These are exactly the types of moments that come back to haunt unlucky teams later. And the way the 2024-25 Canucks like to roll, this seemed like the window of opportunity shutting on them.
Best DOC Controversy
Y’know what’s a super fun way to lose a hockey game? On a controversial penalty call in overtime.
Almost right away, disaster strikes for the Canucks as Hughes falls over, leaving Drew O’Connor as the lone man back as Kevin Fiala is gaining a load of steam. Fiala chips the puck around Run-DOC and gets a breakaway, but O’Connor saves the day with a diving check that knocks Fiala’s feet out afterwards.
People were outraged when the referee’s arm went up, including O’Connor who smashed his stick on the back of Lankinen’s net. “He got the puck first!”
HOWEVER… as long as no one shoots the messenger, I have to tell you that the refs actually got this call correct; stick checking the puck before tripping the shooter hasn’t mattered for a while now.
Here’s the excerpt in question from Rule 57.3 of the NHL rulebook:
If, in the opinion of the Referee, a player makes contact with the
puck first and subsequently trips the opponent in so doing, no penalty
shot will be awarded, but a minor penalty for tripping shall be
assessed.
It’s a gutsy call to make in overtime, certainly, but giving the 29th ranked power play in the league an OT man advantage is at least a better option than a Fiala penalty shot.
Best Man of Steel
It takes a lot to fell Tyler Myers. He’s an ironman who’s far more inclined to tough out an injury than sit a shift or game out.
Tonight on the final penalty kill, Myers ended up on the wrong end of some absolutely rotten luck when a Fiala shot attempt ramped off of Teddy Blueger’s stick and straight into his throat, immediately dropping him to the ice.
The refs quickly blew the play dead and, to the Kings’ credit, they were ready with stick taps as the trainers and Marcus Pettersson helped him to the bench. Thankfully, Myers has appeared to avoid a super serious injury.
If Myers sticking his neck out for the team can’t fire them up to win, nothing will.
Best God Mode
With Myers done for the night, someone would have to take the defensive torch. And that man was the Dragon.
First off the ensuing faceoff, MPetey immediately rips the puck down the ice with force and kills some precious seconds off.
The Kings regroup, and Kempe is able to sneak to the right faceoff dot undetected. The set-up pass arrives right on time, but Lankinen is able to get enough of the one-timer to redirect it through the crease, where the Dragon dives to knock the rebound out of harm’s way.
The Kings try for a third time, setting up another shooting attempt for Fiala. This time MPetey crouch blocks before tracking the rebound to the corner boards, and with the speed of a cheetah, pounces on the loose puck and clears it again.
Do you hear that? It’s the winds of change.
Best Canucksing (NON-derogatory)
Sometimes the best looking car on a Southern California freeway is a Corolla.
It takes a lot of guts and confidence to call your own number when you’re on the ice with Quinn Hughes or Filip Chytil. But that’s never been a problem for Conor Garland, especially not on a night like this one where everything he’s touched has turned to gold.
The OT winner was no different, as he picked the puck up along the boards, used Brandt Clarke as a screen and caught Rittich cheating to his glove hand side just enough to aim for the short side instead.
Look, I try not to be mean to fellow goalies on main, but we don’t call him ‘Big Sieve Dave’ around these parts for nothing. But Garland deserves the credit for picking his spot perfectly, saving the Canucks from another blown lead with a two-goal night, two crucial points and momentum heading into Anaheim Thursday night.
Best Something’s Brewing
Best ‘I’ve got this idea for a sitcom’
If this person’s smart, they’re already planning to go every studio in town tomorrow with this dream sitcom pitch. Or they got a head start schmoozing with the Kings fan in the seat next to them, they probably have some connections.
This has ‘Star Original on Disney+’ written all over it. Plus an eventual crossover with Abbott Elementary.
Best Scoop
Eating ice cream at a hockey rink is one of the most baller moves a person can make. You’re the kid in a t-shirt and shorts on a snow day. You’re just built different.
IMac opting for it in back-to-back road games? You gotta respect it.
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