THE SKINNY
The Vancouver Canucks had an opportunity to beat the defending Stanley Cup champs for the second time this season but it wasn’t going to be as effortless as scoring in the 1970s. Goals have been easy to come by lately for the boys in blue but tonight wasn’t meant to be. St. Louis’ Tyler Bozak scored his first goal of the season, actually, it was his first goal in 17 games to take the lead in the second period.
I’d love to tell you this was a prize fight with goals back and forth but it was quickly looking like another classic “Canucks shoot the lights out and can’t score a single goal” kinda game but wouldn’t ya know it, Quinn Hughes aka Huggy tied it up late with a changeup from the blue line and the Canucks steal a point going into OT.
Unfortunately, the Elias Pettersson/Brock Boeser/Quinn Hughes dynamo line was on the ice when regulation ended so they needed a break and unfortunately, the Blues took advantage of a bad mixup in their own zone and forced Jacob Markstrom to potentially make the save of his life. Had he played it as Ryan Miller did in Buffalo, this game may have ended differently.
Jacob Markstrom did not make this save and the Canucks lost in OT.
Let’s check it out!
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS 
Before this season, that skyline has never been in the Canucks favour. Small victories.
HEATIN’ UP
Vancouver is spreading that amoeba to more areas and Quinn Hughes’s goal was definitely a hot zone moment.
WHY DID THE CANUCKS FAIL?
  • Josh Leivo had approximately eight spin-o-ramas. Didn’t score on a single one, didn’t create a scoring chance from them.
  • The Canucks scored one goal and it came late in the third period, so it was almost a comeback… but they’ve done this for years.
  • Vancouver goes 0/4 and barely sets up on any of their power-plays. PP1? Nope. PP2? Nope. PP3? Nope. They need Sven Baertschi to get into the lineup and stop putting the penalty-killers on for bonus shifts on the PP.
  • The giveaways were even at five apiece with the damning one coming in overtime.
  • Alex Edler took THREE! penalties and still managed to play the most minutes of any Canuck at 23:56. Not a joke, Travis Green rode Edler like a Kentucky Derby stallion. Is the terminology even correct here? There are literally five other defensemen on this team and somehow Edler needed to be out there for every second shift. Stunning.
  • Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen were continually denied on the scoresheet but there were more than enough chances to get one in. Vancouver outshot St. Louis 34-27.
  • They weren’t wearing the skate jerseys.
  • I ate too many mini carrots and I’m paying for it now as are the Canucks for taking too many shots and not scoring. Same thing.
ALL THE GOALS
Tyler Bozak makes it 1-0
Then there was Hughes late in the 3rd:
Then this gong show of a play
Can’t blame him for trying but man, that’s a tough one to stop.
HOW DID YOU REACT?
THE FINAL WORD
It wasn’t the result we wanted but the Canucks played in a heavily-guarded game. They didn’t win but they proved they can hang with the good teams and they didn’t do themselves any favours by taking dumb penalties. They goto Chicago for Thursday followed by the Jets in Winnipeg on Friday. This is where the rubber meets the road and we find out if the Canucks are indeed for real.
If Markstrom makes that save though, Jim Benning would have had to lock him up long term right in the dressing room.
Marky was pissed because he looked like he legitimately thought he could out-think that 3 on 0.
Cool down, Canucks fans. The season has officially started.