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Canucks Army Postgame: King Me
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Rhys Jessop
Mar 21, 2015, 19:59 EDTUpdated:
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The Canucks played a hell of a game. The Kings did not. Vancouver won. I’m not in a good mood. Here’s your damn recap. Have fun.

Highlights

Quick Hits

[Canucks.com Recap] [Events Summary] [Willie Desjardins Postgame] [War-on-Ice Stat Pack] [Natural Stat Trick Stat Pack]
  • I’m not in a good mood. The Canucks beat the Kings in all facets of the game and it was one of the most impressive showings of the year, but I’m not happy. I probably will be later when I re-read this recap four or five hours from now, but right now I’m just angry. Screw those guys.
  • A couple of things before we begin: 
    • First, the Kings still represent the nightmare first-round match-up for not only the Canucks, but for any team in the West. On the whole, they’ve been a far better team at 5-on-5 than Vancouver, and are likely to see similar elite or close to it penalty kill success going forward. They’re not as comparatively dominant as they have been in previous years, but the whole group of “elite” teams has fallen back towards the pack a bit.
    • Second, there’s been a lot made of Vancouver’s powerplay struggles recently. While they aren’t good and are probably closer to bad, the fact of the matter is that most teams hover between 17%-19% conversion rate. Basically all teams go through slumps like Vancouver’s has, and the Canucks are indeed slumping, but on the whole they’re basically indistinguishable from NHL average. Yeah they could use a PP quarterback on D, but who couldn’t? The much more pressing need going forward is that they’ve been a bottom-10 team at 5-on-5 in both goal differential and puck possession. And in the playoffs, that’ll kill them.
  • With the above out of the way, that was a damn impressive showing from Vancouver. They managed to rack up 40 shots on Jon Quick, and controlled the even strength shot attempt battle despite leading or being tied for a good portion of the game – a pretty good indication that the team came to the rink today ready to play with a pretty aggressive mindset.
  • Ronalds Kenins was credited with three hits, which is bullcrap since he had five on his first shift. There was a bad giveaway on a rush when Bo Horvat called for a pass and the Kings read it and stepped up to intercept, but other than that it was another really impressive game for the Kenins-Horvat-Hansen line. 
  • I saw some criticism on Twitter about that particular Kenins play, but I think that misses the point. The fact that he takes good risks and tries to make plays is what’s helped to make him so effective. The NHL needs more 4th liners that’ll do what Kenins does and less glass-and-out guys. Ronalds Forevers.
  • AND THEN THE FUN STARTED.
  • After Nick Bonino tied the game, Henrik Sedin trolled Jonathan Quick by just falling on him, and true to form, Quick responded by losing his crap and going after the Canucks captain. Eddie Lack skated to centre ice to challenge Quick if need be, but was rebuffed by the ref and avoided the crossing centre ice penalty.
    • I choose to believe Eddie was yelling “Binge and Purge” by Clutch at Quick.
      • Side note: stats guys get a bad rap in hockey circles for overlooking stuff like toughness and yeah I don’t think being a good pugilist is enough to keep a guy in the lineup in this day and age, but if I was ever in charge of building a team I’d want one where “Binge and Purge” is an appropriate theme song.
  • This also happened. This will be important in a second:
  • I’m not going to get holier-than-thou here and denounce Tyler Toffoli as some kind of goon or assassinate his character. Later in the game, after being denied on a shorthanded break by Eddie Lack, he crosschecked Burrows into the boards from a dangerous position:
  • The kid was mad at Burrows in particular, the red mist descended, and he made a mistake. A malicious and dangerous mistake that will lead to a suspension during a key point of the season I’m sure, but it’s hockey. It happens. And he can go straight to hell because screw him now too.
    • At this point, the spiteful and reactionary part of me wished someone would go and break Dustin Brown’s leg the next shift, but it’s probably for the best that didn’t happen.
  • This play gave Vancouver a lengthy 5-on-3, which they capitalized on to score the eventual game winner. Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat also scored empty netters to give Vancouver a 4-1 victory. We can only hope it goes so smoothly in the playoffs.
    • Well I guess we can hope that we get to see Eddie Lack beat the tar out of Jon Quick too, but that seems far-fetched. As if Quick would ever engage someone in a situation where he’s not the third man in.

Conclusion

This was a huge two points for a Canucks club with playoff aspirations, since a loss would’ve put them perilously close to the outside looking in. They’ll fly to the heart of the desert and take on the Arizona Coyotes at 5:00 PM tomorrow, and look to avoid another slip-up against a tanking opponent then. Jacob Markstrom is scheduled to make his second start of the season, so it may be an adventure.

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