logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
CanucksArmy Postgame: Tough Knight for Vancouver Canucks as they fall 5-0 in opening game of round two
alt
Photo credit: Gerry Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Faber
By Faber
Aug 24, 2020, 01:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 24, 2020, 01:50 EDT
Comments
The Vancouver Canucks were back on ice playing in the second round of the playoffs after just one day of rest.
Unfortunately for them, it looked like they were tired.
The Vegas Golden Knights would roll through their four lines and with that roll through the Canucks in this game.
Warning: This isn’t pretty for Canucks fans.
Jacob Markstrom got the call once again for the Canucks while Robin Lehner was hoping to not see a sword around his crease as he got the start for the Golden Knights.
The Canucks iced the same lineup from games five and six against the St. Louis Blues. They immediately went away from their projected lines. Travis Green had a plethora of lines that he went with as Tyler Motte found himself playing with Elias Pettersson at times and Jake Virtanen even skated with JT Miller and Pettersson at one point.
Lines
It was time for the Canucks to continue on in second-round Stanley Cup Playoff action.
Let’s go!
First Period
The Canucks were able to skate with the Golden Knights in the first period. The defencemen needed to be better for the Canucks as the Knights definitely had more scoring chances. The Knights had a lot of pressure offensively but also physically. The Knights had 21 hits in the first period and they were tough hits.
Antoine Roussel began to do his usual talking in pre-game and kept it going in the first period. He was trying to get involved emotionally and it caught Ryan Reaves’ eye and mouth.
The Knights received the only powerplay opportunity of the period when Alex Edler took a cross-checking penalty early on. The Canucks were able to kill it off and after the penalty expired — the intensity in the game cranked right up and it was back and forth 5-on-5 action for the remainder of the period.
The Knights got on the scoreboard first when Jonathan Marchessault dangled around Markstrom. 1-0 Knights.
The Canucks weren’t dominated at 5-on-5 like some had predicted they might be. They just didn’t have the high danger scoring chances like the Knights did in the first period.
Travis Green needs to make some adjustments to his lines as Pettersson looked relatively quiet in the period while playing alongside Loui Eriksson and Tanner Pearson. Without a powerplay in the period the Canucks were unable to get all their best players on the ice at once.
The best line in the period may have been the trio of Brandon Sutter, Adam Gaudette and Roussel. Brock Boeser had four shot attempts in the first period and looked to be the most dangerous player for the Canucks in the period.
They needed to get one past Lehner to get back into this game and second periods have been good for the Canucks so far in these playoffs.
Second Period
Things went from bad to worse in the second period as the Knights got goals from Reilly Smith, Mark Stone and Alex Tuch. The Knights came out of the second period with a 4-0 lead.
The Canucks weren’t necessarily dominated in the period. It just felt like the Knights were much better at quickly making decisions with the puck and the Canucks top players weren’t able to get any space.
After two periods, there were some notable players without a shot on net. Pettersson, Boeser, Hughes and Bo Horvat all were held without a shot in the first two periods and needed to be more impactful.
The Knights were just running hot on the forecheck and converting on their scoring chances. It wasn’t quite domination in the pace of play. The Knights just looked a step quicker in certain situations and gripped the stick just hard enough on their scoring chances. The Canucks only really looked dangerous on a Chris Tanev partial break after a good pass from Pettersson.
They needed to be better and this game was slipping away from them quickly.
Third Period
Many were thinking that Thatcher Demko was going to lead the team out in the period but Green decided to stick with Markstrom to being the period.
Max Pacioretty found himself in the goal column halfway through the third period and the Knights were now up 5-0.
After the Pacioretty goal, the Canucks made a change at goaltender. Thatcher Demko made his playoff debut for some clean-up duty in a game that got away from the Canucks. Markstrom allowed five goals on 34 shots through 51 minutes of play.
The high pace that we saw throughout the second period all but disappeared in the third. The Canucks were down by so much and the Knights were simply in cruise control. This could be another learning experience for the Canucks young team. They were able to get scoring chances in this game and had a decent amount of shots too.
It just wasn’t a good night for the Canucks on Sunday.
5-0 Final.
The Fancies
Top Performers
Since I have to pick someone, I’ll go with Alex Edler. He played 20:58 on Sunday night while only being on the ice for one powerplay goal against. The Canucks controlled 60% of the attempted shots and scoring chances when Edler was on the ice. He moved the puck pretty good tonight and was physical early in the game.
Wrap-Up
There’s not much to wrap-up in a 5-0 game. The Canucks ran into a strong opponent in this second round of the playoffs. This Knights team is deep and brings a different form of intensity on each line. The Stone line looked dangerous all game, the Marchessault line drove play, the Tuch line scored and Reaves had 11 hits to make his line be feared physically.
The Knights were able to glide through this game as their fourth line led the team in ice time.
Some adjustments need to be made from the Canucks coaching staff for game two. The Knights didn’t worry about line matching or really anything through this game. Their defence may be the weakest that the Canucks have faced in this postseason. They just need to get past the Knights’ excellent forwards.
The Canucks bounced back from a game one loss against the Minnesota Wild. Will they be able to do the same in game two against the much stronger Vegas Golden Knights?
Game two will be Tuesday night at 6:45. We will have you covered all the way up to puck drop.

Uncategorized

Breaking News