Welcome back to Instant Reaction — the series at CanucksArmy where we give our instant reaction to the game and ask our readers to give theirs in the comments section below! The Stanchies will be posted tomorrow morning with Lachlan Irvine stepping back up to the plate to write them! The Statsies — CanucksArmy’s analytics-based post game report by Mike Liu — will be posted later tomorrow.
The Canucks came out flying in this game.
But then after they got stopped a few times, things went downhill. You’ve seen this movie before.
The Canucks generated plenty of offensive zone time to begin the game, with even JT Miller and his linemates looking like they had a little pep in their step.
They managed to exit the first period with a one-goal lead to show for their effort thanks to Bo Horvat opening the scoring, but it was all downhill from there.
Basically from that point on, it never felt like the Canucks were going to come back or win this game, and that’s a shame.
Their defensive effort and refusal to break the puck out of their own end by any method aside from rifling the puck off the boards and out was exhausting to watch once again.
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Gaffes from Tyler Myers, Ethan Bear, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave the impression that the Canucks’ defencemen were actively trying to set the Islanders up for goals, and it was just baffling to watch.
The Canucks pulled their goalie after a late power play was awarded to them. As you can tell, it didn’t mean much, as the Canucks gave up their 6th goal of the game and lost by a final score of 6-2.
What can you say about this team? They’re not good enough to even beat non-playoff teams like the Islanders with consistency, but are probably too good to lose enough games to find themselves in the league basement and with a great shot at landing Connor Bedard.
The Canucks have deep issues, but when you see a team like the Islanders — who aren’t stacked by any means — pull out a win like that where they simply outplayed the Canucks and capitalized on any mistake Vancouver made, things become even more frustrating.
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The Islanders, a team that is currently sixth in their division, turned in an effort that this Canucks team can only dream of.
Why can’t this team figure it out?
It’s not easy to be a Canucks fan right now, and that’s our instant reaction tonight. Short and sweet.
What’s your instant reaction tonight? Let us know in the comments section below!