After 15 straight games of being unable to break the 30-shot barrier, the Vancouver Canucks changed everything with a 31-shot performance on Wednesday night. Yes, instead of losing in overtime due to a dangerous pass from Tyler Myers, the Canucks lost in overtime due to a dangerous pass from Tyler Myers followed up with terrible situational awareness.

I’m not sure that’s quite the evolution Rick Tocchet envisioned for this game, but regardless of how the Canucks got there, they found themselves with another overtime loss on their record.

Which, on one hand, you have to feel for the Vancouver club of hockey enthusiasts. Despite another slow start, at least it felt like Vancouver was keeping the puck out of their end at a decent clip in this game. For most of the second and third periods, Vancouver had Washington stuck in their own zone, something we haven’t seen a whole lot of from the Canucks as of late. It didn’t necessarily result in a lot of fantastic scoring opportunities, but at least they were generating shots. If you have to choose between dumping in and line changes versus forcing the goalie to at least make a save, you take the shots every time. You never know when a goalie might go full Dan Cloutier, after all.

So, on one hand, yes, this was a good game for Vancouver. Unfortunately, due to their recent play, a moral victory of hitting 31 shots on the night doesn’t mean a whole lot in terms of the race for the playoffs. In a vacuum, you can probably write this game off as Washington being lucky to escape with two points, but putting this into the context of the 2024/25 Vancouver Canucks season, it just seems like more of the same. At the end of the day, much like my mother always reminds me, sometimes your best just isn’t good enough.

You also have to feel bad for Quinn Hughes because he was once again a monster on the ice. He was an absolute beast with the puck, tilting the ice to an extreme degree in Vancouver’s favour every time he jumped over the boards. There was some dry chuckling going on when Quinn Hughes played almost the entire overtime, but the second he went for a line change, Vancouver gave up the winner.

With the impending returns of Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek just around the corner, maybe the Canucks can slow down the bleeding just enough by continuing to shove overtime losses into their gaping wound. At the very least getting Hronek back gives you a real viable option in overtime games aside from trying to play Quinn Hughes with an oxygen tank for five minutes straight.

Until then, we shall sit back and celebrate the small things in life.

Like getting over 30 shots in a game.

Wee.

Best villain origin story

FUCK Debois, how the fuck man. Huges in injured. Dirty player 😡 #canucks #VANvsWSH

— Lucy Hawkins (@dldvr1990) January 9, 2025

There’s no explanation for Quinn Hughes getting a minor penalty out of that, except referees didn’t want to put the Capitals down five-on-three.

— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) January 9, 2025

If you’re a fan of comic book villains emerging from a storyline victorious, then good news, Pierre-Luc Dubois has quite the story for you!

Washington is a big beefy boy team with lots of big beefy boys, and they have no problem showcasing said levels of beef.

Which is why, mere minutes into the game, it wasn’t too surprising to see Dubois targeting the Canucks captain:

If you’re trying to win, I can see why you’d target Quinn Hughes. Taking out the guy who gives you nightmares at the mere thought of him touching the puck seems like a solid hockey plan, much better suited than my approach of falling to the ice and sobbing “please don’t embarrass me.”

Big props to Kiefer Sherwood for sticking up for his captain and throwing the “eff you” revenge hit immediately after.

Dubois however took it to the next level when he went right back after Quinn after the initial tussle:

We used to have rules in this society. You get in the scrum, you face wash a guy, everyone goes home to their family. Instead, we have Dubois getting fresh with Quinn, and honestly, part of me is disappointed someone didn’t go full Wolverine and just charge on over, swinging fists and/or claws in the general direction of Dubois.

Then, to make matters worse, Dubois threw a hit way after the scrum was over, dropping Quinn Hughes to the ice AGAIN:

Which, again, on one hand, I respect it. If the Canucks had a big bully on their team who went after the other team’s top player, you know you’d all be applauding it. Hell, when Tyler Myers throws his one big hit a season, we almost hold a provincial holiday to celebrate it. That hit on Duncan Keith has been made into murals around the city.

Which is why it’s on the Canucks to offer up pushback. And sure, to their credit, they threw some hits as the game wore on, and eventually, Vinnie Desharnais took a bad penalty hooking Dubois to the ice to teach him a lesson or something. But when they come for your captain, how do you not target Ovechkin with a massive hit? Eye for an eye, biblical on-ice justice is all I ask for at times, you know?

In true 2011 fashion, though, the Canucks turned the other cheek, and they did earn four minutes of powerplay time. The one flaw in that plan? Somehow Quinn Hughes got two minutes for existing in this entire chain of events and, with no whistles, had to sit in the box as the Canucks attempted to play with power without him.

Needless to say, they didn’t score.

Best factually accurate

Quinn Hughes is very important to the #Canucks power play, in case you weren't aware.

— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) January 9, 2025

Okay, look, the Chaos Giraffe was never meant to be a PP1 guy. I have always maintained that his role should be net front, PP2 guy. I know in my heart he can excel in that role.

Otherwise, yeah, you’re just rolling the dice on whether he busts out a 360 spin out of nowhere or drops a pass to nobody:

Or, in this case, both on the same shift.

The Canucks lone shot on this power play was generated by Brock Boeser finding JT Miller with a pass, who then sent a puck in front to Jake DeBrusk:

Aside from that chance, the Canucks power play was a delightful rotation of their greatest hits without Quinn Hughes, which included bad drop passes, All Star by Smash Mouth, failed zone entries, and a complete inability to set up in the offensive zone with the puck.

Best somebody once told me

Desharnais having himself a game today.
Just big old give aways, slow feet and dumb penalties. #Canucks

— Nick Bergshoeff (@NickBergshoeff) January 9, 2025

Vinnie Desharnais didn’t have a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination, but when he made his mistakes, they were just very noticeable. I think he’s learned to not chase the game as much and understands the GOTI system a bit more, so he’s fit in better with his play as of late.

Still, there is a limited upside to how much you’re probably going to get out of Vinnie on a game-to-game basis, which is why sometimes he just decides to shoot the puck on his own net, because why the heck not:

I feel like there were probably better options there aside from “I wonder if I can scare my goalie,” but this is where we ended up.

Vinnie then took a penalty going after Dubois, which led to Kevin Lankinen having to make a big save on Andrew Mangiapane, a name that sounds like something Tony Soprano would order to go along with his gabagool:

Yes, that is Noah Juulsen stacking his pads to block a shot on the rebound. I wish I had more to say on this, but honestly, I am getting tired of writing about the Canucks scrambling to block shots and protect the GOTI.

It’s like, yes, good effort, I honestly mean, that, I like the hustle, but sometimes I just want to write about a really nice dangle in the offensive zone, you know? Heroic shot blocks should be reserved for the playoffs when you stop a shot with your testicles to close out a game. That’s the kind of stuff I can make into a legendary moment.

Best lack of content

God, that first period looked so grueling, slogging, challenging for the #Canucks   . Caps just look like a boring Wednesday night to them lol

— 44 (@canuckinsanity) January 9, 2025

It was a very tight first period, with minimal shots from both teams, but as is tradition, the opposition opened the scoring:

Yes, that is PL Dubois metaphorically snapping his fingers and erasing half the Avengers as he grabs the puck and tucks it behind Kevin Lankinen.

It’s a pretty innocuous looking play, a harmless shot from the point gets kicked in the general direction of the corner, only to be snagged out of the air by the aforementioned beef boy Dubois.

Brock Boeser doesn’t look great on this goal, as he flubs the glove attempt, but it’s also a split-second play scenario. He’s in position near his goalie, but when the puck kicks up and out like that, he’s stuck standing still. Once he misses that puck, Dubois has all the speed and momentum to just skate right on by. The only option from Brock there would be to hook Dubois to the ice or scream really loudly and boot him right in the nuts, both of which are pretty frowned upon in hockey.

As first periods go, this one felt like the usual run of things with Vancouver. Low shot volume coupled with the Canucks grinding it out protecting the GOTI, sprinkling in watching Quinn Hughes and hoping he can beat five guys on the ice to score a goal.

Best science behind the madness

#Canucks 1st period shots in their last 8 games:

3 vs WSH
4 vs MTL
9 vs NSH
6 vs SEA
11 vs CGY
6 vs SEA
6 vs SJ
6 vs OTT

— Harman Dayal (@harmandayal2) January 9, 2025

The Canucks slow starts aren’t hard to predict when they sit back and go full GOTI mode. Part of this is clearly due to missing top players, but we also saw this as last season wore down as well. We talked about it last article as well, shot generation just isn’t something that comes easy to Rick Tocchet teams.

Best outcome

Miller “shaken up” means Petey is back next game. #Canucks #AllCaps

— Nuckcup (@Canucks_life) January 9, 2025

JT Miller played a physical game Wednesday night. Not in the “Raffi Torres is here to murder someone” way, but just in a “hey eff you, you pos” kind of way. He finished his checks, he yapped in faces, and he looked more engaged physically than he had been in a while. Defensively and offensively, he wasn’t a standout, but at least he was offering up some pushback to the beefy boys.

Which is made all the more surprising considering he had to leave the game after this collision:

We’ve speculated about a potential upper-body injury all season long, so add this to the list of evidence for when you file your lawsuit against the Hockey Gods.

JT Miller didn’t finish the period on the bench, but would return in the second and finished out the game.

Best reach for the stars

More aggression boys
Push the pace keep your foot
on the gas and shoot the damn puck#Canucks

— Canucks Fan (@lottoline2024) January 9, 2025

The Canucks had their best shot volume of the year in the second period, as they ended up out-shooting Washington 21-5 in the middle frame.

And who else but Quinn Hughes to start things off?

The puck drops, and Hughes generates an odd man rush and then turns right around and stops one at the other end. Like, he literally comes in flying off-screen, looking like a young Jeff Tambellini, to shut down that pass to Alex Ovechkin.

The problem with the shot volume? The scoring chance quality wasn’t that great. Which, I know will feel like complaining for the sake of complaining, but I have to believe a world exists in which the Canucks can generate both shots AND good-quality scoring chances. There just never seems to be much in the way of offensive ingenuity from this team. It’s a lot of watching JT Miller making nice passes or watching to see if Quinn Hughes can deke out an entire team so he can get the puck on net.

Otherwise, it’s an assortment of point shots with the Canucks trying to screen the goalie and maybe getting a stick on the rebound:

No offence to a bouncing Tyler Myers wrist shot, but Nils Höglander hasn’t scored since the Virgin Megastore closed on Robson Street, so it’s hard to get too jacked about this kind of scoring chance.

You also get looks like this one where Kiefer Sherwood found Danton Heinen in the middle of the ice:

I almost feel like Danton apologized to Logan Thompson for insulting him with that Kyle Wellwood-inspired shot speed.

Which again, the bar is pretty low, so you can still be happy they’re at least getting shots on net and keeping the puck out of their own end. Washington didn’t threaten the Canucks at all in the second period, and that was on the back of the Canucks keeping the puck in the Capitals end. It’s just the Canucks don’t look all that threatening, even when they manage to get all that zone time.

Best those were the days my friend

Tight game, low shots for both teams !! #Canucks

— Don (@EDDIE_TRECE) January 9, 2025

Believe it or not, there was a time in this game when Tyler Myers was just a regular hockey player, making solid defensive plays, using his reach to his advantage, and then hammering Connor McMichael to the ice:

Playing with Quinn Hughes really opens up the world of the Chaos Giraffe to be a bit more emphatic, and I, for one, am here for it.

Best jinx attempt

#Canucks gonna get shutout again tonight

— Jared (@ChiefBeats916) January 9, 2025

The Canucks kept pressing as the period wore on, and Corolla Garland almost found Pius Suter for a tap-in at the side of the net:

I assumed it was Nils Höglander at first because anytime someone doesn’t score, it just feels like it’s going to be Nils, but alas, it was Suter.

The Canucks seem to try that bullet pass for the tap in quite a bit, which hasn’t resulted in a lot of goals this season, but at least makes the goalie slightly worry about it.

I assume Logan Thompson went, “Phew, that was close,” before going about his day.

Look, not all my inner monologues are going to go somewhere. Sometimes, I enjoy pondering the banal side of life. Like when Carson Soucy puts on skates, does he nod his head in the direction of his skates after he ties them? Does Brock Boeser shake his hands when he first puts his gloves on? Does Max Sasson whisper “Sass-own” when he looks in the mirror? I have questions.

Best making a statement

#Canucks outshooting Caps 12-3 in this period. Not a ton of Grade A chances, but stacking some shifts here. Need to find a finisher

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 9, 2025

The minute I tweeted out that the Canucks haven’t gotten 30 shots in a game since December 3rd, I knew the team would get 30+ on the night. I know how this works.

And it was mainly on the back of that second period, 21-shot effort, which saw the Canucks get greasier and greasier as the period wore on. At one point, Garland and Suter took turns jamming the puck on net, while Thompson, without a stick, was forced into making highlight reel save after highlight reel save:

This was the most dangerous the Canucks looked the entire game, as they were finally breaking down the Washington Capitals defence and finding ways to get good looks on net. It just wasn’t rewarded because Thompson is a freak, and he is apparently too good to need a stick to make saves. I feel like Eddie Lack’s unfortunate pants situation at the Winter Classic was due to the mere thought of having to play without his stick, much less make multiple saves without one.

Best whoops

This didn’t age well #Canucks

— Petey (@Canucks_Fan40) January 9, 2025

Corolla Garland, number 8 on the ice and number 1 in your hearts, finally got the Canucks on the board with Vancouver’s lone power play goal of the night:

Quinn Hughes point shot, leading to a rebound, simple hockey sometimes leads to simple results. Logan lost track of the puck, and as we know, Corolla is a shark on the ice, so of course, he swims in there unnoticed and taps home the rebound.

Moral of the lesson: Immediately flip the puck into the crowd the second Hughes’ penalty expires in a four-minute situation.

Best for your Hart Trophy consideration

after 3 shots in first, #Canucks match season high for shots in a period with 20

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) January 9, 2025

15 of the #Canucks' 20 second period shots occurred with Quinn Hughes on the ice in the second period.

— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) January 9, 2025

#Canucks 5-on-5 shot attempts vs #ALLCAPS

With Hughes: 11-3

Without Hughes: 4-18

— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) January 9, 2025

I feel like there is a hidden pattern as to how the Canucks produced so many shots in that second period, but I haven’t quite figured it out yet.

There has to be some common thread in there.

Best oh captain my captain

With a powerplay to start the third period, Quinn Hughes started a rush up the ice that almost led to a back door tap-in to Brock Boeser from JT Miller:

I am starting to think that Quinn Hughes might be good at the game of hockey.

Don’t quote me on that; I still have a lot to research to do, but I do believe he knows how to rizz that biscuit, as Quadrelli is always saying to me.

Best low yield return

How many (if any) games have there been this year where the #Canucks felt offensively imposing?

Like the type of game where they’re in the offensive zone in waves, an inevitable “goal is coming” feeling?

— Josh Elliott-Wolfe (@ElliottWolfeJ) January 9, 2025

Again, Josh ain’t wrong. For all the good the Canucks did in this game, they didn’t have those monster shifts where it felt like they were running Washington into the ground.

A lot of shifts ended with cycling the puck on the outside before attempting a point shot and hoping to trick Max Sasson into celebrating a goal:

See, now I’m wondering if Max tried to play this off by telling people at the bench he was just stretching his arms before whispering to himself, “I think they bought it old boy, I think we got away with it,” because now I just assume Max speaks in plurals.

The endpoint is that without Hronek’s shot, and when Quinn Hughes isn’t on the ice, the options are very limited once it gets to the point.

Best Scottie Too Hotty tribute

hey @TheStanchion counting on you to provide a video of garland diving at the passing lane headfirst to try to block a pass with his hands

— kwïn hüz (@riotsurvivor) January 9, 2025

There is a reason Corolla Garland is a coach’s kind of player, and that’s because, much like the car, he simply never quits on a play. It’s why his defensive ratings are juiced to the moon on a JFresh card, and it’s why even when he has no stick in his hands, the guy will literally do the worm on the ice to try and block a passing lane:

Dude straight up Superman’s to the ice, and when he realizes he’s been outwaited, he does the worm to give himself another shot at blocking the pass in the air.

When they ask me why I gave him another Selke vote this season, just point them at this clip.

And yes, that was the Chaos Giraffe running into Garland and stripping him of his stick.

Live by the chaos, die by the chaos.

Best anything is possible

The #canucks have 30 shots!! I repeat…the Canucks have 30 shots!! Finally.

— just a guy. (@jaycee24_) January 9, 2025

The Canucks officially hit the 30-shot plateau when Quinn Hughes passed the puck from the point, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki got a stick on it:

North/South hockey, for better or worse, lends itself to a lot of point shots. This is why we don’t see a lot of East/West passes through the slot because that would mean you’re not going North, which would make you the devil or something, according to Tocchet.

Best locking it down

“CARSON SOUCY SAVED A GOAL” like i know WHY they sound shocked but did they have to sound THAT shocked

— katie .•⋅˚₊‧ ଳ ‧₊˚ (@fleurydelys) January 9, 2025

Carson Soucy’s up-and-down season continues, as this was one of the good nights, summarized by a steady night of defence, mixed in with only the occasional gaffe but also this incredible shot block to prevent a goal:

I still have no idea which Soucy we’re going to see night in and night out, but this was one of the good nights from Carson.

Best making it up as we go along

Someone theorized that Tom Wilson didn’t get a penalty for this play because his stick was in his hand, whereas Nils Höglander just a game earlier, had no stick when he shoved Josh Anderson to the ice:

Wilson called it a dive, but I’m not sure a dude is going to flatback on hard ice like he’s trying out for Tough Enough in the hopes of drawing a penalty.

To me, that’s interference clear as day. The puck was nowhere near Garland, he had come to a stop, only to watch as Wilson runs him over. If Greg Campbell played for the Canucks that’s a four-game suspension and a thrilling deep dive into frames per second as a one-off basis for handing out punishment, but here it went unpunished.

It’s just a hard league to understand at times, you know?

Best sticking to the traditions

Ya, probably shouldn’t have all 3 players in OT go to one guy in the corner…#Canucks

— Mike K (@MikeK_mode) January 9, 2025

The Canucks didn’t generate much of anything in overtime; they mostly just tried to hold on and pray for Quinn Hughes to score.

Which is why Washington had the better chances, including this one-timer from Alex Ovechkin:

Lankinen is clearly going to tell his grandkids one day that he stopped an Alex Ovechkin one-timer in an overtime situation.

Up next was a Jakob Chychrun breakaway after a JT Miller line change led to Conor Garland racing back for his life:

All of which led to the dumbest play of the game by far, in which Tyler Myers, the Chaos Giraffe, once again found himself with a decision in overtime: Take the puck to the net, or try and feather in a high-risk pass right between two of my teammates.

CG57 chose chaos:

Okay look, there is a lot to break down here.

Unlike the last time a Tyler Myers pass ruined the game of hockey, at least this time, both his linemates weren’t screaming into the offensive zone. In fact, JT Miller is delightfully in a position to offer up some semblance of defensive coverage, which he does. It’s his back check that ends up forcing Aliaksei Protas to circle behind the net, fully preventing a shot on net on the original rush.

In fact, the trouble only really begins once his poke check attempt results in his stick dropping to the ice. Miller skates after it to pick it up, and during this time, Tyler Myers and Jake DeBrusk stand almost right beside each other and still decide they should both make a beeline for the corner.

I don’t know why they did this. I have watched him several times. At no point does either man suggest to the other man, “Hello good sir, I have got this,” or “You stay here, I will venture forth for the puck”. Or, to put it in hockey terms, neither man screamed “MINE MINE MINE” before going for the said puck. Not even JT Miller, noted pointer of positioning, was able to offer up positional GPS as he was retrieving his stick.

Instead, you now had three Canucks stuck in the corner and a wide-open mega villain PL Dubois all alone in front of your goalie. It was as if Tyler Myers said, “Nah, not enough chao,s” and just threw caution to the wind, hoping for the chance at a 3 on 0 the other way.

It was just a bad decision; there is no other way around it. And I get it, it’s overtime, you’re tired, there’s loud noises everywhere, Quinn Hughes is nowhere to be found, that’s a scary experience.

But for a team in desperate need of piling up two-point games, this felt like they really shot themselves in the foot.

And hey, Quinn Hughes can’t play the entire overtime; I fully understand that.

Even Rick Tocchet said this post-game:

“You haven’t won many games in overtime, is it hard to believe with what you have on this team that you haven’t won more games in overtime,” asked Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre.

“Well, I mean, we can’t play Hughes the whole game,” Tocchet said. “I don’t know, I don’t have an answer for that, you know. We had some chances; it’s unfortunate what happened.”

Although, of the options left, Tyler Myers makes sense in that he can skate and handle the puck better than all the other options.

But it does bring to the forefront the question of what about Erik?

Is Erik Brännström really that bad of a defenceman that he can’t crack the lineup of a team that has one win in its last six games? Is Derek Forbort the foundation of your team grinding out an overtime loss point?

People will point to the fact that Erik wasn’t playing well before he was taken out of the lineup, and I won’t argue that. What I will argue is that many players have played poorly, and how long does he have to be in Rick Penitentiary before he gets another shot? I know he isn’t very tall, but clearly, his puck skills seem like an incredible asset for a team that a) seems hell-bent on going to overtime and b) doesn’t have Hronek in the lineup at the moment.

It just seems like a wild roster decision to insist that all the trees remain in the lineup at all times in the midst of a long losing stretch. I don’t get it.

With the back-to-back games against Carolina and Toronto coming up on Friday and Saturday, it doesn’t get any easier for this team, who now enter a stretch of tough opponents.

Best summary

pic.twitter.com/khVSifya8M

— taysom hill 4 mvp (@ae_allchin) January 9, 2025

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