Last season started so well for the Vancouver Canucks that you just had a sneaking suspicion it would be hard to match that effort this year.
It’s only two games in, but the results have looked like a team still kind of stuck in summer hockey mode. You can see the concept of a unified team, but it’s not quite there yet.
To the Canucks credit, their defensive efforts on Friday night was a huge improvement from the home opener. But if Loui Eriksson taught us anything, it’s the little things that so often matter, and against Philadelphia, it was the tiny mistakes that cost Vancouver.
Losing a man in coverage. Not being in the right spot to finish off a scoring chance. The off-season cardio being good enough for stairs in Bali but not quite up to NHL speed yet. Believing in your ability to pass the puck through five opposition players a little too much.
The Canucks managed to find a way to lose a game that felt very winnable.
The good news is that Kevin Lankinen looked very solid for the Canucks. He clearly earned the next start. And the Canucks overall played a good game of hockey. The power play in the first period did everything but score, waving coquettishly at you from across the room, letting you know about the amazing night you almost could have had if only you’d been able to muster up the courage to walk over and introduce yourself.
The bad news is Tyler Myers went down with what looked like a serious injury early in the first period. Elias Pettersson continues to struggle to be a game-changer on the ice. And Fin somehow still has a job despite coming in dead last in the Mascot Power Rankings a record five times in a row.
But much like the Canucks, we will continue forward and see what this season brings us. Silently watching, never making too much noise, and hoping nobody bothers us.
It’s what Alex Edler would want us to do.

Best pre-game Strang-ulation

Derek Forbort and Vincent Desharnais played against Calgary like they were extras in a John Wick movie, hiding in fear over what they did to the dog. We don’t need to revisit the Nikita Zadorov situation any more than to say that we all knew there was going to be a drop-off on the bottom pairing once he left town, and we got a taste of that in the home opener. Zadorov priced himself out of the role he would have been playing in Vancouver, but you can acknowledge that while also acknowledging that you miss his combination of size, speed, toughness and sarcastic comments about Alberta.
Now, as Rick Tocchet informed us, it was just the first game of the season, so we should wait until game 20 before we start making any huge proclamations. But one of the things bottom line players need in their bag of tricks is working hard and minimizing mistakes, something the pair failed to do in the collapse against the Flames. They looked slow and fell behind in the play at many points during the game.
I think it’s good news that the team is willing to sit Vincent and acknowledge that he needed to be better while also giving him more time to adjust to Tocchet’s spaghetti system (i.e., bold, efficient, and a stark lack of depth of sauce). Giving Noah Juulsen some reps was probably a good idea as well since Vancouver is where the injury gods stay during the season, despite being confused as to what exactly Kingsgate Mall’s whole deal is.

Best pre-game Murphing

Dan Hamhuis found himself a victim of being Murphed, as Dan Murphy welcomed back Alex Edler to the club, as he signed a one-day deal to officially retire a Canuck. That angry howl you heard echoing across the skies was Jeff Paterson’s anger at one-day contract retirements, but aside from that, the people of Vancouver seemed generally amenable to the entire thing.
Alex Edler’s legacy is kind of hard to define in Vancouver due to the combination of him being a Milford Man and the fact he played during one of the Canucks most successful times ever, which made it easy for him to lurk in the shadows. He is one of the longest-serving Canucks of all time and holds several records with the club, but there is no real defining moment for the remarkably steady defenseman who played here many years. He is a man who put up 49 points in a season once, but the main memory most of us have of him is a combination of broken sticks, drop passes, shots into shin pads, and him making incredible saves in the crease when his goalie was down and out.
All of which is to say he is indeed a Vancouver Canuck legend, but he represents those of us stuck in jobs doing the dirty work, never getting fully recognized for our efforts, and having a laugh when three people are brought on to do our job when we finally retire, and the company finally realizes how lucky they were to have us.

Best pre-game Strang-ulation part 2

Noah is already in playoff form, and it’s only game two.
I have to say it’s refreshing to see a Vancouver goalie take the time to make a unique mask. Too often, they just slap a logo on the lid, toss the Vancouver skyline on it, and call it a day.
The post-Ian Clark era appears to be a fun one for fans of goalie gear.

Worst outlook

When a player falls to the ice and clutches at an injury and does not move, that’s when you get concerned; it’s very serious, and to reiterate, not the time to chant JT Miller:
It looks like a pretty innocuous play, but as I have learned in life, we don’t live in the WWE. While it would be helpful if someone ran out and bonked someone with a chair so I could tell how someone got hurt, sometimes all it takes in sports is shifting the wrong way or putting weight on the wrong spot, and you’re down and out.
After the game, Rick Tocchet was tight-lipped about the injury, saying he wasn’t sure what the status of Myers was, but he “hoped they dodged a bullet” but couldn’t give any update.
I’m no doctor; I only watch them on TV, so I won’t begin to speculate either. All we can do is the time-honoured sports-viewing tradition of looking at our friends and whispering, “That doesn’t look good.”
The end result? Quinn Hughes played 31:29 minutes of hockey on the night. And was very clearly the best defenseman on either team.

Best razzle dazzle

Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson, he of the sparkling .890 save percentage last season, had himself a game for the Flyers.
No, not a Hasek-level performance that leaves you 100% certain that the hockey gods hate your team of choice, but a game that made you nod your head in begrudging respect. The kid did what he had to do. He showed up, did his job, and then ate his sandwich from Safeway while riding home on the Skytrain.
The Canucks powerplay looked very fluid and dynamic in the first period, and if it wasn’t for Ersson playing solid hockey, this game might have given the Canucks another chance to blow a 4-1 lead.
As we saw in game one, the Canucks found different ways to break into the zone and found a variety of good looks on net, such as this in close chance from Louie Jake DeBrusk off of a rebound:
Ersson got just enough of that shot to push it high and wide, because damn it, that’s what goalies you barely know tend to do in Rogers Arena, that’s just sort of the whole thing here in Vancouver.
Nils Höglander almost got the Canucks on the board on a rebound off of a Garland shot on the powerplay as well:
Like I said, the Canucks were trying to set up dangerous chances but also went to basic “get the puck on net” strategies as well, which made the powerplay feel more dynamic than the end of last season when it was the “Can Quinn Hughes score every powerplay goal through his skating alone? Let’s sit back and find out.” approach.
You want three more scoring chances, including proof that Elias Pettersson shot a puck on net this season? You got it:
Sure, Brock Boeser looked like he purposely shot the puck right into Ersson’s glove, but damn it, that’s still a save.
The point is, the Canucks probably deserved a couple more goals out of that first period were it not for a netminder with eyes so blue they make your brown eyes look like the pedestrian lenses they are.

Best Kevin!

Arturs Silovs’ terrifying relationship with point shots has been well documented by now, and last year’s playoffs have never been so far away.
Which means Lankinen has a direct route to stealing a starting spot with this club by merely making some decent saves:
Last game it felt like an AHL performance from Silovs. This game tape? That feels like big-boy hockey from Kevin. The kind of hockey where you don’t freak out if you accidentally leave him at home when you go on a Christmas Vacation because, deep down, you know he is capable of attempted murder on any would-be thieves.
Again, nobody is writing home to Mom to tell them about the next Patrick Roy they just witnessed, but in a “Can he make some saves for us?” way, Lakinen passed that test easily.

Best cranking that Hog

Speaking of big-boy hockey, you want to see a slick snipe from Nils?
Now, please remember the “how will Wyatt make this about Corolla Garland” rule I have in place because I do have to point out that Garland reads that pass like an elite cornerback, watching the quarterback’s eyes the whole way. He sees that pass coming a mile away and jumps on it, and even before he gets the puck, he already knows he’s feeding his Hog as quickly as possible.
Höglander then does a fantastic job of getting his shot off quickly and going top shelf where Elias Pettersson leaves his dream journal about shots he used to make that looked like that.

Best Tocchet Hockey

I don’t expect the world of Danton Heinen, but if you grew up riding with the Canucks in 2011 and watching them fall just short of their ultimate goal, then clearly, you’re one of us, so I’m going to make a few gifs for you.
Such as this play where Danton won a race for the puck held up two Flyers in a board battle, which allowed Brock Boeser to slide in and feed the puck in front to Teddy Blueger, or BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGER if you’re a PA announcer:
That’s how Rick Tocchet wants his offensive hockey to look: win your battles, get the puck to a dangerous spot, and get a shot on net.
What Rick doesn’t like is losing your man and getting caught flat-footed, and generally being a player with a name that rhymes with Brong or Betterson.

Best updating your LinkedIn

The Canucks coverage while shorthanded got a bit lost at times, but you know who was there to save the day? KEVIN!
I can’t not write “KEVIN!” every time he makes a good save at this point.
So yes, the Canucks get caught down low, but certainly, they will learn from that mistake and adjust defensive zone coverage and-

Best Canucks fail to learn from mistake and adjust defensive zone coverage

The Canucks get caught with some shoddy defensive zone coverage, notably Elias Pettersson:
After the game, Rick Tocchet was asked about the goal, and I have to be clear here: Rick Tocchet doesn’t often directly call players out.
OK, he called out Kuzmenko, that I’ll give you. That one felt like he was going to find a way to make any question about Andrei.
“So coach, that was a tough loss, but you had to like the game from Quinn Hughes-”
“Yeah Kuzmenko needs to figure it out.”
“But Quinn Hughes-”
“I don’t know how to get through to Kuz.”
So, while Tocchet doesn’t often call people out, he is very honest when you ask him a question. And nobody talks hockey with Tocchet quite like Daniel Wagner. When they talk, it’s like long-lost brothers discussing hockey over a couple of beers. Tocchet will answer a fluff question about how it must be disappointing to lose a game, but then here comes Daniel asking Rick what happened to the gap control on a goal and how someone got lost on the rails, and before you know it, Rick has his tie undone and he’s charting things out on a whiteboard to explain it.
All of which is to say at no point did it feel like Tocchet was calling out Elias Pettersson. But after having watched a year of his press conferences, you get a feel for what Rick is thinking. The more honest he is, the more concern he probably has about a player. And on this goal, Rick did say Elias Pettersson did get caught flat-footed, and anybody with eyes can see EP40 has looked like a man without the usual confidence we’ve seen from him.
None of which is unfair to say, of course. I think anyone knows that if you sign a big contract, the demands and pressure only mount higher on a player.
Of course, it’s only been two games, but an early storyline that is starting to peek over the fence at us is which Elias Pettersson is going to show up this year.

Best Garland Mantra

Garland truly has to be one of the most annoying players to play against in the NHL:
Not a major play in the game, all things being said, but it’s just a good example of how he’s constantly creating turnovers and forcing the puck back into the opposition’s zone.
He just does everything in his power to not let you live down a mistake. He’s that guy in a relationship that gently reminds you about that time you forgot to put soap in the dishwasher three years ago. He is just on you over every mistake you’ve ever made.
He just reads the play on the ice incredibly well. The guy has cornerback instincts; that’s the best I can say it. He’s reading your routes, he has your playbook, now he’s just waiting for a mediocre Netflix documentary to be made about it.

Best just tap it in

Joel Farabee? More like Joel…ok I don’t have anything for this, but just watch this missed net:
Coach Tocchet talked in the post-game presser about how the back door play was something the Canucks thought they could expose on the Flyers, but honestly, the Flyers ended up doing it just as much right back to Vancouver, which feels like cheating? Come up with your own strategy, what happened to gentleman’s hockey.

Best speaking of back door

Derek Forbort put the Canucks up 2-1 when he spotted Teddy Blueger down low for the back door tap-in:
I’d love to tell you that post-game Derek provided deep insight into how this played out, but he was a man of few words on the night after the game. When asked about playing with Quinn Hughes, he acknowledged he’s good and just tried to get him the puck – which is very correct, mind you.
It’s just that some players have an Ian Cole vibe. They will discuss and break down an outlet pass for 20 minutes and then follow up with an email asking if you need anything more from them.
Some, like Derek, look dead inside and clearly just want you to go away.
Which, don’t get me wrong; I understand that. I am a Derek in social interactions. I also don’t think I would ever look forward to someone smiling at me and asking me if I was disappointed about something I did wrong at work. Hell, I would also be thrown off if someone eagerly asked me to walk them through an e-mail I just forwarded to a co-worker.
But from a content perspective, I don’t think we will mine too many quotes from Derek.
What we do know is that Rick Tocchet said the team worked on that play in practice and that it’s nice when a veteran player can apply what they learned earlier.

Best PR partnership

There’s a sponsorship here, but not the Tim Horton’s one you think it is:
Trevor Beggs asked him about the coffee after the game and it turns out it was just Pepto Bismol.
Which still, that’s a sponsorship waiting to happen.
When you’re making a slick pass, but you don’t want a dirty one — okay, I’ll stop there.

Best tweets that precede unfortunate events

You know better than this, Harman.

Best HD effect

Daniel Sprong is a very talented offensive player, but man, it’s like the Canucks recast the Andrei Kuzmenko story but wanted it tailored to a more North American audience:
Sprong collapses so low that he leaves a mile of ice open at the point, which Cam York happily skates into. Not just happily, the man is downright jaunty.
And what happens when you skate downhill with speed? You can pick a good spot on net. It’s honestly Rick Tocchet’s favorite type of goal, he LOVES North/South shit. Loves it. Can’t stop talking about it.
And what does he hate the most? Not defending the guts of the ice.
So, on one play, you have Sprong ignoring the guts of the ice, allowing the Flyers to score Tocchet’s favourite kind of goal.
That does not earn you favour with this coach; it earns you scorn, scorn, gosh darn it.
That being said, we are a long way from approaching full Kuzmenko territory. If Sprong learns and buys into the Tocchet system, he can still be a very useful player for this club.
But it’s clear through two games that there is a reason the Canucks got him to a cheap contract, and that’s because there are noticeable defensive flaws in his game that will not go unnoticed by the Canucks head coach.

Best giving the glove tonight

Hey, remember down-low coverage being exposed? Yeah, it happened again when Fil Hronek got walked like it was the first game of a season:
That didn’t do it for you? What about a series of panicked saves, including Teddy Blueger heroically diving to punch away the puck like its name was Robin Goodfellow:
On a night in which Alex Edler was honoured, it just felt right that someone was in the blue paint making a diving save to help their goalie out.
KEVIN! clearly, easily gets the next start on Tuesday.

Worst PR

We are officially in the murmur phase of EP40’s career right now. You know, the one where the crowd murmurs and grumbles when he fails to have an impact on a shift. It only gets worse in a game that is dying for someone to step up and be a game-changer.
That’s when the murmurs turn to grumbles, and before you know it, that big bad spotlight is shining on you and your giant contract.
So, fair or not, there are a lot of expectations of him. How much time you want to give him to find his game this season is up to you, but he was mere inches away from putting that noise to rest, for a few games at least:
Stealing the puck and almost ending the game in regulation with under a minute left? That would have been the easiest story in the world to write.
“EP40 finds confidence with game-winning goal!” local scribes write as EP40 smirks in the post-game scrum.
But alas, Egor Zamula got just enough of the shot to push it wide, and once again, we are back to where we always find ourselves: Re-watching The Mighty Ducks and accepting the role a few inches plays in our sporting lives.

Best blackout

The good news is you missed an entire overtime controlled by the Canucks, but with very little to show for it.
For all the puck control and offensive zone possession they had, they never really looked very dangerous. The Flyers just sat back and took control of the middle of the ice, while the Canucks skated really hard in circles, creating very few chances and mostly looking like they exhausted themselves.
And if the overtime shootout was anything to go by, JT Miller might have needed an oxygen machine because his shootout attempt was slow. So very slow.
The Canucks looked like a team at the end of a long road trip, more than a team fresh into a season. October hockey, baby.
The best chance in overtime was probably this pass to Elias Pettersson, who couldn’t find the puck in front on a nice pass from DeBrusk:
When you start taking desperation one-timers from the far corner, you’re probably out of offensive ideas in overtime, which is where Vancouver found themselves late.
All of which led to the shootout, which saw this incredibly nice goal from DeBrusk:
And then slow, weird attempts like this from Brock Boeser:
Ersson just stared down Vancouver shooters, refusing to bite on any of their moves, which is easy to do when you are skating and moving your stick at a solid 1mph. It was like someone trying to play peek-a-boo with their kid, except he’s in college now, and he’s got an exam tomorrow, and he has no idea why you’re shouting at him.
And apparently, nobody watches tape of Trevor Linden, one of the best shootout players of all time, who knew that you just come in with speed and pick your spot like Travis Konecny did:
Or if you’re committed to that Pavol Demitra shootout lifestyle, then you have to have an active stick that at least forces the goalie to try and react, much like Morgan Frost did:
The Canucks, yeah, they just looked tired. I would show you JT Miller’s attempt but I don’t want you to feel sadder than you do. Let’s just say when he took his backhand shot on net, it felt like he was contractually obligated to complete the shot, but both and Ersson knew it had no chance.
The end result? Another loss for the Vancouver Canucks.
We’re just two games in and all that, but that makes it two games in which we clearly haven’t seen the best of this Vancouver club yet.

Best closing statement

Fun fact: Those weren’t Skytrain wait times; those were the minutes it took JT Miller and Brock Boeser to complete their shootout attempts.
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