The Vancouver Canucks lost 5-4 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators, and normally, I would give you with details about the game in this intro. I’d draw you in with the promise of gifs and metaphors about Nakatomi Plaza before we jumped into the finer details of the latest Chaos Giraffe adventure.
But we’ve reached the point where it truly feels like the story off the ice has become bigger than the team on the ice. And I know there are those amongst you that never want to hear anything about the internal strife between Elias Pettersson and JT Miller ever again. Some people have little interest in what goes on in the room and prefer to enjoy hockey on the ice and ice alone.
The problem is when the Canucks struggle on the ice, people will invariably ask questions about what might be causing issues. Which means it’s pretty darn hard not to look at the Elias/JT situation and wonder where it lies in all of this.
While it has remained murmurs and whispers for much of the season, ever since JT Miller returned to the lineup, it has hit a loud new crescendo.
Which is why it was a refreshing change to see the captain of the team, Quinn Hughes, address it all Saturday morning before the game:
Despite JPat’s best attempts to paint Quinn Hughes as a 60s TV Batman villain, Hughes has emerged as one of the heroes of this story.
His super power? Addressing the elephant in the room.
Perhaps not as sexy as the power of flight, or having the ability to turn invisible, but still somehow far more marketable than Kraven the Hunter.
The story that wouldn’t die continues to grow larger than your holiday debt, as Elliotte Friedman has now gotten to the point where he’s telling us that a lot of people in the org are tired of mom and dad fighting.
I don’t know if Saturday was a breaking point in terms of the Canucks having had enough of trying to control this story, but when Rick Tocchet is asking the media in the morning why they aren’t asking to talk to Pettersson or Miller directly about it, you know the organization’s approach to this situation has changed. It’s hard not to view Hughes and Tocchet speaking directly to it as anything but calculated.
You see, normally the team does their best to protect the locker room, as seen by the team massaging this rift earlier in the season harder than Justin McElroy trying to bury the good name of Almond Park.
Two teammates don’t like each other? No, no, they just have different styles of communication.
Things got weird at practice? No, no, that’s just competitive fire rising to the surface. Brothers fight all the time!
But now we’re at the point where it feels like even the head coach is basically going full Joker and tossing a pool cue in the middle of the room and letting his two superstar forwards figure it out. The Canucks are seemingly no longer in the business of shielding JT and Elias from the mess surrounding them.
This story has become national news, and aside from the Canucks going on a massive winning streak, it won’t go away until it’s addressed by the two parties involved. Or I guess one or both of them could get traded, if this doesn’t work out.
You see, in a perfect world they would both give interviews and own the situation, and figure their shit out.
In a semi-perfect world, they would both give interviews, own the situation, keep it professional moving forward, and then secretly hate their co-worker and shit talk them in group chats to their friends like the rest of us do.
In a complete mess of a world, nothing gets addressed, both men create teams to compete with each other on a new Mr. Beast show, with the loser getting dropped down a hole leading to Buffalo, and we realize that all has been lost.
In life that is.
So with their coach and captain setting the stage for Elias and JT to tackle this head on and quiet down the noise, what we got after the game was…
JT Miller not addressing the media (he was requested but did not partake in the scrum), and Elias Pettersson claiming ignorance about the current climate surrounding him and Miller:
He claims it’s made up stories, which fair enough, but he didn’t do himself any favours by saying “next question” on the follow up, nor by saying out loud “read the room” to Patrick Johnston for daring to ask the follow up q. In fact, I could not have written up a better way to pour gasoline on the fire than this approach.
Now, I know some of you will defend the players, and will view the big bad media as the monsters in this situation. How dare they ask a player about an off-ice rift! Keep it to the ice, you bastards! I even saw some people suggest it was barbaric to ask questions of this nature after a loss, to which I simply say, if a player can’t handle questions after a loss in December, then what are we even doing here?
When you have the coach speaking to it, when you have Quinn Hughes speaking to it, it’s clearly become a story. And wherever the truth lies in all of this, both JT Miller and Elias Pettersson have not handled this situation in a way that would quiet it down in any way.
You want a good example of how to tackle this? Watch Brock Boeser’s answer when asked about it. He spoke of how winning should be the only thing they’re focused on. If JT and Elias talk after this game and no sell this situation, it dies down quite a bit.
But by JT Miller skipping the media scrum and Elias Pettersson defiantly shutting down questions, all it does is shine a spotlight right back on everything. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that the team itself is no longer going to run interference on it, so Miller and Pettersson need to figure this out, and fast.
The sad thing is this could be handled so easily by both men if they simply played ball. Play nice for a scrum or two, stage a hug like Kesler and Mitchell, and this quiets down. They do that, they’re golden, and they buy time to try and pile up some wins to make people forget about it all.
Instead the main story heading into the Sharks game is “can these two co-exist??” which is great as a storyline in wrestling, but in hockey, not so much.
Ready for some gifs yet?
Best slow starts and smelly farts
The Ottawa Senators opened the scoring very early on in the first period when Claude Giroux played pee-a-boo with the Canucks defense:
Claude straight up drops behind Carson Soucy twice, and is forgotten about twice, and he makes the Canucks pay by tipping home the Thomas Chabot point shot past Kevin Lankinen.
Boxing players out has been a struggle this year, and while Soucy has found his form as of late, he is too slow to get back into position to offer up any resistance to Giroux, allowing Claude free reign to try and get his wood on that tip.
Best Kevin’s moment to shine
Kevin Lankinen hasn’t had many poor games for Vancouver, but this was one of them. It wasn’t an egregiously awful game, it just wasn’t a game where he bailed the team out constantly.
Which is why you should savor this moment where he punched his stick, resulting in his paddle making a save on the puck out of the air, saving a goal:
Kevin Woodley assured me that Other Kevin simply used the force on this save, but as Daniel Wagner just informed me, I need to capitalize that, as it is a proper noun. I have also just been informed that I don’t need to do this for the light side and dark side, as they are not proper nouns.
So to summarize, Kevin Lankinen made the save with the Force.
I also have to assume that Chaos energy was involved, because as we know, anytime something crazy happens, Tyler Myers is usually on the scene.
Best hard league to win games in
Vancouver struggled to generate shots once again (they ended the night with 25 total), but this game felt more offensively oriented than their recent struggles mainly due to Quinn Hughes going beast mode in trying to drag his team to the win.
So even though Quinn was dangling, and EP40 got in on the dangling, they didn’t necessarily end up with a shot on net:
Full marks to Quinn for doing the blue line boogie, but also full marks to Elias for the stick lift takeaway and subsequent puck dangle that led to the pass down low to Jake DeBrusk.
Alas, Jake ended up going full Virtanen by skating out of a shooting or passing position and cycled behind the net.
The effort level from Quinn, though, was through the roof. If ever you want to see why he has some Hart to this game, watch him just nutmeg guys in his own zone and not a single person in the building was worried about it:
His little touch pass over to Tyler Myers resulted in CG57 spinning around and firing the puck to nobody, but that’s par for the course. That was either ending in a turnover or Myers going end to end, who are we to question the chaos.
Best shot velocity
EP40 ended the night with two shots, and his best one was in the middle of the first period:
As with all things in this game, it started off with Quinn Hughes doing Quinn Hughes things, which cannot be overstated enough. He was shielding off guys, spinning in circles, using his elite edge work, and making ace level passes the entire night. His ability to shimmy and shake is what lets him find Jake DeBrusk, who then sauced a nice pass up to Elias to skate into.
The end result was an average shot to the chest of the goalie, but you know what, that’s all we have, damn it. JT Miller didn’t even get a shot on net tonight so I can’t even compare it to anything.
How can I set the stage for a Wrestlemania promo set to Limp Bizkit if I don’t have highlights, damn it.
But seriously, Quinn Hughes was the engine all night long. Watch him skate down the ice and find JT Miller with the pass, who then finds Brock Boeser for a shot from the slot:
Once again the shot hit Leevi Merilainen in the chest, but again, this is more about how Quinn Hughes was doing the Lord’s work to try and make people forget all about any locker room issues by driving this team to a victory.
Best deuces baby, deuces
The Senators made it 2-0 after Danton Heinen fumbled a pass and probably ruined someone’s fantasy football playoff match-up:
Noah Juulsen tends to be aggressive in hunting for hits and board battles, which is what happens here when he jumps up to make a play on the puck. There’s a bit of bad luck involved in Danton mishandling the puck in the air, but the end result is Heinen racing back trying to cover for Juulsen.
Rick Tocchet spoke after the game about how his players need to re-load, ie get back into position, especially when looking at 50/50 pucks. He even clarified his comments by saying this team can’t play like that, they can’t be a team gunning it for 50/50 battles. We know Rick loves the GOTI life-style, so clearly he would prefer the more cautious route was taken. Rick is the kind of guy who never crosses when that hand starts flashing, we know this.
So while this wasn’t the worst puck to chase, and some bad luck was involved, it was still a goal where a d-man made a play for a 50/50 puck and ended up putting a forward in a position to have to defend the counter attack.
Hey look at us making it a whole section without mentioning the, well, you know.
Best well I’m a Brock Star
Would it shock you if I told you Quinn Hughes was the engine behind getting the Canucks first goal? No?
Phil Di Giuseppe had one of the best games of his Canucks career in my humble opinion, mostly based on his pure hustle. And on the opening goal, he was smart enough to know “get puck to Hughes” is always the right play.
Quinn then fires up the rockets and circles around the zone before finding Boeser for the tap in. Kudos to JT Miller for driving hard to the net to create some confusion in the crease, which also played a part in this.
Best Captain America
Remember how I just talked about Phil? Well, the guy was a dawg all night, and it his hard forecheck that helped set in motion the Canucks second goal of the night:
A huge hit from Philly Delight allows JT Miller to battle for the puck, eventually leading to Garland making the bank pass off the boards to Quinn Hughes at the point.
The best part of this goal was Quinn faking the clap bomb, then waiting half a second so he could throw a wrist shot on net instead. That sort of subtlety to his game is what makes him such an elite player and is what separates him from players who’s kinks are “shooting directly into shin pads” while mouthing “I wanna hear the boom of the puck hitting your plastic” while also openly shuddering with ecstasy.
If I wanted to send a period of hockey to get people to think about Quinn Hughes for Hart Trophy consideration, I would honestly have used the first period of this game, he was that good.
Best he’s not wrong
Quinn Hughes is basically attempting the very rare reverse Weekend At Bernie’s and it almost worked Saturday night.
Best song selection
At this point we have to laugh, otherwise we’d cry. Just play all the songs that might relate to this situation, why not. I am sure we can survive a night of not hearing a remix of AC/DC.
Best of friends
That’s the good news.
The bad news is they went 0/2, and the best chance on the first powerplay didn’t involve the first unit.
What it did involve was a ridiculous outlet pass from Quinn Hughes up to Kiefer Sherwood for the semi-breakaway:
There was a time when we celebrated Olli Juolevi making a tape to tape outlet pass to the middle of the ice. That was the height of our expectations for young defenseman, something we hoped that one day others would achieve.
Then one day he was passed out in the corner, exhausted from a practice drill, and we never saw him again.
Please never forget where we came from. Always be grateful you get to experience what Quinn Hughes can do on the ice night in and night out.
Best that can’t be good
Quinn Hughes didn’t get the call when he was felled in the corner, which put Shane The Bean Pinto in a one on one contest with Tyler Myers.
Who would win this battle of wills, this contest of skills, this showdown of – it was Pinto, it was all Pinto:
Not much to break down on that one other than to say that Tyler Myers did indeed get coned on that goal. Absolutely walked by Pinto. Jockstrap firmly in the fifth row by the time that puck is in the net. Even Fin considered retiring after that goal. Myers got beat my friends.
You should also keep an eye on JT Miller on this play because while his actions didn’t come into play on this goal, it was safe to say this wasn’t a good JT Miller night. Aside from his secondary assist on the second goal, JT Miller didn’t have a lot of juice, to use Tocchet parlance.
Now again, it didn’t burn them on this goal, but JT’s slow looping turns and his constant releasing of his check is something the Ottawa Senators would later expose in a big way.
I also forgot I got another gif of poor Tyler getting wrecked on Hockey Night in Canada:
Fair play to Pinto, he put the puck out of the long reach of Myers, that’s a very smart play.
Best club soda pick me up
I choose to represent this Jeff Stat with a clip of Derek Forbort almost scoring on his own net:
It has not been pretty hockey, I think we can all agree on that.
Best Hughes your Daddy
The Canucks would tie up the game yet again, this time after Quinn Hughes just straight up shot the puck in off of Jake DeBrusk’s skate as he twirled in the blue paint:
Because I believe so highly in the skill of Quinn Hughes, but also believe so highly in the blue paint skill of Jake DeBrusk, I choose to believe this is a play they work on in practice. Quinn shouts out “Omaha!” or something like that, and Jake knows to just start spinning in the crease so he can accidentally in purpose kick the puck into the net.
Best for your Hart Trophy consideration
No, I do not have a Derek Forbot clip to represent this tweet.
Best back checking isn’t for everyone
Remember the Canucks second power play? Well here’s the thing, Elias and JT were also on the same unit for this one, except this one resulted in a shorthanded goal 10 seconds into it:
That is absolutely brutal defensive coverage from JT Miller. He ends up guarding the point because he gets thrown out of the faceoff circle, and the end result is him simply releasing Josh Norris. He simply stops skating and gives up on the play. He turns into me when I’m asked to take the garbage out. Sure, maybe I could do it, but did I? Certainly not.
I believe Ray Ferraro went after Brock Boeser for losing the battle for the puck off the faceoff, but even Rick Tocchet said after the game, Norris was Miller’s guy, plain and simple. The fact Brock Boeser almost made it back in time from the other side of the ice to try and make a play on the puck is a modern day miracle of sorts.
This is the kind of defensive effort that gets a person benched. There is no reasoning behind it and it’s hard to understand why it’s happening, but we’ve seen this from JT before in the past, where his controller just disconnects in the defensive zone.
Earlier in the period, JT Miller blew the zone when the puck went around the boards, looking for an offensive rush chance. The problem was this allowed Ottawa to simply walk in and collect the puck before it ever got to JT.
JT Miller can be a fantastic player, we all know this. One of the best offensive players in Canucks history, easily.
But we also have seen him play enough to know when JT Miller is his “yelling at Collin Delia” mode, in which his back checking is more suspect than my credit checks. The effort isn’t there and his skating just sort of stops, and it ends up burning the team defensively.
Best third period physicality
A close game in the third period between a Travis Green team and a Rick Tocchet team? You just knew this game was going to lock itself down.
Which it did to a degree. Ottawa actually only ended up with two shots in the third, while to Vancouver’s credit they ramped up and managed to produce eleven.
The physicality also began to ramp up as well, including a Brady Tkachuk Madden ’25 stiff arm on Conor Garland, and a Vincent Desharnais bone crunching hit on Michael Amadio:
Can I just say that Desharnais game has been decent as of late? I just feel like he’s really trying to play within his limits right now, and isn’t chasing the game that much. I don’t know if that will be enough to keep him in the lineup, or if his play will continue, but he deserves credit for settling his game down.
As for the Senators, they learned an important lesson about Tyler Myers: If you hit him, he will get revenge. In this life or the next.
Seriously, I don’t know if anyone has a temper quite like Myers. When you take a run at him, all of a sudden he plays to his size and becomes mean:
Like, good hit on Myers, full credit for that. But Myers made sure to get a revenge hit as well as a shot on net in return.
Leaving us to wonder if he basically needs to watch the Marvel movies and make his secret that he’s angry all the time.
Was Myers in danger of getting an elbow penalty on that play? Of course he was. Half of Myers’ revenge hits end in penalties.
But damn it, an angry giraffe is a fun giraffe.
Best keep on grinding
Quinn Hughes keeping plays alive long enough to make a perfect outlet pass should be its own YouTube channel:
Words cannot express how many times I have seen Quinn Hughes hold onto a puck and evade tackles and arrows of outrageous fortune, buying just enough time to make a pass to a guy in motion.
And as much as I want to compare him to Josh Allen, he just doesn’t have the size, so damn it, Patrick Mahomes it is.
So to summarize, Quinn Hughes is Steph Curry and Patrick Mahomes.
Best contracted sniper
The Canucks tied the game up late in the third period but it felt weird because Quinn Hughes wasn’t involved?
With the Canucks top players coming under so much scrutiny, Brock Boeser was the main guy to pick up his game and deliver for the home team, as his finishing ability was massive for the team on Saturday.
And hey, look at that, Philly Delight came in huge with a forecheck, which freed up the puck to Brock, who found Pius Suter in front for the shot.
Also notice how Pius Suter kicks the puck up to his skate like he’s Pavel Bure in an exhibition game against the Boston Bruins, which allows him to get the shot off that leads to Boeser popping in the rebound.
I think Philly D has clearly earned himself another game, nobody can deny that.
But I also think after watching Linus Karlsson struggle to keep up pace at the NHL level that the Canucks should bring Max Sasson back into the lineup.
If you’re basically waiting for your top players to figure their shit out, you might as well surround them with speed and hustle.
Best sticking it to them
Noah Juulsen got called for a double minor for high sticking late in the game, and while fans were angry with the call, it was the right call:
You need to be in control of your stick at all times, even if the other dude flicks your stick up towards his own face.
My only issue with this call is that it clearly wasn’t a flagrant high stick, but due to antiquated rules where “blood equals death”, the fact a bloody lip made an appearance made it a four minute penalty.
I truly don’t understand how blood from a high stick plays such an integral part of determine a double major, I truly don’t. Buddy can bite down on his lip really hard to make himself bleed and he might draw more penalty minutes. It feels a little too wrestling for my liking.
But actions have consequences as they say, which is what sent the Canucks off to penalty kill for the rest of the third period.
The good news (yes its another good news/bad news scenario)? JT Miller and Elias Pettersson played on a penalty kill shift together, and they drew a penalty. That was massive, this balanced things out for a little bit, this made overtime a 3 on 3 situation for a minute or so.
The bad news?
JT Miller’s controller disconnected once again.
Best true facts
Hey look, overtime is chaotic at the best of times. Defensive breakdowns? Par for the course for the cocaine fueled environment at hand.
But even with that, JT Miller simply stops skating. His slow turn to track Jake Sanderson is all it takes for Jake to take off down the ice. Miller tries to track him down but again, he stops skating, he stops pumping his legs. After losing the faceoff instead of re-loading and resetting, he just sort of floats around the offensive zone, lazily tracking his man.
And as Rick Tocchet said after the game, he told his team that Ottawa would try and jump up like that. He prepared them to try and stretch the zone like that, but they still ended up getting caught on it. It repeats a pattern from this season where Tocchet has talked about his team having a game plan in place, but the players didn’t execute it.
Once again the Canucks find themselves getting a point, but once again they find themselves on the losing side of things in overtime. And this time it feels more self-inflicted than the others because one of their best players, one of the players who is a leader on this team, he just stops skating. He doesn’t protect the GOTI. And there isn’t a single Collin Delia around to yell at.
And hey, it’s one game, I get that. JT Miller is still a fantastic player and this is the NHL, I know better than anyone that a player can sort themselves out and get back on track. Hell, JT has done it a couple of times himself in his career.
It’s just when you have a game like this, and its another game where Elias Pettersson hasn’t scored a point since you got back, and you didn’t talk to media, and EP40 is dropping s-bombs in the post-game scrum, then you know what?
This becomes the story.
The highest paid players have to be their best players, and this team needs to get back to that, otherwise this is going to continue to be ugly.
Best closing statement
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