If the Vancouver Canucks are going to make the playoffs, they are going to have to start winning games, it’s as simple as that. Greasy wins, ugly wins, and random 13-1 victories where Tyler Myers gets eight goals wins; whatever form they come in, they need to get them.
Which is why at the end of the day, the Canucks latest 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens is a failure. It doesn’t matter how high that “Deserve to Win” meter favours the Canucks, they need to find start escaping these games with two points.
And in many ways, the Canucks probably played at the height of their capabilities against Montreal. It was the same dreadful hockey for the majority of the game, but at least the effort level was there. This group has yet to show that it has a higher level of hockey in them, so until Quinn Hughes returns, this game is probably as good as it gets.
Which means that until Quinn Hughes returns, this team needs to continue playing with this kind of effort and then hope they start getting some more bounces to go their way. Is that the kind of plan that motivates a fan base? Probably not. But it’s the hand you were dealt, so this is most likely how it’s going to go.
And if you’re looking for good news, Elias Pettersson had another really good game on Tuesday night. He was dominant at 5-on-5 and also scored a goal, so you don’t have to scream “Little things!” at him when he crosses the street.
Rick Tocchet also mentioned that Quinn Hughes is a possibility to play tomorrow as well, which would obviously be a massive boost to this team. Even Quinn Hughes with missing limbs brings up the chances to win considerably for the team.
But for fans who have watched this team all season, Tuesday night was a lot more of the same. It was a team that played defensively responsible, if not tedious, hockey. It was a team whose entire offensive plan still seemed to revolve around shots from the point into traffic. It was a team that failed to secure a third period comeback, something they haven’t been able to do all season long.
It was a team that couldn’t score when it mattered, yet again.
So, in terms of entertainment value, this game was absolutely brutal through two periods. Were it not for the third period comeback attempt, I most likely would have passed out in my seat. I can only take so many games where Derek Forbort is the elite offensive threat coming from Vancouver’s side of the ice before I wonder where we went wrong in all of this.
That being said, the playoffs are still possible. And as much as I don’t have a lot of faith that this team has a Stanley Cup run in them, I at least want to see how that plays out by seeing them get into the post-season.
Which means tomorrow’s game against Calgary is absolutely a must-win situation for this club. No excuses, no moral victories, no guy in a hot dog suit wondering who did this; they must win that game no matter what.
Time is no longer a luxury for the Vancouver Canucks. It’s time to put up or shut up at this point.
Unless they want more media scrums where we ask in a zombie-like fashion about what a loss like this means to the team.
Don’t make us do that, Rick.
Please.
Best setting expectations early
Much to the happiness of the many, many Montreal fans in attendance, their team got on the board almost immediately after the puck was dropped:
Brock Boeser could not have gotten off to a worse start in the “Earn your ice time” era if he tried, as his no-look pass along the boards ended up being stolen by Montreal.
And apparently, Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki are pretty good at this whole hockey thing? I have been told this by a few people at least. One of them was really drunk and screaming at me about how good Carey Price was, but I still trust my source.
So, on one hand, Brock Boeser turning the puck over into a goal against on his first shift? Not a great look. That’s kind of like me starting my first day on the job by drop-kicking the manager and then suplexing them through the window due to what I would later describe to HR as a “minor miscommunication error.”
On the other hand, that’s an incredible goal from Suzuki. The odds of that turnover turning into that goal feels very small, but that kind of speaks to one of the Canucks major problems right now; their margin for error feels so incredibly slim.
This is a team that has not won a single game when trailing entering the third period, so they simply cannot afford to fall behind in the score. This is not a team that has been able to generate offence when the key moment is upon them. How many times have we heard Rick talk about not having the juice this season, damn it.
And look, any team will struggle to an extent when they aren’t getting all the bounces. But with the Canucks, it feels like they are absolutely dead in the water if the Hockey Gods are having their way with them. Any small mistake ends up in the back of their net, and then it becomes a night of taking shots from the point and praying they go in.
If that doesn’t seem like exciting hockey, that’s because it isn’t. It’s dreadful. It’s the kind of hockey you would leave on the TV in the hopes of boring your sister-in-law to death so she finally heads home.
Which is why going down 1-0 against Montreal that quickly felt like a massive hill for this team to climb.
Best earn it, damn it
The Canucks offence was the more of the same in this one. Not a lot of rush action, and even when they did generate some end-to-end action, they would meet their old friend the post.
Pius Suter was the latest victim of iron toxicity, as he clanged one off the post about halfway through the first period:
Aside from that, it was a lot of the low-to-high passes that ended with a defenceman throwing a puck on net, hoping for a bounce or two.
In this clip, you will watch as Tyler Myers attempts to break a man in half with a shot before Marcus Pettersson grabs the loose puck and just tosses it on net:
They key takeaway, other than trying to come to terms with cheering on wrist shots from the blue line as the high point of Canucks hockey, is Elias Pettersson keeping that puck in the zone, something he did the entire night.
Every time EP40 was on the ice, he tilted it towards the Canadiens end of things. His line was one of the only lines that was able to consistently shut down the Suzuki and Caulfield combo, and it was a situation where Elias very much earned his ice time of 19:48, leading all forwards on the Canucks.
Best Kiki Dee and Elton begged you not to
Montreal then made it 2-0 when a high flip pass got punched back into the neutral zone by noted local giant hockey man Marcus Pettersson, which Juraj Slafkovsky managed to scoop up and skate into the zone with some speed:
Kevin Lankinen admitted after the game that he just couldn’t track the puck, so again, credit to Juraj for taking a very well-placed shot.
Which kind of brings us back to the Canucks offensive scheme being based all around low to high point shot attempts. I know in a perfect world, they can use the GOTI system to counter-attack teams and score goals off the rush, but that just hasn’t materialized.
Instead we sit back and watch other teams generate chances off the rush, and out-counter the countering team, except they manage to create high-danger chances that actually look dangerous, and not the high-danger Vancouver Canuck special where it’s some dude slamming a rebound into a goalies pad four times in a row.
Best punching above your weight
People will talk about luck a lot in this game, but honestly, the Canucks also had some luck going there way.
Best example of this? Dakota Joshua punching a puck away from the crease that ends up actually hitting the post behind Kevin Lankinen before dropping in the blue paint, just begging Montreal to cash it in:
I mean, the Canucks also had bad luck, don’t worry, we have several examples of that. But I just want you to know this wasn’t a case of “why does this keep happening to me??” for Vancouver as they got one massive lucky bounce to go their way later.
Best standard definition results
Speaking of bad luck, Dakota Joshua’s play has been better as of late, even if it’s still not where he wants it to be. In the post-game media scrum, Dakota wanted nothing to do with the moral victory of “playing better hockey”, as he just wants results now, which is very much understandable.
You can also see why “hey man, it looked like you almost scored, so that’s pretty cool” wouldn’t exactly fill him with joy:
Garland’s fantastic pass to Dakota Joshua looked like it was an easy bang-bang goal, but Sam Montembeault got just enough of his pad to kick it out:
File this one under the Marty Gelinas rule, where you’re pretty sure that one is in, but the ghost of Nikolai Khabibulin said no.
It’s honestly pretty hard to tell, and some angles look better than others. But at the end of the day, you can see why they didn’t have enough to overturn it. In one angle, it looks clear as day that it’s over the line, and in another one, it looks like the puck hasn’t even graduated college yet.
Best counter strike
Despite Tyler Myers urging Montreal to 1v1 him on Rust, they instead chose to counter-attack with aplomb:
The Canucks, using their vaunted “dear god please let this shitty shot from the point go in” offence, end up with the puck missing the net and bouncing right back down their throats.
Defensive in nature, Elias Pettersson, he of house Defence, makes a brief pinch for the puck and then has to scramble back, which is where this play falls apart. It looks like he sees Fil Hronek sliding over to the left of the ice to cover Emil Heineman, so he goes to take Jake Evans. But then Hronek starts going back to the right side as well, which gives Emil time and space to bring the puck in with speed, which leaves both Canucks defenceman covering thoughts and prayers instead of NHL players, which allows Emil to slide in the nice pass to Jake.
Which again, luck is kind of on the Canucks side, because Montreal slides that puck wide.
And honestly, a lot of NHL teams have breakdowns like this. Not every team plays perfect defensive hockey all of the time, except for the 2014 men’s Canadian Olympic hockey team.
But when you’re the Vancouver Canucks and you’re fighting to get out of dead last in the league in scoring, these mistakes can just end up being so costly.
Which means we end up yelling at the players for making mistakes everyone makes, except here they have dire consequences. Because of the implications, you see.
Best update
Richard Linklater would be proud of our journey together with this kid.
Best second biggest story of the night
To be fair, TO BE FAIR, Derek played pretty good hockey.
I personally think he was inspired by having a kid say he was their favourite player last game, as there were several times where he dragged the puck to the general direction of the net, something we haven’t seen a lot of from him.
He also wore an “A” on his jersey on the night, which I present without comment, lest Rick Tocchet need to give another speech tomorrow about rotating the “A”.
Best third biggest story of the night
I don’t use this stat to damn Elias Pettersson in this game, because as I pointed out earlier, he was actually quite good.
But overall, yes, he’s let you down personally and is not interested in your continued happiness.
Best parental tutelage
Dads know best; what can I say?
And it sure felt like that way when the Canucks offence just could not get going in the second period.
I will say that the Canucks at least tried to generate their own luck on this night, as Nils Höglander in particular was forechecking hard and trying to force Montreal into mistakes.
And early in the second period, Nils bounced on a loose puck in the slot after his line kept forcing Montreal into having to make quick decisions with the puck:
But it was also still a lot of offence generated around the idea of putting a puck on net with traffic.
Even the Canucks power play was at its most effective when it was Conor Garland throwing a puck in the general direction of Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk and hoping for a tip or bounce to go their way:
It just feels like it’s been eons since we’ve seen the Canucks score a goal that you might consider nice enough to bring home to meet your family. The kind of goal where they make multiple passes that end up with a nice tap-in to finish it off.
The type of goal like this:
Once again, Montreal’s top line delivered, this time with a quick counterattack that was created when Dakota Joshua went for a line change at an inopportune time, which then saw Tyler Myers make an ill-advised pinch.
The end result was you had Conor Garland trying to cover on defence while Marcus Pettersson stared down both men and wondered what he did to deserve this kind of treatment.
It’s a really nice goal, one that has the kind of killer instinct we don’t see much around these parts anymore. A goal generated out of purpose, not just “ok seriously, please let this point shot somehow find its way into the net, we’re all out of ideas.”
Best the grind will continue until the morale picks up
And that was kind of how the second period went. Just get the puck on net, and maybe you get a greasy one in.
Kiefer Sherwood tried his best to bang in a loose puck in the slot on an expiring power play:
And then you had plays where, yeah, this team? They were working hard. They just couldn’t generate a goal or even much of a good look on net:
So I appreciate Brock Boeser winning the race for this puck, and I appreciate him winning the board battle and getting the puck to the point, and damn it, it’s nice to see Elias Pettersson find a loose puck near the faceoff dot and get a shot on net, and holy hell, I am here for Drew O’Connor getting several whacks at a potential rebound.
It’s just, they rarely seem to go in.
Montreal was up 3-0 and seemed content to park their own bus on this one, which meant the Canucks had to find a way to score a goal that didn’t involve mostly praying.
Best sometimes prayer works
Can I interest you in a random point shot that goes in?
After having watched several periods of the Canucks just throwing sh!t on net, this time it finally worked.
Filip Hronek almost seemed surprised when it went in, as he was just going through the usual motions of getting the puck near the crease and seeing what would happen.
Pius Suter does a fantastic job of taking away Sam’s eyes, and Hronek, you know what, that’s a perfect shot, my dude.
So hey, credit where credit is due: they managed to score off their one-set play.
Best turning of the luck tides
The Canucks second goal of the game occurred when luck also went their way after the officials called a penalty because Suter got hit with the puck:
In real time, the officials assumed David Savard had slashed Pew Pew at some point, but nope, the joke’s on you officials, that was Hronek beaming his own guy with the puck.
The Canucks then used that bit of luck to have Elias Pettersson load up his shot on the power play and dial in from long distance, ending in a hilarious clip of Marty St. Louis shaking his head in disgust:
Again, I might not love long-distance shots, and I might not love this offensive scheme based around point shots into traffic, but I will happily take EP40 unloading that shot all day, every day. The more he shoots, the better this team will be.
And like I said, Elias Pettersson’s defence was dialed in, as he was constantly shutting down the Canadiens attack, as he does in this clip, batting down a pass in his own zone:
It was a good game from Elias, even if after the game his eyes didn’t have the same twinkle they did after Minnesota.
Best last gasp
But the problem with greasy goals is a lot of it relies on hard work and luck, which the Canucks just haven’t gotten enough of this season.
Their best chance at tying this game was a point shot off the draw that Jake DeBrusk got a couple of whacks at before Brock Boeser comes into frame and appears to go full Charlie Brown mode as he looks at the rebound he can’t get to:
Montreal would then get the empty-netter despite Elias Pettersson’s best attempts to bat it out of the air:
And that was the ball game. Another night, another loss.
It’s kind of hard to pump up the good parts of this game because we are clearly no longer in Moral Victory Season. So, all we can do is wait to see what happens against Calgary. I can only write about so many games where I go, “Hey, they did a couple of things good but ultimately lost,” before we all lose respect for each other.
The thing is, this team got two goals on three shots in the third period without changing up its process whatsoever. It’s hard to watch that and go, “Well, Bing Pot, this team managed to turn things around!”
No, at the end of the day, they still just threw the puck on net and hoped something good would happen. Which, when you look at the amount of star power on the teams in the West and East, it’s hard to imagine how effective that will be come playoff time.
If there is a playoff time.
Best trust it
Look, it’s not a moral victory damn it. But it is a process that, if repeated, should lead to better results.
Again, not a moral victory.
Best changing it up
The Canucks looked far better with the puck than they have at many times this season. Far fewer dump-ins and far more control with the puck.
WHICH AGAIN, I MUST REPEAT, IS NOT A MORAL VICTORY. I am must pointing it out.
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