The Vancouver Canucks’ previous game was a 7-1 debacle against the Colorado Avalanche, a game that captain Bo Horvat described as “unacceptable” and said the team “should be embarrassed.”
The team knew that they needed to respond.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that need to show their character next game and respond with a much better effort, that’s for sure,” said head coach Travis Green after the loss to the Avalanche and those thoughts were echoed by his team heading into Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
“If you have games like that, you’ve got to respond. That shows the identity of the team, it helps with your character and what kind of focus we have as a group,” said J.T. Miller. “This is a perfect game for us right now for a test. It’s going to show a lot about our team identity and character how we play tonight.”
The Canucks came out flying in the first period with the exact type of bounce-back effort they needed, scoring two quick goals to take their first 2-0 lead of the season. They fired 43 shots on goal and played a heavier, more physical game with 33 hits, second-most this season.
It was exactly the type of effort the Canucks were looking for. And they still gave up 7 goals against and lost.
It’s the first time since November 1, 1997 that the Canucks have given up 7 goals in back-to-back games. A few days after that second loss, general manager Pat Quinn was fired. A week later, so was head coach Tom Renney, replaced by Mike Keenan, who was made de facto general manager as well shortly after.
Whatever changes the Canucks might make this season, they should probably avoid another Keenan.
But it was a better effort against the Golden Knights. That much can’t be denied. As losses in which you give up 7 goals against go, it was slightly less disheartening.
“I mean, it's tough when you're losing,” said Olver Ekman-Larsson. “I don't think anybody's happy about the game, losing 4-7, but we've got to stay positive and I thought we came out and we showed some heart out there and that's what we need to bring every single night and if we do that we're gonna be fine.”
Staying positive is easier said than done, especially after giving up 14 goals in two games.
“It’s just frustrating in general. Hate losing,” said a clearly dispirited Brock Boeser, adding later, “I mean, it was a good response, for sure, but at the end of the day, it's about winning and we've got to find a way to win hockey games.”
Win or lose, it is my Sisyphean task to watch, just like I watched this game.
- The Canucks opened the scoring when Nils Höglander made a great play to win the puck in the defensive zone and sent Miller on a partial breakaway. As defenceman Brayden McNabb was closing on him, Miller ripped a wicked wrist shot right through Robin Lehner’s five hole. That’s just the third time this season the Canucks have opened the scoring.
- It was a near thing, too. The Golden Knights nearly got the opening goal less than a minute earlier when an ill-conceived neutral zone pinch by Tyler Myers gave the Golden Knights a 2-on-1. A nifty passing play above and around a sprawling Quinn Hughes gave Michael Amadio a wide open net and he somehow missed, shooting the puck back through the crease. Basically, the Canucks needed an absurd piece of luck to score first.
- The 2-0 goal was a power play goal in all but name, coming a split second after a Golden Knights penalty expired. Brad Hunt, the second defenceman on the ice solely because the penalty was expiring, sent a superb cross-seam pass to Conor Garland, who fired it to Tanner Pearson in front. Pearson smartly angled his skate to redirect the puck into the open net, firmly planting his skate in one spot so as to not be accused of a kicking motion. Way to plant, Tan.
- The Canucks nearly got out of the first period with the 2-0 lead but then the penalties came. McNabb clotheslined Vasily Podkolzin with a high, flailing hit that Ekman-Larsson took exception to. When Ekman-Larsson got in McNabb’s face, Mcnabb dropped the gloves and threw a punch. Somehow, this ended up with Ekman-Larsson getting a double minor and the Golden Knights getting a power play.
- “There’s definitely a couple calls that should have never been called against us,” said Green. “I don’t usually complain about refereeing but the call against Demko was atrocious and the call against OEL, a double minor for roughing, is very questionable for me as well, and were both at critical parts of the game.”
- We’ll get to the “atrocious” call on Thatcher Demko later.
- Things went from bad to worse when Justin Bailey took a hooking penalty, giving the Golden Knights a 5-on-3. Miller won the subsequent faceoff but Kyle Burroughs fired the puck into bodies on his clearing attempt and the puck stayed in the zone. Demko stopped a one-timer from Shea Theodore but Chandler Stephenson poked the rebound to Evgenii Dadonov in front. I’d say Dadonov out-battled Myers and Miller to score but the two Canucks didn’t battle — they swung at the puck instead.
- So, it was 2-1 instead of 2-0 heading into the second period and the Golden Knights quickly tied up the game. Höglander fanned on a pass in the neutral zone — one of his few weak plays — and the Golden Knights countered. Madison Bowey, in his first game of the season, got caught flat-footed, giving Reilly Smith an impromptu breakaway from the blue line in with Jake Leschyshyn driving the net to boot. Smith went top corner over Demko’s glove.
- Another turnover and bad defensive read led to the 3-2 goal. Horvat sent a weak breakout pass behind Garland that was picked off by Theodore, then Myers misread the subsequent play, aggressively attacking Mark Stone, who wasn’t receiving Theodore’s pass. Instead, the pass went to McNabb, who blew past Myers and had a wide open shot to beat Demko under the glove.
- “Couple turnovers and missed reads cost us the game tonight,” said Ekman-Larsson.
- This was another game where Elias Pettersson was essentially invisible. He had a few moments here or there but he’s capable of so much more and when you see a chance like the one below, it really looks like a confidence issue. Pettersson forechecks well, helping to create a turnover, then gets a pass from Jason Dickinson alone in front and just shovels the puck into Lehner’s pad.
- “To be honest, I thought he had a really good game tonight,” said Boeser of Pettersson. “Obviously, he knows he can be better. The stats probably don't show but I thought he competed hard and made some really good plays tonight.”
- Setting aside his one turnover, Höglander had an outstanding game. The Canucks out-attempted the Golden Knights 16-to-6 when he was on the ice and he had five shots on goal himself. “He’s a sparkplug in a lot of areas of the game,” said Green. “From the top of the circles down in the offensive zone, he’s a strong player.”
- Höglander single-handedly tied the game 3-3. Keegan Kolesar sent a pass to nobody around the boards in the Canucks’ zone and Höglander took off the other way. Lehner stopped his initial snap shot but Höglander spotted the puck sitting loose under the goaltender. Fortunately, so did the referee, so he didn’t blow the play dead before Höglander. “Dig me out!” shouted the puck like Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker and Höglander obliged and Corin Tucked it into the net.
- The second period ended with an amusing little moment when Lehner toe-picked and tripped into his own net, knocking it off its moorings with just one second left. Secretly, this was also foreshadowing.
- The Golden Knights regained the lead early in the third period on another defensive breakdown. Juho Lammikko ended up in no man’s land, checking no one as the Golden Knights threw the puck around. That meant someone was wide open: rookie Leschyshyn, who was wide open at the top of the crease to tap in his first career goal.
- “I thought at times we didn't close off and shut down a play and kill the motion as quick as we could have and I think when we're on top of our game, you see that a lot more where we close and pin a guy up against the wall,” said Green of the dangerous chances they gave up. “When you're missing three guys that are in your top six, there's probably going to be some of that in your game. But I thought we hung in there well, even though there were some high danger chances which you're going to try to eliminate.”
- Höglander replied a minute later with his second goal of the game. Hughes made a great pinch down the boards, winning the puck and setting up a one-timer for Myers. The rebound popped out to Höglander, who quickly kicked the puck up to his stick for the put-back jam.
- Then things went off the rails. It started with a ridiculous penalty call on Demko, as alluded to earlier. As the Golden Knights cycled the puck, Demko went into his post — something he does dozens of times every game — the post gave way. The refs called this delay of game, as if he had pushed the net off intentionally. It’s a nonsensical call at any time of the game but it stung worse coming in a tie game in the third period.
- “What the f*** are you talking about,” Green could be seen saying to the referee. Did he get an explanation of what the, ahem, f*** the ref was talking about?
- “I didn’t really get one,” said Green. “I mean, the post had come off a couple times already. It came off with Lehner in the second period. They actually had to go fix the post on the commercial, they had the crew come out to fix it. Demmer wasn’t pushing that off...that wasn’t a penalty.”
- Of course, with the Canucks’ penalty kill struggling so much, the Golden Knights scored the game-winning goal on the subsequent power play. With Nicoolas Roy screening Demko and Bowey unable to take away the shooting lane, Jonathan Marchessault put the puck just inside the far post.
- Looking to tie the game, Höglander went wheeling around the Golden Knights’ net and sent a pass to Miller at the point. The pass got tipped, the puck was bouncing, and Miller missed it. Worse, he went down to his knees trying to recover the puck and instead gave up yet another 2-on-1. Ekman-Larsson slid to the ice to try to take away the pass but Mark Stone just out-waited him and slid the puck to Dadonov for yet another wide open net.
- The capstone goal in the game against the Avalanche was a comedy of errors starring Myers, who knocked the puck out of Jaroslav Halak’s glove and into the net. Against the Golden Knights, Myers again took a starring role in the seventh goal, though it was not entirely his fault this time.
- Myers beautifully broke up a 1-on-1 rush by Smith and the puck slid through towards Demko. As Myers spun around to clear the puck away, Demko stepped out of his net to clear the puck himself. Instead, Myers neatly knocked the puck away from Demko and directly to Marchessault to score into the open net. Fair amount of blame both ways on that one, as both players lay prostrate on the ice before the hockey gods, begging for forgiveness.
- If you’re looking for positives, Miller was perfect in the faceoff circle, going 12-for-12. So, they got that going for them, which is nice.
