Saturday’s match against the Penguins was one of the most anticipated battles of the year. Superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin came into town locked in battle for the League scoring race and fighting hard to usurp Washington atop the Metropolitan division. Meanwhile in the West, Vancouver existed. It was a classic battle of best versus fifth worst in the NHL. Nothing could distract me from– IT’S A PUPPY! Curse you, Troy Stecher, you distracted me! And also bless you, because puppy. Well that’s informed the pun tone for this intro.
With the big dogs in town boasting plenty of scoring bite, Vancouver’s players had a short leash, and despite a howling start to the game, no offense could be fhound after the first period ended. Without their Burrdog or their Great Dane, this match-up was earmarked to be pugly, even though Ryan Miller was a very good boy.
I wish I could have just looked at adorable puppies but instead I watched this game.
- Pittsburgh is incredibly deep at forward. If you can manage to shut down Sidney Crosby’s line, you also have to worry about the equally dangerous Evgeni Malkin line, and then the third trio with former Canuck Nick Bonino is no slouch either. Like an eHarmony client settling for no less than a tall, rich, model/genius, they are almost impossible to match.
- On a rush, Vancouver’s own generational talents skated into the Pittsburgh zone. Willie Desjardins’ secret weapon tonight? He Chaput’d all over that line, and I’m not too proud to say I was into it. Daniel Sedin found Henrik with a long cross-ice pass, who threw it in front from behind the goal line to Michael Chaput and past Matt Murray. Goal Vancouver! Except not, because reasons. A Coach’s Challenge from Mike Sullivan cancelled Vancouver’s opener, which I don’t mind saying was hot cow dung.
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You tell me if this was goaltender interference:
Riiiiiiight. pic.twitter.com/qVAqIXcfk6
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 12, 2017 - Moments later, Chaput had another golden chance to open the scoring, tipping a Sedin shot moments after his almost-goal. In the late second period he had yet another opportunity on a centring feed by Daniel Sedin. It makes sense. The Sedins typically do well with players of Chaput’s style. 7/10, would watch play again.
- Side effect of advanced Crosby-Malkin exposure: the Bo line looked fine. Better than fine, actually; both Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi looked stinking dangerous through the game. I’m loving the addition of Reid Boucher to this duo, because he shoots from everywhere, unexpectedly. Near the end of the first, typical millennial Boucher was looking to pass but got bored and just fired a hard wrister directly on Matt Murray, surprising the goalie. That’s the iPhone generation for you, no attention span. Back in my day we'd cycle ineffectively and lose the puck.
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Ryan Miller is everything. He was the game. Where to begin? He had several tough tests throughout the first period, including a Sidney Crosby chance late in the first period where he had to be sharp about six times in a row, somehow finding the puck amidst the chaos.
As the Penguins gatling gun spooled up in the second period Miller remained frosty, getting big and denying a Crosby one-timer and a tricky blast by Malkin on a power play. Later, on another Pens man advantage, Miller shut down Penguin after Penguin, critically stopping Phil Kessel while lying on his stomach. Not done! Later on, Jake Guentzel fed Sheary with a perfect cross-ice pass, but Miller stoned them again. Partway through the final frame, Miller denied a high shot by Chris Kunitz and a rush attempt by Sid. Conor Sheary had a breakaway but couldn’t deke past the netminder. Like me when playing a video game requiring any level of skill, there was constant saving. - It couldn’t last forever, though. Ian Cole drew first blood on a well-placed shot with Ryan Miller screened by Oskar Sundqvist. With one goal on 33 shots to that point, Pittsburgh’s accuracy was somewhere between a platoon of stormtroopers and a squad of Vogons.
- On a rare Canucks power play to start the third period, Vancouver had yet another goal called back, as Sven Baertschi chopped a puck down with a high stick and Brandon Sutter put it into the net. No tying goal, denied!
- Pens fans are feeling the glove for Matt Murray, and he gloves them right back. Murray had a remarkable stop against Henrik Sedin in close after a wonky Luca Sbisa shot rebounded to the Canucks captain right in the slot. Murray slid across and slickly snared the shot to preserve his perfect game. Earlier, he had an equally stunning save against Michael Cramarossa, sliding across to deny a backhander. That marks the second scoreless Murray meeting in a row, but the Canucks will best him eventually, probably sometime in 2018.
- Seriously, Miller was so good he deserves another bullet point. He was quite literally the only thing keeping them in the same area code as the Penguins. As the Pens began to run away with it, you could just see him standing there like a disheartened Del Shannon, wondering wa wa wa wa why his team couldn't play. He very conceivably could have stolen yet another point or two if his teammates had better puck luck. In the war for a low finish to the season in order to win a high draft pick, Miller is the anti-tank missile.
- Pittsburgh is known as an offensive machine, but they deserve credit for their underrated defense. Despite a greatly depleted blueline, they were highly effective in shutting Vancouver down, not with hard hits but with good positioning and quick stickwork. Phil Kessel flashed his hand-eye coordination to knock down a dangerous shorthanded rush play by Baertschi and Sutter in the third. That kind of thing happened a lot, loads of poke checks to completely shut down the Canucks’ passing game. That effective strategy is reflected in Vancouver's ugly Corsi rating. Like the seats and floors of Vancouver’s Skytrain system, Pittsburgh was troublingly stick-y.
- Jake Guentzel stacked Pittsburgh’s lead on the back of Conor Sheary’s hardhat effort. Sheary drove into the Vancouver end, flung the puck back to a chasing Guentzel, and into the net it went. It was a karmic delight for Sheary, who to my eyes was among the best players in a dangerous Penguins group. Moments later, with Vancouver’s net empty, Sheary finally popped home a goal sealing it for the visitors, after which I penned an emotional poem outlining my sadness, sealing it with wax and tears. At least we'll always have Troy Stecher with a puppy.
