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I Watched This Game: Canucks 1, Red Wings 3

The Canucks were riding high off their first road win of the season, a 5-3 victory over the Rangers that snapped a nine-game losing streak.
Daniel Wagner
Daniel Wagner
I Watched This Game
I Watched This Game

The Canucks were riding high off their first road win of the season, a 5-3 victory over the Rangers that snapped a nine-game losing streak. I might have have even wondered if the Canucks had turned a corner and would enter this game against the Red Wings with positive momentum, ready to turn one win into the beginnings of a winning streak.

That optimism lasted for all of 32 seconds when I watched this game.

  • 32 seconds is all it took for the Red Wings to open the scoring, with Dylan Larkin converting on a rebound while Troy Stecher stood still at the side of the net staring at the puck instead of taking his man. I shouldn’t be too hard on Stecher; like most millenials, he was just doing the mannequin challenge.
  • That was Stecher’s worst moment in an otherwise strong game where he led the Canucks in shots on goal with six and, with Edler, in shot differential and corsi. Every NHL game that Stecher has played has been on the top pairing, frequently against very difficult competition, and he just keeps getting better. I’m beginning to wonder if we haven’t been hyping him enough.
  • Derek Dorsett was noticeable, throwing some effective hits and creating chances by getting the puck to the net for rebounds. It makes sense that he had a strong game, though. Since whatever line he’s on is the fourth line by default, he and his linemates, Brandon Sutter and Markus Granlund, were the best fourth line the Canucks have had in ages.
  • I guess that makes Jack Skille, Brendan Gaunce, and Michael Chaput the fifth line. It’s been impossible to assess Gaunce’s rookie NHL season because he so rarely plays with NHL players. He must feel like he’s still with the Utica Comets.
  • The angriest I got while watching this game was at Skille. After he and his linemates were trapped in the defensive zone for over a minute, they finally cleared the puck and got it deep in the Red Wings zone so they could change. Only, Skille decided that he was going to chase the puck, even though he had no shot at getting it. Instead, while trying to get past Henrik Zetterberg, he reached his stick around and can-openered him, earning a tripping penalty, all while he should have been turning away and getting to the bench. It was one of the dumbest things I’ve see from a Canuck this season. I was apoplectic with rage. Sure, it may seem like a dumb thing to get angry about, but that’s because it was. It was a dumb thing and I got angry about it.
  • The Red Wings went up by two before the end of the first period on a one-timer from the point by Brendan Smith. While it looked like a weak goal for Ryan Miller to allow, I’m 65% certain that Ben Hutton accidentally tipped it in front. The way he waved his stick at the puck and then immediately tapped Miller’s pads, like a tract cruelly disguised as money, suggests a tip.
  • Nikita Tryamkin was a physical force in this game, knocking Andreas Athanasiou out of the game with a clean, stand-up hit at the blue line, then later crushing Tyler Bertuzzi into the boards with a hit of more questionable legality. With his physical play and increased importance on the penalty kill, he’s going to be harder to pick out of the lineup than Keyser Soze when Chris Tanev gets healthy.
  • The Sedins must have found an old silk hat, because there’s some magic in them again. Stecher made a great play at the blue line, keeping a puck in by golfing it towards the net where Daniel Sedin was waiting. Instead of shooting, he of course made a blind backhand pass to his brother, Henrik, who took a quick shot before Jimmy Howard could get set. Ha! Of course he didn’t. He passed it back to Daniel, who buried the puck in the completely vacated net.
  • Suddenly, Daniel Sedin has a four-game point streak and both Sedins have four points in their last four games. Just imagine if they were the second line.
  • That’s the only goal the Canucks managed despite 37 shots. Meanwhile, the power play was 0-for-3. It’s 4-for-46 for the season. Brandon Sutter is fourth in power play ice time. Get Sutter off the damn power play.
  • The Safeway Score & Win contest that promises someone will win $1 million if a Canuck scores five goals always seemed implausible, but when you consider it was an event for the entire team to score five goals against the Rangers, now it just seems like a cruel joke.
  • The Red Wings made it 3-1, but they were unable to pad the score further thanks to a sweet diving backhand save by Miller on Zetterberg, scrambling back from heading to the bench for the extra attacker. It’s a save-of-the-year candidate that has everyone making Kevin Pillar references, but that was more of a Troy Tulowitzki move.
  • Finally, kudos to the fans in Detroit, who not only gave Miller a standing ovation for his sliding, backhand save, but also sang along with pretty much every song that was played in the arena, whether it was Queen, Journey, The Outfield, or Lit.