What an unexpectedly crazy roller coaster ride that game became. Not the Canucks game; the Seahawks game against the Carolina Panthers for the NFC Championship.
Who saw any of that coming? The Panthers had their way with the Seahawks defence in the first half, driving down the field and scoring touchdowns with impunity. Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ offensive line was helpless against the Panthers’ pass rush, repeatedly hurrying Russell Wilson, who threw two ugly interceptions. It was 31-0 after the first half: clearly there was no hope for the Seahawks.
Except they scored a touchdown on their first drive of the second half. Then another on their second possession. And another in the first possession of the fourth quarter. Suddenly the Seahawks defence was taking away Cam Newton’s options and making big stops. When Shaun Hauschka’s late field goal went through the uprights, the Seahawks had put up 24 unanswered points and were down by just one touchdown.
One problem: there wasn’t enough time remaining. They had to try for an onside kick, hope against all odds they recovered it, then hope against all odds they could get the ball in the endzone in the final minute. In the end there were too many odds to hope against. The Panthers recovered the ball and the Seahawks comeback fell short.
I watched that game. Then I watched this game.
- I thought this game would lack drama after the weirdness of the NFC Championship, but then Mikael Grabovski hit Henrik Sedin from behind into the boards, knocking the Canucks captain out for the remainder of the game. It was the most unnecessary drama since CSI: Cyber.
- You have to think there’s a suspension coming for Grabovski. The hit was as squarely in the numbers as you can get, sending Henrik crashing hard into the boards, and there was an injury. Initial reports suggest Henrik will be out for days rather than weeks, but this is the same team that said Brandon Sutter, Luca Sbisa, and Ryan Miller were day-to-day, so you’ll excuse me if I’m having a panic attack.
- With Henrik out, Jared McCann got the promotion to the first line, getting a turn on the top powerplay unit as well. He handled it well: when he was on the ice with Daniel and Jannik, the line controlled possession and created the Canucks’ lone goal. McCann himself finished with 4 shots on goal, though “finished” is probably the wrong word, as he managed to deke himself into oblivion on two breakaway chances. McCann needs to get some advice from Bo Horvat's dad: shoot the puck!
- Another rookie did show some finish, however, as Ben Hutton scored his first career NHL goal. McCann shot from a bad angle, then Daniel picked up the rebound and centred for Hansen, who completely fanned on the shot. That turned out for the best, as Jaroslav Halak, who had committed to making a save on Hansen, couldn’t get across to stop Hutton. After he scored, Hutton had a massive smile on his face, making it completely impossible to tell how he was feeling, because that’s his default expression.
- Hutton’s goal was massive, because the Canucks got badly outplayed all game. For the third game in a row, the Canucks gave up 40+ shots, with emphasis on the plus in this one. The Islanders out-shot them 48-26 and out-attempted them 94-51. That’s the most shots and shot attempts they’ve given up all season. They want to know: have they gone too far?
- The Canucks had no business winning this game, but Ryan “Show Business” Miller was simply outstanding and occasionally complicatedly outstanding. He made 47 saves, including 21 in the third period alone. His most brilliant stop came on Anders Lee, as he lunged like a third basemen to backhand the puck, but it seemed like every save was on a huge scoring chance. It was one of the best goaltending performances of the season.
- Miller had to be particularly sharp because the boards in the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn are more lively than Live playing a cover of “Live” live on Live! with Kelly and Michael. The fact that it’s built for basketball means horrible sight lines for hockey, but it also seems to mean they built the boards out of ground-up basketballs.
- Because it’s the 2015-16 Canucks, however, there had to be a twist, and it came after an icing call left the Vey line along with Matt Bartkowski and Luca Sbisa on the ice in the final minute. Off a won faceoff, Sbisa rung the puck around the boards and Alex Burrows was unable to get to it in time. That left the Canucks scrambling, with seemingly every single Islander wide open. The puck came to Ryan Strome and he whipped it past a screened Miller.
- It’s hard to blame Vey for the goal after he won the faceoff, but he did end up scrambling around trying to check everyone and ultimately checking no one. That said, he was asked to do a lot in this game, playing over 20 minutes in the absence of Henrik, finishing second in ice time for forwards behind only Horvat and winning 10-of-18 faceoffs. We’ll ignore for the moment how badly the Canucks were out-shot with Vey on the ice, because the Canucks were out-shot no matter who was on the ice. Except for Daniel Sedin, because Daniel Sedin is a magical unicorn and we don’t deserve him.
- Overtime, like war, was good for absolutely nothing (good god!) but the shootout was good for a win, as Miller stymied all three Islanders and Radim “Liam Neeson” Vrbata used his particular set of skills to undress Jaroslav Halak with a stern look and a deke to the backhand.
