The Canucks were in this game from start to finish. Say what you will about their performance, but they were in it. This is a fact. Don't you dare say the Canucks didn't show up tonight. They absolutely did. Otherwise, who did the Minnesota Wild thoroughly embarrass?
There were two teams out there, and they were one of them. The bad one. I know because watched this game.
- I'll admit it probably seems a little strange to praise Ryan Miller for a game where he surrendered six goals by the end of the second period, but honestly, I thought he was actually pretty good tonight. He made several impressive stops in his attempt to keep this game close, but he was fighting a losing battle all night, and no one was helping him. Sure, the Wild hung a touchdown on him, but at least Miller managed to block the point after.
- Miller went it alone all evening. On Zach Parise's powerplay goal, for instance, he made the first stop, then flailed around like Kermit the Frog introducing a Muppet Show guest in his efforts to made the second, third, fourth, and so on. No one else did anything to challenge Parise, who made attempt after attempt, eventually scoring the Wild's third goal of the night by painstaking trial and error.
- Truthfully, the Canucks' biggest issue tonight was their defence. They surrendered 36 shots in the first two periods. 36! The issue wasn't solely that they miss Dan Hamhuis, either. Alex Edler and Chris Tanev looked out of sync all night. The pair was on the ice for each of the Wild's first four goals, and in at least three of these cases, it was a cross-up between the two that left the eventually goal scorer open. Let's be clear: the Canucks can survive without Dan Hamhuis. They can still win games without Dan Hamhuis. But they can't win without Edler and Tanev, and those two were not themselves tonight.
- An example: with the Wild on a 4-on-3 powerplay in the second period, the Canucks won a defensive zone draw cleanly. Bo Horvat drew the puck back right onto the stick of Edler. But Edler bobbled the clearing attempt, knocking the puck behind him into the corner. He recovered it and sent it weakly to the blue line, where the Wild took over. It was the worst clearing attempt since the time I accidentally emailed my browser history to my mom.
- John Garrett needs a food podcast. That is all.
- As per usual, while the Canucks were bad overall, the Sedin line was nevertheless effective, creating two goals on the evening. The first was a massive gift, with Darcy Kuemper attempting to move the puck from behind his net to the Minnesota defender in the corner, only to feed Henrik Sedin at the wall instead. Henrik immediately moved the puck to Jannik Hansen, who scored the tap-in. Yes, this technically means Henrik re-gifted. Holiday party foul.
- Marco Scandella, too, was victimized by Henrik's frugal nature. In the third period, he also gave Henrik a gift, and once again, Henrik passed it on, feeding Daniel for the easy goal. The lesson: Henrik is the worst person in the office to get for Secret Santa. You should probably just leave his card blank so he can re-gift that too.
- It may be tempting to dismiss even the Sedins' performance tonight, since both of their goals were such gimmes. But as Blake Price points out, they were on the ice for just three even-strength shot attempts against. In a game where the opposition had 41 shots. Basically, the Sedins were playing a different game than the rest of the team, which has pretty much been their modus operandi since day one. No wonder they're always so optimistic after losses. They're not even experiencing the same game.
- Ryan Suter on the trouncing: "It kind of got boring. That's not our style of play." Ah, yes, but it is Vancouver's style of play these days. It's not always about you, Ryan.
- Finally, I know this loss is upsetting, but don't worry: Derek Dorsett fought Nate Prosser with 90 seconds remaining, so now the Wild will be deterred from beating up on the Canucks next time.
