‘Twas two nights before Christmas and in Rogers Place
Not a Connor was able to stay on his skates
McDavid was hooked, “By Quintin, by Hughes!”
Or that’s what he said when officials refused
To lift up an arm; no whistle was blown
Suggesting he might have gone down on his own.
And as he complained and arose such a clatter
He fell once again — like a pancake but flatter —
Which didn’t do wonders for making his case
That Hughes made him fall in the earlier race.
The Canucks quickly scored after McDavid’s tantrum
A power play tip by J.T. with a hand from
Elias Petterson; the Canucks were elated
While the refs likely got more choice words from McDavid
He whistled and shouted and called them all names
Like “Chowderhead,” “Doofus,” “Clodhopper,” and “James.”
Finally, the referees had quite enough
And meekly agreed to give in to his guff
“If you’ll stop complaining, we’ll give you a call
Now dash away — that means get out of here, y’all.”
And shortly thereafter, on Curtis Lazar
The refs called a penalty passing bizarre
Lazar gave the stick of McDavid a tap
And the hand of the ref flew up in a snap.
As makeup calls rank, all-time it was twelfth;
I laughed when I saw it, in spite of myself.
But the Oilers, this final night of Saturnalia,
Were unable to score one more on Collin Delia.
Lazar and the ‘Nucks had the last laugh on Connor
(For one game, at least — sprinters, not marathoners).
And at my house, you could have heard me exclaim,
“Merry Christmas to all!” after I watched this game.
- The Canucks still haven’t been above .500 even once this season, but at least they got back to .500 in time for Christmas. Back-to-back wins should give both Canucks players and fans some positive vibes as they get together with their families for the holidays — much preferable to being down in the dumps on Christmas morning.
- Perhaps because Elias Pettersson put the team on his back on Thursday night, J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat seemed to want to remind fans that they are also on the team. Both had two-goal games, with Horvat putting up four points. Pettersson was still the Canucks’ best player in this game, dominating in possession and picking up two assists, but he didn’t have to win the game single-handedly this time.
- Collin “Dude, You’re Getting A” Delia got the start, his first for the Canucks, and he was absolutely fantastic. When the Oilers were all over the Canucks in the first period, he was there to Ctrl-Alt-Delia-ete the Oilers’ opportunities and reboot the Canucks’ chances to win.
- Delia’s saves were significantly better than that last joke. He was throwing every part of his body in front of the puck, with a goaltending style that can be best described as controlled chaos. He repeatedly bailed out his teammates when they gave up grade-A chances, keeping the game from getting out of hand early on.
- Still, he couldn’t stop everything. When Ilya Mikheyev turned the puck over in the offensive zone, Warren “McLovin” Foegele sprung Derek Ryan on a clearcut breakaway behind Luke Schenn. Ryan made a strong fake to the backhand, then deked back to the forehand to tuck the puck around Delia for the 1-0 goal.
- It looked like the Canucks were going to escape an ugly first period only down 1-0 because of Delia when disaster struck in the final minute. Instead of eating the puck on the boards to run down the clock, Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave the puck away. Then Tyler Myers made it worse by leaving Connor McDavid wide open — always a bad idea — to try to check Zach Hyman, who was already being pressured by Brock Boeser. Myers was unable to block Hyman’s pass and McDavid had a tap-in goal with 4.1 seconds left in the first.
- Just a reminder that Ekman-Larsson and Myers are supposed to be the savvy, poised veterans — the type of players that most teams like to have out in the final minute of a period to calm things down and make sure nothing bad happens.
- Fortunately, the Canucks had an absurd bounce go their way in the opening minute of the second period — call it a Christmas miracle. Ekman-Larsson pinched down the boards to keep the puck in and Conor Garland gave the puck to J.T. Miller for a one-timer. Somehow, the shot hit Stuart Skinner in the shoulder and popped straight up into the air, then came back down to hit Skinner in the shoulder again and go into the net. It was the kind of bounce that if it happened in a hockey movie, you would scoff at it for being unrealistic.
- From there, Delia shut the door, robbing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a shorthanded breakaway, then somehow getting across to stop a McDavid power play chance when it seemed like he was down and out. It helped that the Canucks tightened up defensively like Alan Tudyk’s character from Knocked Up spoke to them during the intermission, but Delia didn’t allow another goal after the first period.
- The Canucks tied up the game on the power play, with Elias Pettersson sending a perfect pass to J.T. Miller in front. Miller’s initial tip was stopped but he shoveled home the rebound with practiced ease, as if he’d been repeatedly making a shoveling motion for the last several days in Vancouver for some reason.
- While the Canucks power play continued to shine, the penalty kill shockingly came through as well. They had a big game against the best power play in the NHL, killing off all three of their penalties. I’m not saying it was a Christmas miracle, because Miller’s first goal was already a Christmas miracle, and the Canucks can’t get greedy with the Christmas miracles. So, we’ll say it was a Festivus miracle instead.
- The woeful winter weather led to a neat story for this game. The linesmen scheduled for the game couldn’t make it to Edmonton, so they were replaced by two WHL linesmen instead, officiating their very first NHL game: twin brothers Chad Huseby and Cody Huseby. That makes them the fourth-most famous twin brothers associated with the Canucks, behind the Sedins, Peter and Patrik Sundström, and Rich and Ron Sutter.
- Horvat gave the Canucks their first lead with some satin soft hands at the side of the net. Conor Garland came out of a battle with two Oilers with the puck and passed to Tyler Myers at the point, whose shot caromed off the back boards to a waiting Horvat. The Canucks captain cradled the puck on his stick and in one motion flung it into the net like he had a lacrosse pocket on the end of his stick instead of a blade.
- Some strong forechecking pressure from Horvat and Brock Boeser led to the 4-2 goal. Boeser forced the turnover and Horvat picked up the puck and fed Mikheyev, whose one-time snapshot rocketed the puck past Skinner, off the post, and in. Like all of the winners of the 2022 Natural Landscape Photography Awards, it was a gorgeous shot.
- The Canucks had some serious struggles clearing the puck out of the defensive zone in the final minutes and looked to be at risk of allowing a comeback but Delia stood tall and the Canucks made some key shot blocks. Finally, Myers chipped the puck out and Pettersson swung the puck to Horvat for the empty net goal to put the game to bed, with visions of sugar plums dancing in its head.
