The Stanchies: Ice times becoming a talking point after Canucks\u2019 5-1 loss to Penguins<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re one of those people who like to look at themselves in the mirror while they cry, then boy, do I have the article for you.<\/p>\n
Now, they had every reason to lose this game; They\u2019re in the midst of a long road trip. They are dealing with a variety of injury issues. And rumour has it that Dan Murphy didn\u2019t wear the right socks this morning, setting the tone for the instability and breakdowns we saw in the second period.<\/p>\n
Still, you\u2019d be excused if you had hoped the Canucks would find another miracle in their back pocket for Tuesday night\u2019s game. Vancouver has already managed to escape with a victory a few times this year on nights they probably didn\u2019t deserve it, which tends to lead to you muttering \u201cthey\u2019ve got this!\u201d with the confidence normally reserved for drunkenly assessing if you can ride a shopping cart down a giant hill.<\/p>\n
In the end, though, the Canucks got the snot kicked out of them. Let\u2019s be real. We can be honest with each other, right? We\u2019re all friends here, and if I can\u2019t tell you the Canucks played like absolute garbage, then who will?<\/p>\n
Which leaves us on the fact that the Canucks played very poorly but also had several valid reasons as to why they played so badly. Which doesn\u2019t really lend itself to a game you want to dissect that deeply. Can\u2019t really yell or get up in arms over this result, all you can really do is move on and see what happens next.<\/p>\n
The short version? The Penguins murdered the Canucks off of the rush.<\/p>\n
The long version? The Penguins murdered the Canucks off of the rush, but I have gifs of it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n
Best Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight car<\/p>\n
Old friend of the show Joe LaBate dressed for the Canucks tonight, which is either a heart-warming tale of dedication to one\u2019s craft, or a giant spotlight on the team\u2019s depth heading into this game.<\/p>\n
The last time Joe played in Vancouver was all the way back in 2016, back when Harambe was all the rage and people were scouring the streets in giant groups to try and capture Pok\u00e9mon on their phones.<\/p>\n
That was also the same year LaBate played with Alex Burrows, the last time a number 14 was worn by a Vancouver Canuck until Tuesday night, when Joe wore it. And you know what, I am not ready for that number to be back in circulation yet. I think tonight\u2019s results speak for themselves, as the Hockey Gods weren\u2019t pleased either.<\/p>\n
I know Burrows\u2019s number isn\u2019t retired and he\u2019s just in the Ring of Honour, but I just feel like he needs to sign off on who uses it next. Maybe have a ceremony where he knights a guy with a hockey stick before breaking the stick over his knee and then playfully bites the other guy\u2019s finger.<\/p>\n
What I\u2019m saying is this game was Joe Labate\u2019s fault. Someone had to be brave enough to say it.<\/p>\n
Best enjoy this moment while it lasts<\/p>\n
GARLAND!! less than 2mins in. 1-0 Nucks! #Canucks<\/a><\/p>\n Corolla Garland got the Canucks off to a quick start when he unleashed a slapshot off the rush just minutes into the game:<\/p>\n Now, Conor Garland, someone who is used to working from the right wing, is not known for having a blistering slapshot. Nor does he have much of a wrist shot. Which makes it extra funny that he got Stuart Skinner to bite on a fake shot <\/a>back in the 2024 playoffs.<\/p>\n The cynical amongst you might be going \u201cWyatt, did you just mention his lack of shooting power just so you could show a clip of the game one winner against the Oilers?\u201d and you know what, good call. You nailed it. It\u2019s exactly why I did that. I have to be honest, the highlights for the Canucks fall off of an absolute cliff after this, so trust me when I say you should watch that old clip and savour it.<\/p>\n But for a brief moment, with the Canucks having only one real solid offensive line on the night, it felt like they might be able to pull it off. Maybe Elias Pettersson gets another goal. Maybe Jake DeBrusk utilizes his bowling ball technique and rams a goal in on a breakaway. Maybe Tyler Myers goes end to end bar down and then moonwalks to centre to celebrate. Crazier things have happened.<\/p>\n We know this didn\u2019t happen, but using our imaginations is what allows us to disassociate from traumatic events.<\/p>\n Best be careful what you wish for<\/p>\n It’s so refreshing to see rush chances against the other team again #Canucks<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s true, the Canucks did get some solid rush attempts off during the first period. In fact, they outshot the Penguins eleven to six in the opening frame, and they did it by pressuring the Penguins and counter attacking them with rush attempts.<\/p>\n Evander Kane, who I believe gains 10mph to his stride if he\u2019s chasing down a puck for an offensive chance, does a good job harassing Caleb Jones into flubbing a pass into a turnover, and keeps skating hard so Garland can feed him the puck for the breakaway:<\/p>\n Once again, the Canucks utilized pressure in the defensive zone to create offence, as here Elias Pettersson deflects a pass in his own zone and turns it around into a counter rush that ends with Marcus Pettersson getting a good look at former friend Art\u016brs \u0160ilovs:<\/p>\n It felt like the Canucks did more with less, just in terms of generating chances off of counter attacks in the first period, whereas the Penguins had a lot of offensive zone time where the Canucks just kept them to the outside with nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n Evander Kane penalty? I need to hide my disbelief #canucks<\/a><\/p>\n Evander Kane drawing or taking a penalty is something I assume will happen in every single game until the end of time, so it was not surprising when Kane took the first penalty of the game in the middle of the first period.<\/p>\n It was here that Pittsburgh tried the \u201cwhat if Malkin BECAME ONE WITH Kevin Lankinen\u201d which I assume was inspired by the movie\u00a0Together:<\/p>\n Despite Malkin buying a plot of land in the blue paint, Kevin Lankinen made the save to keep the game tied.<\/p>\n Later on in the power play, Rickard Rakell is denied after getting a shot off of a Malkin rebound, as Tyler Myers and Kevin Lankinen fuse their bodies together to make the save:<\/p>\n Live by the fusion, die by the fusion.<\/p>\n Best excited use of caps lock<\/p>\n Connor Dewar did indeed light the lamp, and also forced me to play the \u201cDoes this dude capitalize a second letter in his last name anywhere?\u201d game. Sadly he is not named DeWar, which feels more intimidating, but what are you gonna do:<\/p>\n Pittsburgh works the puck around the boards and finds the point shot which is tipped in beautifully by the Penguins forward. I also assume Pittsburgh was like \u201cman, that took a lot of effort having to grind it out like that, why don\u2019t we just score off of the rush next period?\u201d because oh boy, I sure hope you like scoring chances off of the rush, because I have SO MANY OF THEM FOR YOU.<\/p>\n Not my Latvian king in the opposing team attire \ud83d\ude14 #canucks<\/a><\/p>\n Please take note of this scoring chance from Linus Karlsson late in the first period, where he drives the puck on net:<\/p>\n These were the good times you always reminisce about after the fact. This was the best time from this game. Right here.<\/p>\n I am also mostly doing this so we can applaud the Castle Fun Park Line, who were the most efficient line for Vancouver in terms of Corsi on the night.<\/p>\n Best legend of The Calendar Man<\/p>\n And on this day, Drew O’Connor’s new Stanchies nickname was born: Everyone welcome Calendar<\/p>\n From Botch calling Boeser \u201cThe Flow\u201d to the Chaos Giraffe being born in the Stanchies, nicknames are often like adopting a cat: you don\u2019t pick them, they choose you.<\/p>\n And while DOC is a fine nickname, it doesn\u2019t have enough panache for me. \u201cCalendar\u201d though? I can get behind that.<\/p>\n Now, as Tomlinson mentions on the broadcast, Jock Callander was a former Penguin, but \u201cCalendar\u201d is more fun because we can do jokes about days of the month and such. Also it\u2019s just really weird that someone\u2019s nickname is Calendar, which makes it perfect for us.<\/p>\n this pens canucks game is looking very mid vs mid rn like why does everyone just look so\u2026 bad<\/p>\n The second period, aka the downfall of the empire, had an awful lot of \u201c1 v one 1 me on Rust, bro\u201d energy to it, which I think naturally caused confusion with Bryan Rust, which gave us a bit of a weird middle frame.<\/p>\n It was also one of those moments where you do end up doing a \u201c1 v 1\u201d in Rust only to find out that, yup, you\u2019re terrible at this game and they are much much better than you.<\/p>\n Like I said earlier, the Canucks generated chances off of the rush in the first period, and then Penguins seemed more content to set up shop and cycle the puck.<\/p>\n Somewhere during intermission, though, things changed. I assumed Sidney Crosby stood up and gave a rousing speech of \u201chey let\u2019s try and score off of the rush, buds\u201d and the Penguins came out united with that goal in mind.<\/p>\n So instead of it just being the Canucks as the aggressor, it was the Penguins also stepping up and applying pressure to Vancouver into making mistakes and turnovers.<\/p>\n Here we have Tommy Novak casually tossing Max Sasson aside like that coupon Sports Chek always tries to hand off to you with your receipt, and then skates right around P.O Joseph in what can only be described as a picture perfect homage to Luca Sbisa:<\/p>\n Vancouver responded when Calendar attempted to go end to end early on in the period, but couldn\u2019t quite get the finish:<\/p>\n Drew continues to be one of those players who is big, but doesn\u2019t use his size, and is fast, but doesn\u2019t have the hands to match.\u00a0 He also doesn\u2019t really use his linemates all that well. You see him with his head down a lot of the time, and he will miss an open man, or take too long to make a play and you really have to wonder if his price point of 2.5 million might be a bit much. You can see the tools he has, and you see that 16 goal season from back in 2023, so you can see the vision in an ideal world.<\/p>\n It just feels like the idea of Calendar is more enticing than the results we\u2019ve seen so far.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like that slice of pumpkin pie at one in the morning. I see what you\u2019re going for, but I think you might end up having some regrets.<\/p>\n Which brings us back to the Penguins, and here we have Ben Kinden reading a play, as is his nature, picking off a pass attempt from Tyler Myers, forcing the Canucks defenceman to enter CG57 mode by racing back to block the ensuing shot:<\/p>\n And even the normal defensive stalwarts on the Canucks were losing the edge on the rush game, as he Conor Garland cannot contain Bryan Rust, who ends up walking in all alone on Kevin:<\/p>\n The Canucks were trying to keep up with the counter attack at this point, as here Quinn Hughes takes his turn intercepting a pass in the neutral zone and tries rushing it back for a goal:<\/p>\n And Evander Kane almost had a breakaway off of a counter attack off of a faceoff deep in his defensive zone, before having the puck hit off his stick:<\/p>\n But despite the kind of back and forth nature of the first half of the second period, it was the Penguins getting shots off, and not Vancouver. It was Lankinen having to make saves, and not Silovs.<\/p>\n #Canucks<\/a> have 2 shots this period. One from Jake DeBrusk and one from Joe LaBate<\/p>\n So with Calendar in the box for an offensive zone trip, aka every coaches favorite type of penalty, it wasn\u2019t too shocking to see the game start to slip away after the Penguins made it 2-1 on the powerplay:<\/p>\n For reasons I\u2019m still not sure of, Defensive enthusiast Elias Pettersson backs off of Novak as if inviting him to 1 v1 his goalie on Rust, and let me tell you, Novak won that duel.<\/p>\n And I mean, a lot of NHL players will kill you when you give them that much time and space. EP25 literally skates away from Novak and just sort of puts his stick out as a token gesture of friendship. I know he\u2019s trying to take away the passing lane at first, but at some point you need to slide over and take away the shooting lane.<\/p>\n The end result? The Canucks were down a goal.<\/p>\n Best showing signs of fatigue<\/p>\n I knew the boys would be tired and it\u2019s showing. They also have a back to back home game this weekend. <\/p>\n Ugh. Go #Canucks<\/a> Go<\/p>\n It was at this point it felt like things fell apart for the Canucks. Now instead of trading rushes with the Penguins, Pittsburgh was just auto-generating chances whenever they liked.<\/p>\n Moments after the goal you had Myers misplay a puck twice on the same play, resulting in Novak getting a semi-breakaway:<\/p>\n Then off of a draw you had Bryan Rust dangling around Quinn Hughes of all people:<\/p>\n Make no mistake about it, this was a team effort of getting dog walked by the Canucks.<\/p>\n And on the ensuing faceoff after that Rust attempt, Sidney Crosby put the Penguins up two goals, after he got tossed from the circle and seemingly said \u201cSounds good to me!\u201d and waltzed in an sniped home a goal:<\/p>\n Evander Kane takes himself out of the play right away, as if to let you know defence isn\u2019t his bag. Like, don\u2019t get him wrong, defence is cool, he has no problem with defence, it just isn\u2019t for him. He just sort of glides into the NetherRealm at one point after the puck is dropped.<\/p>\n This, combined with Sherwood flailing at the puck and missing it, led to Crosby basically walking in and getting all the time in the world to place his shot. And I haven\u2019t done the research yet, but I think Crosby is good at hockey? It feels like he\u2019s dangerous with the puck?<\/p>\n Best stop, stop, they\u2019re already dead<\/p>\n Anthony Mantha was the next man up to score a goal off of the rush! This time it was after the Canucks were pushing hard to generate offence, which makes sense, but the puck ended up being shoved down their throats, which also makes sense:<\/p>\n Defensive Petey kicked the puck back towards the Penguins zone, but Malkin is like \u201cyou wanna play football with me??\u201d and snags it. Justin Brazeau then sets the perfect \u201cwhoops, I was just skating and happened to run into you, silly me, tee hee!\u201d interference on DP25, which effectively cuts off his ability to catch up and help Marcus Pettersson defend the Malkin Rush. Malkin is of course Malkin, so he basically barges around MP3 no problem, getting a shot off that Lankinen fights off only to see Mantha out-muscle Sasson to the net to tap in the rebound.<\/p>\n This is the point in an online world where you politely rage quit and throw your PS5 down the stairs.<\/p>\n But in the real world, you have to play out ANOTHER PERIOD OF THIS.<\/p>\n And the Penguins, they didn\u2019t relent this period, as Malkin almost got another goal before the horn sounded:<\/p>\n Again, another scoring chance generated off of the rush for the Penguins.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re asking \u201cWyatt, where are the Canucks scoring chances?\u201d, I think we both know the answer to that.<\/p>\n Not a ton of good for the #Canucks<\/a> so far tonight but the Abby line’s stock keeps rising. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udcc8\ud83d\udcc8 <\/p>\n Everyone knows you\u2019re gonna have a decent time at Castle Fun Park.<\/p>\n Not the best night of the year. Probably not even the best night of the month.<\/p>\n But best night of the week? Now we\u2019re talking.<\/p>\n