The Vancouver Canucks’ season ticket renewal emails went out this week, so it was a great time for the Canucks to lay an egg on home ice.
Actually, if the Canucks had laid a literal egg on the ice, that might have actually improved ticket sales. People would be like, “Whoa, where did that egg come from?! I’m going to tell all my friends and make sure we come to future home games in case they do it again!”
Alas, the egg-laying on the ice was merely metaphorical, as was the goose egg on the scoreboard, a figure of speech for the zero goals the Canucks scored against the Los Angeles Kings.
Is it at all surprising that the Canucks were badly outplayed by the Kings?
Of course not.
The Kings are in the midst of a playoff race, just one point back of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They’re desperate for every point they can get, and that desperation is showing on the ice, as they worked to win every battle.
Those battle wins led to territorial domination, especially in the second period, which is where the game was essentially decided. Shot attempts were 34-to-8 for the Kings at 5-on-5 in the second period.
“Dots to the boards, that’s where playoff teams play,” said Canucks head coach Adam Foote. “They’re big, they’re heavy, they’re desperate, and they want to make the playoffs. And they came out flying in the second.”
Meanwhile, the Canucks are just playing out the stretch, with little to play for beyond trying to establish some sort of culture for the future and auditioning to be part of said future.
“It’s hard knowing that we’re eliminated, obviously,” said Brock Boeser. “Other teams have so much to play for…It can be hard at times, but you’ve got to keep the right mindset. A lot of guys have a lot to play for to finish the year out here. We’ve got to stick together as a team, we’ve got to work hard.”
Much has been said about the improved vibes around the Canucks room, with young players like Zeev Buium and Tom Willander saying all the right things about creating a culture in Vancouver, but games like this one show that the team has an incredibly long way to go. There should be no illusions about where they’re starting from: it’s square one.
“It’s hard on everybody right now. It’s not easy,” said Filip Hronek. “But we have to learn from this. No one else is going to help us; we have to keep grinding.”
It’s true: no one helped me when I watched this game.
“We had them in the first,” said Foote after the game about a period in which they were outshot 15-to-7.
That’s a pretty common Foote-ism, usually said when a game has gotten completely away from the team in the second period. In other words, he’s had plenty of opportunities to say it this season. One has to wonder, does Foote know what “had them” means?
The only reason the Canucks were only down by one goal after the first period is that Kevin Lankinen made a series of sterling saves. Thankfully, they weren’t Scott Sterling saves, or Lankinen might not have made it back onto the ice for the second period.
It took a power play and a lucky deflection for the Kings to open the scoring late in the first. Scott Laughton set up shop in front of Lankinen, and Quinton Byfield’s shot from the top of the right faceoff circle deflected in off Laughton’s knee. There wasn’t much Lankinen could have done, except maybe politely ask his penalty killers not to allow a free shot from the top of the right faceoff circle.
The Kings made it 2-0 early in the second period, as a floating point shot from Mikey “Adult-Man-Named-Mikey” Anderson was tipped in by Trevor Moore, who was left wide open by Liam Öhgren. That’s the kind of thing that happens in a defensive system that asks rookie forwards to try to defend the front of the net as if they’re veteran defencemen.
Byfield initially didn’t get an assist on the goal, despite it appearing as if he tipped Anderson’s shot. Then he was granted an assist…and then it was taken away again. Man, what a roller coaster ride that was.
I feel like this one play encapsulates the Canucks’ offensive efforts in this game (which were definitely offensive): the BRÖ Line has a decent build-up with a couple of good passes, as Liam Öhgren gains the zone and finds Marco Rossi, who feeds Brock Boeser streaking up the right wing. And then, just as he’s about to unleash his shot, the puck rolls right off Boeser’s stick.
The Canucks created some quality chances, particularly Nils Höglander and Elias Pettersson in the third period, but the recipients of their passes kept missing the net or failing to even get a shot off. There was just a complete lack of payoff to some quality setups, as if they were directed by J.J. Abrams.
Tom Willander had a marathon shift midway through the second period, as he got trapped on the ice for over three minutes — 3:17, to be exact. It was partly his own fault, as he iced the puck 1:20 into his shift, but Nils Höglander and Linus Karlsson also failed to get the puck deep enough for a line change, leaving him absolutely exhausted as he desperately defended in his own zone.
Willander was clearly frustrated on the bench, whether with himself or his forwards who failed to help him out. My amateur lip-reading skills see, “You’re f*cking kidding me…Three f*cking minutes?”
“That stuff starts with the turnovers, honestly,” said Boeser. “When the forwards don’t get the puck deep, it results in the D no being able to change. I think that’s just awareness out there — you need to have the awareness of when one of your D is super tired, and you’ve got to help them get off the ice. You’ve got to grind one out, get to the red line, and get the puck deep for them.”
Speaking of turnovers, Jake DeBrusk had an ugly one in the final minute of the second period. Under pressure from Adrian Kempe, DeBrusk handed the puck right to Artemi Panarin, who flipped a deceptive backhand past Lankinen’s blocker after Lankinen had robbed him with a pair of glove saves earlier in the game.
Down by three goals, Foote decided to pull Lankinen for the extra attacker with 5:36 left in regulation, which is certainly a choice. That’s definitely a thing you can do. The official NHL rules do not preclude such a scenario.
Byfield scored into the empty net from the neutral zone to make it 4-0 and, as pointed out by Adam Kierszenblat, he helped the Canucks set a new franchise record for the most empty goals against in a single season with 21, surpassing last season’s new franchise record of 20. This isn’t because the Canucks have been in a bunch of close games, but largely because Foote has insisted on pulling the goaltender to go 6-on-5 when games are completely out of reach.
The game had a little brouhaha before the final horn, as a tussle broke out with just over a minute left. Every skater on the ice got involved to one degree or another, though it appeared to start with Linus Karlsson and Samuel Helenius continuing the Sweden-vs-Finland feud in the neutral zone.
The scuffle featured some bush league stuff from Kings forward Jeff Malott, who first went after Linus Karlsson, then Teddy Blueger, and finally Tom Willander. He was going after players already engaged with another King and throwing punches over top of linesmen, all while his team was up 4-0 with barely a minute left in the game. The 6’5” winger, who has 10 points in 67 career games at the age of 29 and had a grand total of 7:19 in ice time in this game, was well deserving of Willander’s burn: “Do you even play hockey?”
That’s some “Do you even lift, bro?” energy from Willander.
That clip also shows a very upset Zeev Buium leaving the ice after he dropped the gloves with Brandt Clarke in the midst of the melee. It was his first career fight, but he at least had a little practice beforehand.
“You lose like that, especially on home ice, it’s never fun,” said Buium. “You see your teammates getting jumped a little bit — they’re up 4-0, I don’t think that necessarily needs to happen — but I’m glad that we all stuck up for each other.”
It’s nice to see some fire and passion from the Canucks’ young players, though it would be preferable for that fire and passion to show itself in improved play on the ice rather than harsh burns and fisticuffs, but when the team is in last place, fans will take what they can get. The Canucks have gone gentle into that good night a few too many times in recent years. Sometimes, you need a little rage against the dying of the light.
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