clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Canucks leave Boston smiling after winning 4-2.

Daniel Sedin scored goal number 347 and 348 to become the Canucks all-time goal scoring leader as the Canucks beat Boston.

By westy99
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

The Canucks went into Boston try to figure out how to get shots on goal without Henrik Sedin. The past 3 three games for Canucks opposition have been like a Carny gun game, but the Carny is drunk and keeps letting you fire away until you win the super big stuffed bear. I am pretty sure that every square inch of Ryan Miller has stopped a puck over the past two games. The defensive scheme of the Canucks is…how do I put this….terrible. No one seems to be able to carry the puck out, or shot the puck off the boards or even ice it. The Bruins are winners of three straight and they are hanging on to 7th in the east. No Brandon Prust for tonight and I’m sure Brad Marchand’s balls have dropped after learning of that. Jakob Markstrom got the start tonight and Mike Zalewski gets his first start of the year and his third as a Canuck.

1st period

A classy pre-game ceremony by the Bruins for NWHL PLAYER Denna Laing who crashed head first into the boards during the Womens Winter Classic.

The first minute of play sums up the Canucks in the past few games. The Bruins get into the Canuck zone too easily, then the Bruins win the board battles and get 3 shots off while the Canuck forwards are running around and the defensemen (Bart) make bad decisions on trying to get the puck out of the zone. The defensemen really have been bad the past three games when it comes to skating the puck out and making that first pass out of the zone.

And like the other past three games, the Canucks were able to go against the flow of the game and score. As Vrbata was able to get a nice pass up to a speeding Sven who looked like he fanned but Rask just whiffed on it. We’ll take it.

The rest of the period was a mess offensively for the Canucks as Bart got two weak shots off at Rask and then McCann got off a wrist shot. That was it, four shots in the first for the Canucks. The Nucks never got any offensive pressure. Shots were 11-4 Bruins. The only other highlight was this.

2nd Period

The Canucks defense still had issues getting the puck out of their own end but when they did they were actually able to get some shots off this period. Unfortunately the best chance was by Dorsett who was legitimately held by the Bruin player, but Dorsett will never get that call. Derek was also run into the boards head first in the first and never got that call either.

The second line really was the driving force as Radim/Bo/Sven had some good speed and passing through the neutral zone. I think this is the issue giving Canucks management pause about getting rid of Radim before the deadline and maybe re-signing him. He is still that sniper that is needed away from Line 1. But I’m not sure it’s a good idea to keep him unless it’s for $4 million/yr. (#teamtank is getting ready to write me)

Let’s get right to the end of the period. Emerson Etem just missed a wrap-around goal and a couple minutes later Chris Tanev was in the corner participating in a puck battle and was nudged head first into the boards. Chris stayed down for a few seconds and then got up and went to play his position and ended up tipping the puck by Markstrom to make it 1-1. Here is one angle, which is not the best.

And here is another view of the hit.

Did Spooner hit him? Yes. I think Tanev was already off balance and that nudge with Tanev so close to the boards, it was a dangerous play. Tanev should have stayed down instead of getting back into the play. Force the ref to blow the whistle if you’re hurt. I know it goes against Tanev’s character to do so as he probably believed that if he stayed down the Bruins would have scored. Instead his skate deflected the puck by Markstrom.

The period ended 1-1 and the shots in the second were 12-11 in the Canucks favor.

3rd period

So we see that when the Canucks get more shots than the opposition they get scored on, so maybe go back to rope a dope? Ok, maybe not the best plan either. Tanev was out for a shift in early third and dumped the puck in and the third line was able to get the puck out to Burrows who buried it passed Rask.

Alex Burrows scoring in 2 consecutive games is great. Alex scoring against Boston is awesome.

Just under 3 minutes later as the Canucks are trying to break out of their own zone, Hansen looks up before he follows through and fans on a pass. Bergeron gobbles that up and slides it over to Marchand, who puts it passed Markstrom. I guess if Burrows scores, it’s only fitting the other pain scores.

The Canucks did a good job of going right back at the Bruins and had some chances that were created by defensemen shooting the puck. First Edler and then Sbisa each fired shots towards the net that led to Rask having make a save in a sea of Canuck shirts in front of the net.

Just over 7 minutes into the period the first line gets its first real pressure shift of the game in the Bruins end as the defense is able to keep the puck in and the forwards buzz around the boards. Jannik Hansen completes a give and go by passing the puck out of the corner to Tanev in the lane. Tanev’s shot was saved but Daniel Sedin puts the puck into the net and becomes the Canucks all-time leading scorer.

Jake Virtanen rang another one off the post just a minute later and then the first line went hard on the next shift. I haven’t mention Markstrom much but he was steady and made a great save on Loui Eriksson with 8 minutes left.

The third period Canucks looked like a confident team. They skated out of their zone better, they made better passes coming out of the defensive zone, and they finished checks and spent more time in the Boston zone. The final minute saw this line of Daniel Sedin, Dorsett and Vey out there. I know! Vey played a good game. He has seen a lot of praise on Twitter from guys who have Vey voodoo dolls ready to go. So after an icing Edler blocks a shot, Dorsett collects the rebound and passes to Vey who skates it out and passes to Daniel who scores goal number 348 into an empty net.

Canucks pull off a Nucks Misconduct score prediction 2011-11 win. 4-2 Daniel GWG.

Game stats can be found here. They look a lot better than the past few games.

More From Nucks Misconduct