WE’RE #1!!!

Nucks Shutout Loss Streak Extends League Lead.

And that’s the end of the good news portion of the recap.

While the Nucks battled pretty well against the Avs and savaged a pint, er point, the last two games were pointless. It was the NM game thread that were savaging pints. And today the savaging started early.

After the blowout in Glendale against the legendary Glendale Coyotes, you might have thought we’d fare better against a team we stole a win from.

But, that win was back in the early season when it was fun to watch hockey. Now it’s a grind-to-watch hockey. And these young Canucks haven’t been grinding hard enough on the current must-win road trip.

One might conclude that the ideal regular season for the young Nucks would be 48-55 games. If so, we’d now be in the 2nd round of the playoffs and getting our butts kicked.

This was game 66. Of 82. For those counting at home. This team looked beat. Last Thursday night. The extra rest in sin city didn’t seem to help.

Probably the best Nucks play of the game is right here...

And that was the end of Nucky feist night in Vegas.

1st Period

The Nucks are on the ice. So that’s good.

Even better, Marky is still in stellar form.

Shots were really close. 16-6 for Vegas. It’s only really lopsided when the other team outshoots us 3 to 1. 16-6 is really a little too close.

Fortunately, the score is closer than the game.

2nd Period

Unfortunately, this is the period where the score and the play were playing for the same team.

That team wasn’t the Canucks.

Marky was still making saves and too busy to take names.

In the game thread, copey provided this astute insight into the period.

that was a flat out - retarded period of hockey for the nucks. Painful, men vs boys looking stuff - even Petey’s just cheating for breakaways now. Brock getting lessons on how to backcheck - and poor Markstrom is left out to dry by a homer board bounce (on top of his teammates)

Out-played, out-chanced, out-blocked, out-everything including the score. It’s 3-0 Vegas after 2. Could have been 8-0 if not for Marky.

Vegas put 22 shots on Marky. The Nucks responded by putting 8 on Flower. And worse, didn’t get a shot past him.

Could be the Vegas flu. It can be really bad this time of year. Young millionaire hockey players can be especially susceptible to it.

3rd Period

First the good news. The Nucks didn’t allow any more Goals Against.

Second, the bad news. The Nucks didn’t allow any Goals For.

Third, the Nucks fired the fewest shots of any period this season. Put 5 shots on Fleury. 5. Not 10 or 20 or 30, but 5.

The comeback kids narrative isn’t coming back today.

At least Vegas dropped their shooting spree with just 10 shots on Marky. All were stopped.

OT

We weren’t allowed to have OT redemption. Despite the fact the Nucks Marky had tied the Stolen Knights in 40 minutes of play. Including the last 20. But, no, the unfair NHL scorekeepers brought forward the 3 goals that Vegas scored in those 20 minutes to forget.

Summary

Can the 2 Johns console us with a favourable video snip? Probably not. Although there’s video evidence that Marky was under siege. Not just by Vegas either.

The final shot count was ridiculous. 48 shots for Vegas and 19 shots for the Canucks.

The 48 shots that Marky saw is a near season high. Way to peak at just the wrong moment!

One-Sided Stats

No Goals (Again) Stats

So...while we at NM Depressed Fan Command were a little depressed to see no goals or no must-win battle level, how did the players feel about it?

Beagle chimed in to chirp himself

“This was tough,” he said. “I have to be better, have to compete harder. Things aren’t going easy for us right now; that’s no secret. Over the last 10 games, things haven’t been easy. When a stretch like that happens, you have to dig deep – myself included – and you have to be better. Let it make you into a better player and a better team instead of letting it break you. We have to really help Marky out. We can’t rely on him like that. We’ve done that a lot the past 10 games here, and it’s not right.”

Over in the shot-shocked Mobile Green room, the consensus was overwhelming.

We looked overwhelmed,” Canucks coach Travis Green conceded. “We were not very good. We couldn’t handle them. That’s what happens when you get a team that’s a Stanley Cup contender (against) a team that didn’t play well.

“I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in our game tonight. I know our team is. I don’t say that a lot, but tonight we were bad, and we’re going to have to be better.”

Marky managed to win the understatement battle.

“Today wasn’t good. From the start, they hemmed us in our zone and we weren’t good enough.”

This game was the type of game we were worried we might see this season. Low compete level and no scoring. At least we haven’t seen it until it seemed we might not. Reality bites sometimes.

How bad was this game, this 9th Shutout Loss of the season?

So bad, that Nucks PR Tweedlers could only ‘highlight’ a few spectacular Marky saves.

Every aspect of the team, but one, was exposed and found lacking. Lack of scoring. Lack of puck pressure. Lack of defence. No lack of 5 alarm saves tho. So... that’s good.

We know our D-corp have been playing above their skill level. Even when fully rostered-up.

And now it seems all the offensive hopes are on the skinny shoulders of a rookie. Seems when Pete scores, the rest of the team has a chance to score too. If not...well...NHL shutout loss records are available to play for. Pete has no points in 5 of his last 6 games. And Brock? Is he hurt or spent?

So many questions, so few answers. That’s not true. The Nucks powerplay didn’t have to answer anything. No PP chances in the game, luckily. The PK was perfect twice... so... that’s a positive.

The Nucks must throw this game, this lack of compete in the bin. Need to find that hard-to-play-against, never quit mojo again. And soon.

Because the Center of the Universe is coming to the ROG on Wednesday. It’s the most important road game for the most important team in hockey. The Canucks need to show them what is really important. Other than getting at least one goal.

Win or lose, they need to display the never-quit, fun-to-watch style that made them fun to watch. The last sweet 16 games need to have at least a taste of sweetness. Bittersweet we can distil on our own.

Enjoy the March of Doom. It’s already upon us.