The draftists will morn until morning, but the Nucks are on a

2 GAME WIN STREAK!!

ALL WON In The ShootOut!

This game was pencilled or liquid penicillin’d in as a Dallas win by the Chief of SPW Rigging and Fair Play. Westy needs to speak better Swedish. Because Marky defied him and all 8 Dallas SO shootout artists.

This was the 2nd game for Quinn so there was twice as much pressure as the first game. Welcome to Vancouver, kid. We never stop asking for more.

1st Period

The game starts. The Nucks are waiting for the visitors to score first. And waiting. With a ROG tradition on the line, the Nucks 4th line says, “screw it!” and goes out and gets the first goal, crashin’ an’ bangin’ style.

Newly anointed StarsKiller, Schaller, stuffs the puck past Khudobin after some tough boardwork by Granny and Beagle.

Under 5 minutes in and the Nucks have a 1-0 lead in the ROG. HNIC is struggling to the read the program notes.

Dallas is supposed to dominate - they must have the 2 points. HNIC says so. But, the Nucks are playing some sort of hard-to-play against game. In the first period!

What happens next can only be described as beautiful. In a poetic payback moment to the greedy Faeries of October.

Sven snipes a goal!

Brock with the apple. No apples for Pete. Maybe he can get some veggies later.

The game thread, the ROG and HNIC are watching the Nucks lead by TWO goals! In the first!

Shots were even 12-12 at the end of the first where it was tough to tell which team was going to the post season TV dance series.

2nd Period

This period was more even than expected, but the Stars started putting more pressure on. While the Nucks bent a little, Marky was perfect and so were each team’s PK. Technically, the Nucks PK was more perfect, because they faced the 5th best PP in the league vs the 33rd. In the lower mainland.

No exciting Quinn dekey assist this period. That might have started a Qinnvacious fever that the ROG wouldn’t ever recover from. We need to save something for next season anyhow.

The Nucks preserve the 2 goal lead. After 40 minutes. The waay over confident game thread believes it will be easy to maintain for another 20.

3rd Period

And through the first 10 minutes of the period, despite the unrelenting double-shifting of the Dallas top line, the Nucks are holding the fort, the lead and our delicate regulation win hopes.

Turns out, our reg win hopes aren’t that delicate and secretly we’re hoping for another ‘The Shift’ like Thursday where Pete, Brock and Quinn kept the puck on a string for a full minute.

Also turns out, Dallas even with their elite top line snipers, is unafraid of ugly goals. And in combination with Hutton taking some of Quinn’s shifts, the Nucks D we’ve seen so much of this season - some say too much - have trouble clearing the puck.

Did I mention playing with Quinn makes Schenn better. Playing with Hutton...well...

It’s only one goal. It’s still a lead. As we know (too well), a one goal Nucks lead in the 3rd is just as safe as a 3 or 4 goal lead.

With the $6M LittleThing keeping no pressure in the Dallas zone, puck comes up the ice. And Radulov has it. No worries. Marky has been denying Radu all night.

But he hasn’t faced a Radulov shot tipped by Stetch’s skate so far.

Not saying Hutton playing with Stetch is not good, but it’s not a lucky pucky combo on the night.

UNLESS... the Nucks strategy all game was to wait for the opportunity for some Quinntessential Dekey Pete Brockstar 3-on-3 excitement.

And the oppourtunity arrives. The Nucks shutdown the Stars attempt at 2 points in 60 minutes. While Dallas outshoots the Nucks 13-8 in the period and score 2, the ROG is rippling with 3-on-3 dazzling anticipation.

Pete almost blew our 3-on-3 dazzlement entitlement on the PP. Launched a shot so hard that it almost broke the glass behind the net. Good thing it didn’t hit the net, that would have broken the netting and denied us the wide open spaces of entitled entertainment.

OT

The Stars get the first shift of pressure. But as the period went on the P-B-Q almost duplicated their ‘The Shift’ from the last game. And it wasn’t interrupted with the tediousness of a PP. Really feel the league must adopt a rule that if the Nucks are tied or leading after one, the rest of the game will be played 3-on-3.

As exciting as it was to watch, we’ll have to wait a little longer for a Quinning OT goal. How’s Tuesday for you?

SO

Back-to-Back shootouts in the ROG. Dallas has some skilled shooters. We have a skilled goalie. And vice versa.

Marky is stopping pucks and stealing games. That means Granny must end the game or the Nucks will be charged ROG overnight game fees.

Here’s the HNIC video to make you pine for the 2 Johns.

Winning Game Stats

Winning Team Stats

Marky was great. Fully deserved the 1st star. Even with the secret Nucks Game Entertainment Command’s directive about OT must happen working against him. He still finished with a .950 SV% and a 1.00 in the SO.

One of the few Nucks D to be a plus 1, Quinn, wants to work on his shootout moves. Probably by Tuesday.

Sven is happy to be a selfish sniper again - spending dozens and dozens and dozens of games with the BC Faeries will do that to you.

Over in the Green Room, the media was worried about Quinn’s low PP time. Good thing they have tempered their expectations as well as the rest of us.

A really good game. As all wins are. Because we’re shallow and needy this time of year and not thinking of distant lotto odds. That’s something to think about and grimace in a couple weeks. Plenty of time for what-iffing.

Only 3 games left on the reg sched. That was quick. Feels like at least 5 more to go. Next Tuesday the dreaded Sharks are in our tank for the final home game of the season. Since the Sharks edged Vegas in OT, we’re fully entitled to edge SJ in OT too. That would be a Hughes success for our final home game of the season.

So...keep your Sunday/Monday clean and ready your filthy upset for Tuesday.