Game Recap: Canucks let in a goal, refs add two more for a 3-2 Canucks loss.

I love the Vancouver Canucks.

I love it when the Canucks are on a winning streak. And when the Canucks went into Nashville they were on a 3 game winning streak. The Predators were looking to try and finish first in the Central division and had beat the Canucks the last time they had meet in December.

The newest Canuck, Brogan Rafferty got his first NHL after being signed earlier in the week.

Woah…ok then.

1^st period

I’m not sure how many of you were actually watching the game on the west coast, but let me say it was the best 5 minutes of the season. I had homemade bread with pasta and sauce with bacon, with a nice red wine. The hockey part was so-so. The play was back and forth to start and eventually the Preds were the first team to misbehave as Wayne Simmonds hooked Jake and went to the box. By the time I finished my second piece of bread the Canucks PP was almost over. The Canucks needed a little give and go to get on the board as Quinn Hughes exactly what we all hoped he would. Hughes gained the blueline and passed off to Granlund, who was smart enough to give it back to Hughes who then was able to draw three Preds over to him. Hughes then passed it back over to Granny who switched to the backhand and beat fellow Finn, Pekka Rinne.

1-0 Canucks was enough to wake up Filip Forsberg as he leveled Troy Stetcher with a Kronwall type ass hit. And then Forsberg tried a between the legs shot on Marky.

The Preds decided to try and cheat after that and add a 7th player on the ice at one point, but they got caught and the Canucks got another PP. The first unit couldn’t really into the offensive zone, but the Hughes unit sure could.

Hughes was able to get the puck at the point and fired it on net where it rebounded out to Pearson, who hit the crossbar and the back of Rinne and into the back of the net.

2^nd period

My dinner was done and I was debating a cup of coffee. It took Colin Scissons that amount of time to get a quick chance and a puck to get through Marky’s legs after the whistle had blown. The continuous motion “rule” was put into play as the puck kept moving and no one else touched it….so the refs whistle has no power to stop the play. 2-1 Canucks

The ruling was made in accordance with Rule 38.4 (ix), which reads in part, ”The video review process shall be permitted to assist the Referees in determining the legitimacy of all potential goals… include situations whereby the Referee stops play or is in the process of stopping the play because he has lost sight of the puck and it is subsequently determined by video review that the puck crosses (or has crossed) the goal line and enters the net as the culmination of a continuous play where the result was unaffected by the whistle (i.e., the timing of the whistle was irrelevant to the puck entering the net at the end of a continuous play).”

There were some good chances by both teams as the Canucks worked it around the Preds end and the Preds had some breakout chances. At one point I saw a line of Elias, Brock, Jake, Hughes and ….Rafferty. The future looks pretty good if a couple more defensive pieces can be found.

Quinn Hughes already had 2 points in the game, but then he decided to get on the scoresheet with his first penalty as his stick was caught under the other Granlund’s arm and caused him to fall. PK time for the Canucks. The Canucks did a good job of not letting the Preds set up in the zone and killed off the penalty.

It is hard to add to a lead when you can’t get shots on net and the Canucks didn’t get one shot on Rinne during the first 10 minutes and the Preds got a second PP. The half of the PK was great, the second half had a lot of action around Marky and even after the penalty was over the Preds stayed in the Canucks zone for another minute peppering Markstrom. 14:23 into the period the shots were 11-1 Preds.

The last 5 minutes were very entertaining to watch as chances were exchanged again ,but one thing that was more than obvious was that the Canucks defense was getting pushed around by a larger team. Troy Stetcher took several hard hits as did Hutton and Hughes. And by hard I mean their ass ended up on the ice. The Canucks defense will be a hot topic this summer.

3^rd period

By this time, I was considering bed even though it seems early. Without playoffs on the horizon, my old body is ready to shut it down for the year. The Preds on the other hand were ready to play as they got out to quick 2 on 1 and Nick Bonino was robbed by Marky. And then Marky decided to crush the hopes of Roman Josi with his glove.

7 minutes in and I wasn’t sure that the Canucks would be in the Preds zone again. I was excited for a second when I saw Leivo, Jake and Gauds out there because they are big and like to shoot, but none of them are great set up men.

The Preds were really keeping up the pressure while giving up the odd man rush, but when guys like Schaller elect to shoot instead of pass…well…fuck. Arvidsson had a break away which Marky stopped with the blocker.

Nick Bonino was really excited when he put the puck into the net, but the reason was net was so open was the fact Marky was stopped from moving the Preds Watson. The refs disagreed with that as well and kept it as a goal. 2-2.

I don’t get the call. I guess I need to watch more games.

The rest of the game was more of a neutral zone trap until Petey and Brock couldn’t get the puck out of their end and Stetcher went to the ice to try and block a pass and instead deflected it into his own net. 3-2 Preds in the last minute and that was the game.

Overall the Canucks were outplayed by a better team. It is just a little frustrating that I’m thinking about the refs instead of how the Canucks should have played better.

Stupid refs.

One more game left in the year. Hope to see you all on Saturday afternoon.