RECAP: NUCKS WIN!!! Crush The Rags 2-1

It is still one of the sweetest wins - a win over the Rags. Yankee Canuck always said a win over the Rags is worth 10 over Atlanta. He hasn’t been around for awhile.

And crushing the raggies while on an amazing winning streak is sweetest of all.

jimmi.cynic

Some in the game thread didn’t see the win as a crushing victory. But a one goal win over the rags in mid ‘94 would be crushing indeed.

Since it was 90s night in the ROG, a one goal win is just the kind of payback we like. Sure, the timing is a little late, but still, it was a definitive crushing win over the rags. Ask Yankee. If he decides to join this decade.

The only downer about 90s night was the obvious absence of Trev. Maybe a conflict of scheduling. Or just a conflict of... we still don’t know.

Perhaps Marky is feeling some Capt. Kirk vibes.

Marky won the game over LA. The barn-burning young guns won the last one. How will the Nucks win this one? Other than in raggity-crushing style.

1st Period

A strong fast start is needed to take over the game and coast for forty.

And the Nucks in the first few minutes, for the nth game in a row, get the 1st goal!

From Roooooooooooos! Exciting! Not as exciting as Loui getting an apple, but a great shift from the Capt’n Bo line.

With safest lead in hockey firmly established the Nucks can prep for some special teams play.

Special, because for most of the period, the Rags were on a special 5-on-5 power play. So much O-zone time that even the game thread noticed.

Dear Nucks

the ice has two ends, use both of them.. — radivel

It’s not a good thing when the game thread notices this type of thing. Distracts us from the more important Italian vs Spanish shoe style debates.

And worse, the Rags use their special 5-on-5 power-play to score. We’re not saying special Ed was part of the lost man syndrome, since that man was lost after Eddie crushed him into the boards.

Oh well... The Nucks extra-special team killed off two Raggity 5-on-4 power-plays, so there’s hope yet for the 5-on-5 unit.

Period ends with a 1-1 tie and also tied on the shot count, NY putting 15 on Marky and the Nucks responding with an equal number, of 7 shots.

There’s some foreshadowing right there. 7 shots for the 7th win. But at the time, most in the game thread were having their 7th shot and felt it might not be enough to get through the rest of the game.

2nd Period

Not a perfect 1st, but we know the Nucks love their 2nd periods. Had 3 goals in the 2nd period last game. And only allowed 3 goals. Ok... not the best example.

Still... if there was a period where the Nucks dominated the Rags, this was it.

And while Pete hasn’t got on the board yet, his D-zone dekes are worth a few points alone.

The league’s highest scoring power-play was gifted 3 ops in the period. Not enough ops. Or shots.

soooo much passing

Not so much shooting — jimmi

dear power play players

shoot the puck yo

lots more than that — radivel

And worse, once on the power-play, the Rags are immune to any more calls and abuse Pete multiple times. The game thread called the CoTU Game Control Central, but there was no answer.

looks like after that penalty the rangers knew they could just hook Pete with impunity

and the refs wouldn’t dare call it — radivel

I know, you want to see a snipe from Pete and Brock highlight reel goal right now. Me too. But, that’s why we have last game on the PVR.

And why this game recap is a wall of text. Trying to explain how the league’s highest scoring PP went 0 for 3.

What a fucking surprise

Hughes and Pettersson play catch for 45 seconds and the rangers figure out where the pass is going. — Twitchy

Still... the Nucks win the period. On the shot count. Out shoot NY 14-8.

That’s a momentum shift right there. A game changing shift.

3rd Period

The Nucks start the period strong. The ROG can feel the pressure building. They know the Nucks can deliver sweet win seven at any moment.

Since the Rags aren’t sensitive to ROG fans feelings, they apply more pressure. And worse it seems the refs have gifted NY large chunks of 5-on-5 power-play time. Again? WTH?!

Like in the 1st period, the game thread is a little concerned about this unfair tilt of the ice.

pls Vancouver

when your opponents are not on the power play the game should not look like they are on a power play — radivel

Technical detail. We know it’s all the ref’s fault.

Doesn’t matter. We have Marky.

And better still, most Nucks are mostly keeping the Raggy 5-on-5 power play to the outside. And fewer Nucks are screening Marky’s sight lines.

And even better still, Marky is playing the game a few dozen milliseconds in the future. It’s like he knows where the puck will be a moment before it is.

Which is good, because at some points in the period, the rest of the Nucks were wondering where/how to get the puck and clear it without icing it.

How many icings? Let’s just say more icing than cake. To the point that Burkie had to comment on HNIC about it. He didn’t comment about this game of a 100 icings, but of a more important game played by the CoTU team.

Doesn’t matter.

What matters is that while the game thread is wincing under the couch, the Nucks are cooking something special.

Uh-huh, a short-handed 5-on-5 greasy special.

It’s all about getting a sneaky shot from the point. After a quick Quinn around the zone. Myers scores on a special floater. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Myers earns his money

pay him $6 million! — Westy

Not credited with the screen, but Loui provided a $6M distraction for our other $6M man.

It was Quinn who made this happen. He is the game-changing D-man of our lotto dreams.

Don’t forget to vote. Early and Often. As often as 10 times until Jan 10 per 24 hours. That’s only 5 days, so make your votes count, NM.

Anyhow, with the game already won, the Rags spirits are crushed. They may have outplayed the Nucks in most of the periods, but their payoff for all their hard work is losing. Some balance is restored to the universe.

Sure, they try to tie - even resorting to the 6-on-5 advantage. Which will fail just like their endless minutes of 5-on-5 PP time.

Besides, the Nucks know how to hang onto a lead against the Rags in the 3rd. And this lead only needed to be clung to for a minute and change.

And they clung like champs.

Win 7 heaven in the ROG!

Still... the game thread isn’t thrilled with mere destiny.

really luck to win that game

Marky 1st star on a lot of tough stops

Myers with the fluky quick flutterball to fool the goalie

and yet again, every shift in the 3rd Beagle/Schaller get hemmed in something awful. Sheesh, how about not putting them out there? — copey

Or... just enough tough stops.

The 4th line were canny. Wearing down the raggy forwards with lots of o-zone chances. Fake chances. And a canny flutterball is exactly how they planned to end the game.

Also... the Nucks played better as the game went on. Other than the little-big droops in the 1st and 3rd. Bend, bent, but not broken. That’s progress. Lucky progress? You decide.

Hey, how about this:

The Canucks’ home record is the 4th best in the whole league. — Atty

Also... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It’s a Saturday, so that means the HNIC highlights. Close your ears and open your mind.

GAME STATS (RAG CRUSHING STATS!)

PLAYER STATS (No one with worse than a -1 +/-)

Hear from the game’s 1st star, Marquis de Save.

Did you know Tyler has scored 16 game winners? Me neither. Pay attention SPW devotees.

Over in the Green Room, Trav is handing out credit notes to NY they can’t cash.

Is a 7 GAME WIN STREAK important?

Perhaps not. But, it has put the Nucks in the place we knew in October they could be, in the wild card race. Which we didn’t know in November.

So... yes, this win streak is important. It’s important not just for ROG hockey in early summer (that’s May for those in less summery locales). It’s important for this young talented group to gain confidence. And most important, it gives NM confidence in having confidence in our young players. And their still-quite-young teammates.

Stringing a big streak of wins together is more fun too. And we Nucks fans have endured a few lean years on the fun-to-watch scale.

Thanks, Canucks, for the Spectacular, the Sweet Super 7 Saturday!

On Tuesday, we’ll see if the Nucks can take their home skill and luck on the road. Nucks are in T-Bay to break up the Lightening’s 5-win straight. Because... we want eight.