GAME RECAP #4: NUCKS WIN! A Pathetic Loss - Stabbed 5-2 by Sabres

There are good games and there are bad games. There’s good losses. And there’s freaking horrible losses.

The loss in Detroit was a good game they coulda/woulda/shoulda won.

This loss was a lack of effort, not talent. Except for the early 15 minutes, the Nattered Look Nucks were out-worked and out-played by this necking bottom feeding team. Yay for league parity.

And worse, they came out tied in the 3rd and instead of pushing the pace, they got pushed into the Schenny zone. That’s not a good zone - only made worse by the unthinking Mifflering and oopsie Hunting.

THE GOOD

There must be something... Looking for it... ummm... here it is. Bo got his 1st goal of the year!

Dowling got his 1st goal of the year! Tip of the Weighty NM Stick to him.

So that’s pretty good.

THE BAD

Everything else. Poor effort. No jump. No zip. No hits (ok a few). No matter. It’s like the Neutered Look Nucks felt their play in Detroit would be good enough to win against one of the worst teams in the league.

It wasn’t. Sure, we missed Huggie. And Burroughs. And Schenn and Hunt should be saved for the tank section of the season.

well this sucks

and the temperature just rose on Green significantly

Canucks still have no clue in their own zone, and Schenn is supposed to be stronger than that; meanwhile Hunt is -3 and is looking the candidate for back to riding the pine next game — copey

But in all the previous games in the season, the Nucks were playing decent team D. Tonight’s afternoon tilt, it was every player for themselves run ‘n gun with not much runnin’ and less gunnin’ from the big guns.

Worse, Hunt had the MOST shot on goals of any Nucking player with 5. More than Pete or Brock or Miffedler and so on. If Hunt is going to be our offensive defenceman for the season... well.. let’s start picking our top 5 picks for next year’s draft.

THE FUGLY

Everything else. There were some blown calls that cost us more futile PP chances. So thanks, NHL, for keeping your officiating standards low and easily vilified.

Holy fack the officiating has been atrocious so far this season. How does the ref miss that trip literally right in front of him?? — Twitchy

But as much as it pains me... the Nucks didn’t lose because of reffing. Worse, they didn’t lose because of the Sabres amazing play. Which was pretty good. No, the fugling fugly truth was the Nucks beat themselves by giving up early and often.

can we try reverse hockey where we run out 4 lines of 3 defensemen and play 6 forwards total in 3 pairs — Raddy

That’d be...

Great...then we’d have 12 skaters who can’t remember what they’re supposed to do. — Twitchy

The PP is still too static and not even Brock could save it. PP2 had a better time gaining the zone than PP1 who kept waiting for Huggie to carry the puck in. It was a long wait. Maybe the PP1 unit didn’t get the word about him not being dressed for the game.

Like most of the Nucks. Sure... they dressed, but weren’t ready to play hard and defensively responsible.

The effort of the top stars was dark star material. Oh well... at least Brock will coming back soon. As will Huggie. Hopefully sneaky Pete will show up next time.

Can’t score on the PP - can’t defend on the PP. Can’t win games on the road. Sound familiar?

GAME STATS (Stop reading now)

	SOG	FO%	PP	PIM	HITS	BLKS	GVA
Canucks VAN	34	48%	0/3	6	10	10	4
Sabres BUF	43	52%	0/3	6	14	5	8

MISSED SHOT SPOTTING (Hunting for sharper shooting)

PLAYER STATS (Hunting for sharper playing)

Eastern road games are not our friends. How about road pressers?

When your team’s leaders can’t lead themselves out of the lethargy of not trying, it’s time to call out the coaching. The GMing. The Owning. Possibly the rest of the universe - except its center, because... reasons.

Is it time already to stock the wine cellar, the rum larder and re-wring the crying towels? Perhaps a tad too soon, but if the Nucks can’t better prepare for their games, at least we can better prepare for their lack of prep work.

This young group of hot shots aren’t entitled to a false sense of entitlement. They’ve proved nothing other than a fluky run through a quarantined Cup party. They have to work harder than the other team - no matter who they play - every shift. And playing as a team would be good too.

Am I over-reacting? You bet. As a too-long-term Nucks fan, I have developed high sensitivity to consecutive losses early in the season. 2 in a row and the twitching starts.

At least this is the last game of this 2 3 4 scheduled losses road trip. Sure, there’s 2 more games on the fake schedule, but those won’t count because... uh... one more afternoon letdown.

If this road trip is an indicator, a preview of the season to come - it could be a long, puck-gazing slog through the icy fields of frostbitten double-digited losing streaks.

UNLESS...

Boofoolow and ‘Troit are actually going to the dance and will be vying for the Prez Cup at season end. Could happen. And the Nucks can redeem themselves with another season of mediocrity and hapless basement living.

That’s not so bad.