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RECAP #13: NUCKS WIN! Another Habitual Loss - Lose 5-3 with Dignity*

*Better Effort - Same Result - Loose Play, Sinks Pucks

By jimmi.cynic
NHL: Vancouver Canucks at Montreal Canadiens
Demko Gets Toffee Stains On His Net
Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Great News!

We don’t play Montreal again! This month.

Not signing Toffee in the off season wouldn’t have hurt us so much if the NHL had put the Pacific division in their own bubble - on a ship off Tofino.

Instead, the NHL put us in the same division as a jilted sharp shooter who has scored 8 goals in 5 games against the Nucks. Seriously pissed former sharp shooter - “He should have scored them last year”, according to Pete.

The Nucks and their current head coach needed to change things up otherwise the insanity of playing the same way could be a distraction at the draft lottery.

Since the first line was so terrible last night - with giveaways that gave away 3 goals - Miller and Brock were swapped with Hoggie & Pearson. It was an instant 33% improvement.

The blended 1A, 1B lines helped the Defeat With Dignity cause. Only lose by 2 goals. Toffoli goals some, other than JB, might say.

THE GOOD:

  • 1st Road PP Goal of the season from a beauty wrister from Pete.
  • Demko is playing great.
  • Rous got a goal. Coulda had 2 but for not passing the bar rules.
  • Nucks get a late 6-on-5 goal. Faint hope is better than none.
  • Nucks WIN. A stat. Out shot Montreal 39-33.
  • Eddie got a penalty for cross-checking Perry. And Nucks PK endorsed the play with a perfect kill.
  • Nucks PP didn’t give up a shortie against. I know... a small detail, but a seriously big one.
  • PK killed all 4 penalties - including a 2 man down call for being too much man during a PK.
  • Didn’t give up a goal or more early in the 1st. Waited until later in the 1st to go down 2.
  • Don’t have to worry about Montreal for a month.

THE BADD:

  • Road trip in eastern hell is only half over. The worst half is yet to come.
  • Demko was a victim of 2 unlucky bounces and Toffee tips and stains.
  • Miller was better, but still giving up the puck at the worst possible moments.
  • Myers and Sutter try to play middle of the rink chicken and get roasted on... turnovers.
  • Nucks Puck management is still trapped in middle management red tape.
  • Brainfart too many men penalty during the PK.
  • Something is bugging Pete. Is it Miller? Not going to resign here? Maybe it’s just the annoying NM rumour mongers.

THE FUGLY:

  • Turnovers served fresh and hot. FFS! Tonight’s bakery put a dozen on a plate. Which the Habs ate with relish. And yet Montreal gave away even more, 17, but the Nucks are still watching the puck and their diet.

At first look it seems much better

Passing was better… goaltending was definitely better… scoring happened a bit… but giveaways, defensive breakdowns, turnovers and brainfarts still survived and flourished. — Twitchy

  • If even the game thread can’t figure out the Habs, what chance do the Nucks have?

Montreal is faster

or they just get into positions better and therefore don’t have to be faster — Westy

  • 35-40 minute speed limit in a 60 minute game.
  • Toffee has scored more goals on the Canucks in just 5 games than any other Montreal player in Habs history. Really? WTF!

Here’s the highlights with the 2 Johns. Actually there were 3. Highlights. Needed to be 6.

GAME STATS (Improved Stats - Get Bonus Points For That, right?)

SOG FO% PP PIM HITS BLKS GVA
Canucks
VAN
 39 49% 1/3 8 26 13 12
Canadiens
MTL
 33 51% 0/4 6 20 11 17


PLAYER STATS (Line Blender lotto almost pays off)

# Forwards GP G A P P +/- S PIM PIM SOG HITS BLKS GVA TKA FO% TOI PP TOI SH TOI PP GW
6 B. Boeser 0 1 1 1 -2 3 0 3 0 0 0 1 20:43 3:36 --:-- 0
9 J.T. Miller 0 1 1 1 -1 4 0 4 6 3 2 0 100 23:31 3:19 0:45 0
20 B. Sutter 0 0 0 0 -2 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 35 12:26 --:-- 1:49 0
26 A. Roussel 1 0 1 1 1 3 2 3 3 0 0 0 10:34 --:-- 0:32 0
36 N. Hoglander 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 1 0 15:06 1:14 --:-- 0
40 E. Pettersson 1 0 1 1 -1 5 0 5 0 0 0 1 50 19:51 3:19 --:-- 1
53 B. Horvat 0 0 0 0 -2 3 0 3 0 0 0 1 50 22:57 3:36 --:-- 0
64 T. Motte 0 0 0 0 -1 1 0 1 5 0 0 1 25 13:16 --:-- 3:49 0
70 T. Pearson 1 0 1 1 -1 5 2 5 1 0 1 0 16:47 0:57 0:05 0
71 Z. MacEwen 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 6:59 --:-- 0:12 0
83 J. Beagle 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 88 10:32 --:-- 4:02 0
96 A. Gaudette 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 50 7:24 0:57 --:-- 0
# Defense GP G A P P +/- S PIM PIM SOG HITS BLKS GVA TKA FO% TOI PP TOI SH TOI PP GW
8 J. Benn 0 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13:14 --:-- 1:56 0
23 A. Edler 0 0 0 0 -1 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 19:32 --:-- 2:27 0
43 Q. Hughes 0 3 3 3 -1 4 0 4 1 1 2 0 23:45 3:36 --:-- 0
57 T. Myers 0 0 0 0 -1 3 0 3 2 1 1 0 25:04 1:14 4:07 0
63 J. Chatfield 0 0 0 0 -1 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 13:03 --:-- 0:48 0
88 N. Schmidt 0 0 0 0 -1 1 0 1 0 1 3 0 19:53 0:57 2:42 0
# Goalies GP REC GA SV SA S EV PP SH SAVE-SHOTS SV% PIM TOI GAA
35 T. Demko -- 28 32 24–28 4–4 0–0 28–32 .875 0 57:20


Game thread still has half an empty of optimism which we thought were fully consumed on the weekend.

Not too shabby, much better.

Could have gone either way.

We’ll get them next time. — Atty

Or...

I think it only goes one way — Westy

Actually the game thread spent their focus on more important stuff... like ruminations.

Another loss is just another loss to ruminate over. Let’s go to the zoom room for the team Toffee baiting.

FUN FACT: Nucks have won this season only when they score 4 goals or more.

LESS FUN FACT: Nucks have to take their 1 road win to the CoTU. To play and lose 2 or more games. Maybe playing closer to the Peg will give the Nucks some extra mojo. At least they won’t be facing the league leading goal scorer.

3 games to play against a team that doesn’t play Montreal until later this month. Also... the MOST IMPORTANT TEAM in the Universe play the Sens 3 times this month. Starting to see a pattern? No? Let me explain.

Can’t explain it. If the Nucks played the Sens 18 times, the pattern would be more clear and more appealing. Happy CoTUing.

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