GAME RECAP #79: NUCKS WIN! Golf Shoes and 6-3 Drubbing

This is 79th game the Nucks have played this season. The eleventeenth MUST WIN game of the stretch. I’m exhausted from just watching them push the heavy standings rock up the wild carded hill.

Nucks looked tired in Minni. Demmers seems to be playing hurt or exhausted. He’s not alone. Even NM has shown some regular season fatigue.

The Nucks didn’t score in the 1st. Neither did the Reds. That’s not so bad.

Well that was a pretty unexciting first... tons of turnovers both teams. — Twitchy

The bad part happened in the 2nd. The Nucks went half way through the 2nd without a Nucking shot.

Worse the fLames had potted 2. One on their PP. And one that Demmers wanted back. Us too.

Late in the 2nd, with the Nucks still 2 goals down, someone in the game thread started to complain about not seeing another Petey goal and more points for Huggie.

The whine heard across the Rockies? Quinn heard me. Great board work from JT and Chaise.

fLames might be extinguishing our playoff faint hopes, but not getting a SO tonight.

Working hard for the comeback.

Down a goal after 2, is hopeful. Faintly.

But Gnarly is playing hard to make our faint hopes a little more solid. Bats the puck out of the air into the net. Myers with the pinch, the pitch.

Gnarly batting average has been rising in recent games.

Game is tied, the game thread has OT sugar plums dancing in their heads.

Sugar plums are bad dancers with no endurance. Like the Nucks.

Give up a goal less than 30 seconds later on a bad Nucking puck luck ping pong off skates while OEL/Myers screen Demmers.

Worse, Demmers lets a formerly easy-Demko save go unsaved.

Even worse, Myers fails to block a shot and when getting up from his awkward non-blocking move, he scores. On Demko. It’s hard to explain. And harder to watch.

Instead of pulling Myers, Bruce pulls Demmers. Maybe as a warning. Or something.

Down 5-2 with over 5 to go, the Empty Nest Net Nucks go on the attack. While thwarting many shot attempts by the red sharpshooters.

Bold plan. With a bold Alien wrister.

Pete beats the goalie with a bullet wrister - at distance. Wooo!!! Pete’s 32nd goal of the year. We’re almost almost tied.

However, almost almost isn’t even almost enough.

Despite the excellent keep away of the Nucking 6-on-5 team, the puck wasn’t kept away enough and the cattlebarners get the inevitable EN.

well that went from bad to worse to fuck this pretty quickly — Raddy

Nucks lose 6-3.

Sure it would have been nice if the Nucks could have scored on their single PP. A single PP in a rough game. Playoff ref tune-up time.

Nucks PK killed a crucial one in the 3rd. Didn’t, as it turns out, equally crucial one in the 2nd.

As bad as this game turned out, some say there will be longer term verbal or textual consequences...

Well folks...lots will be said after this game until October. — Westy

HUGGIE LEADS THE D

On the happy Huggie side, Quinn sets a season record - with 3 games remaining.

In the last 10 years, less than a dozen NHL Defencemen have reached more than 55 points.

IT’S OVER

Nucks lose their wild chance at the playoffs. Not mathematically, but close enough for hockey and rum wringing competitions.

If only the Nucks had a better record this season against bad teams where they went 6 and 16. Fugly stat. If they went 500 against the lesser powers, likely would have made the dance, despite the horrid start.

Although, we have to thank the horrid start for the torrid finish. The mass firings and better hirings made the team fun to watch again. The BruceBump gave us an exciting run of games. Just ran out of games. And players.

There it is.

VIDEO LOWLIGHTS

It’s HNIC night in the cowbarn - watch with your eyes closed.

GAME STATS (losing in the cattledome is the worst form of losing)

	SOG	FO%	PP	PIM	HITS	BLKS	GVA
Canucks VAN	33	46%	0/1	6	16	5	7
Flames CGY	32	54%	1/2	4	25	15	14

SHOT COUNT (Not enough Nucking HQ ones)

PLAYER STATS (Woo for JT, Pete and Huggie)

BARNPRESSERING

OEL is battling the zoomdoombarn - maybe he gets a different partner next year.

Bruce is in a somber mood. We know what that feels like.

Tough loss to match the tough loss last game.

Without a full roster, Nucks just didn’t enough left in roster tank to make a successful push for the 98 point threshold. 98 points?! Could be what’s required. With 3 games remaining, Nucks have a max ceiling of 93 points.

Consider back in late November, we thought the Nucks were, optimistically, a 78 point team. But, the Bruced-up Nucks went from malingering in the league basement to playing meaningful games in late April. No one could have foreseen that. Other than Westy.

Enjoy the rest of the season - now that it’s short and fully bittersweet.