[PGT] San Jose Sharks at Vancouver Canucks // December 23, 2023

[Pure961089]

I hope Kuzy uses this free time for conditioning just to get him up to par.  It's evident the fans love him, i hope h uses this time off to reset and make a real effort to buy into Tocchet's system 

[Jaimito]

21 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

If the Canucks can get Kuzy going and with the 3rd line playing the way they are I think the Canucks can go as far as they want.  The Canucks are a deep team

 

And Soucy still to return, adding to D depth.  

 

But to be a truly legit cup contender, probably need another player or two. Whether or not they can get them before the deadline is another thing.   Injuries happen all the time, the deepest team usually wins in the end. 

[hockeyfan-observer]

3 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

Don't jinx it. 

 

The plan is playoffs in 1 yr, cup in 3.  

 

Earlier is fine by me.   But don't declare anything even if they are up 3-0 in SCF.  

 

Totally agree - you should respect your opponents all the time - don't upset the hockey gods by showing too much cockiness.

[cripplereh]

Was a great game.

 

This team seems to be on a roll and can play with anyone.

 

We haven't had that in years and good to see.

[Jaimito]

4 minutes ago, hockeyfan-observer said:

 

Totally agree - you should respect your opponents all the time - don't upset the hockey gods by showing too much cockiness.

 

I think 50+ yrs of non winning has us long time fans not being overly confident.  2011 was probably the best odds.  A favorite going in. Incredible regular season.  Everything was aligned.   

 

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

3 hours ago, 420Fish said:

2 goal leads are difficult on the nerves.

I love the drama it was so exciting… It’s pointless to watch the game if they’re blowing the other team out

[GrammaInTheTub]

31 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

I hope Kuzy uses this free time for conditioning just to get him up to par.  It's evident the fans love him, i hope h uses this time off to reset and make a real effort to buy into Tocchet's system 

Because we all hit the gym come Christmas time hahaha

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

30 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

I hope Kuzy uses this free time for conditioning just to get him up to par.  It's evident the fans love him, i hope h uses this time off to reset and make a real effort to buy into Tocchet's system 

Add trade the bum

 

If the guy hasn’t figured out life… He’s playing at the highest professional level and he still doesn’t know how to train properly he goes to Bali - What??? his head isn’t screwed on straight… I would ship him off for someone who has his head screwed on straight

[hockeyfan-observer]

30 minutes ago, Jaimito said:

 

I think 50+ yrs of non winning has us long time fans not being overly confident.  2011 was probably the best odds.  A favorite going in. Incredible regular season.  Everything was aligned.   

 

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

 

Or when we had a 3-1 series lead against the Wild way back in the early 2000s - think one of the Wild goals was some "strange bounce" over our goalie in front of the net in game 7.   Definitely not to count any team out.

Edited December 24, 2023 by hockeyfan-observer

[GrammaInTheTub]

45 minutes ago, 4petesake said:

 

Didn’t a few people say it was a bot? Seemed plausible to me as it just posts everything as though from an algorithm.

 

I definitely suggested that they may be a bot early on

[Chronic.Canuck]

1 hour ago, Sharpshooter said:

Hmmm indeed as Joshua isn’t a Center and the post doesn’t actually give any comparable information. 
 

Did you read before reposting? 
 

Please read what you re-post.  Thanks. 

 

Neither is Huberdeau... NHL.com is notoriously out of date for forward positions.

 

There's a direct point comparison or are you just being snarky?

 

Happy holidays. Go Canucks Go.

[Jaimito]

13 minutes ago, hockeyfan-observer said:

 

Or when we had a 3-1 series lead against the Wild way back in the early 2000s - think the winning goal was some "strange bounce" over our goalie in front of the net in game 7.   Definitely not to count any team out.

 

Add the Lidstrom goal from center ice.  

 

But this teams is much more resilient, I think.  Time will tell how they perform in post season, which is a different beast.  We've seen Demko, EP, BB, JT, QH shine in the covid cup, but this is a new team outside of that core, and minus vets like Bo, Edler and Tanev etc.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by Jaimito

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

50 minutes ago, Rip The Mesh said:

There's no doubt both teams were somewhat sloppy, particularly in their own ends. However, I've watched the Canucks for a very long time and this

version has more attributes offensively and defensively. I think it could be as good as the 2011 team with a more well balanced squad. They can use all for lines and 

three defense pairs without too much distress. Still not quite at the half way mark (almost), To be honest; this team reminds me of the 1994 Canucks, where

everyone played on the same page, and they were a heartbeat away from holding up Lord Stanley' Cup; I'm very pleasantly surprised at the job Management 

and the coaching staff has done in a relatively short period of time. They have a "no quit" attitude and that's what it takes.... 

Yeah things are definitely Going in the right direction… We have a great management team that’s for sure

Edited December 24, 2023 by I.AM.THE.WALRUS

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

1 hour ago, Pure961089 said:

I hope Kuzy uses this free time for conditioning just to get him up to par.  It's evident the fans love him, i hope h uses this time off to reset and make a real effort to buy into Tocchet's system 

I hope so but clearly the guy has a few screws loose… He’s squandering his talent… The guy goes to Bali in the off-season to train - then proceeds to go into camp out of shape and can’t play the system… The guy is kind of crazy to think about it… we need players with their head screwed on straight

 

Kinda reminiscent of Tram… That monster Russian defenceman who went to training camp out of shape and couldn’t buckle under and had to leave…

Edited December 24, 2023 by I.AM.THE.WALRUS

[Dumb Nuck]

1 hour ago, Jaimito said:

 

I think 50+ yrs of non winning has us long time fans not being overly confident.  2011 was probably the best odds.  A favorite going in. Incredible regular season.  Everything was aligned.   

 

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

We had a gum chewing, turn the other cheek, joke of a coach, we should have had 2 or 3 cups during that era. 

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

But in all seriousness I hope Kuzzy can buckle under, adhere to Tocchet and the coaching staffs game plan and play a complete game - the guy is very talented

[Alflives]

3 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said:

Not Demko's finest hour, but the heater continues. Always nice when the role players are doing damage. Suter and that 3rd line. All contributed on the score sheet and that 3rd line has been absolutely nutty for a while now. Kuzy getting a couple was nice too.

Yup post game guys critical of Demki’s game again. Two single bubble games now. Need Double Bubble Boy back. Where did he go? 

[Canuckleheads Fan]

5 hours ago, BIGGESTCANUCKSFANEVER said:

 

Such an amazing fake to freeze the goalie and deke to get the puck to Nils with the wide open cage. I had no idea the Blueger had such offensive creativity or hockey IQ. Damn, all these guys on expiring contracts are going to be expensive to keep around.

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Road to the playoffs:

 

 

At this point it's starting to be for laughs because of how obvious it is that we're a playoff team. Canucks are tied for 2nd in point percentage. Kind of a messy win, but it's still two points, and years from now, no one will remember how we got them, just that we got them.

The fact that our worst seasons the past five years or so, we could still manage slightly above .500...we only need one more win and .500 the rest of the way.   Would take serious bad injury luck, for those 97 points (for sure a safe threshold), not to be attainable.    We can't say "it's still early",  when we are 7 or so games away from the half way mark.   Christmas for the Canucks is a good sample size.   What you see is what you almost certainly get. 

[Ghostsof1915]

2 hours ago, GrammaInTheTub said:

Because we all hit the gym come Christmas time hahaha

Not many of us earn over $5 million a year to play a sport. So it's kind of understandable that coaches and GM expect a player to try and be in great shape.

Especially during the holidays. Gotta work off that roast beef and turkey right?

[Ghostsof1915]

1 hour ago, I.AM.THE.WALRUS said:

But in all seriousness I hope Kuzzy can buckle under, adhere to Tocchet and the coaching staffs game plan and play a complete game - the guy is very talented

All Kuz has to do is work halfway, the coaches will help with the rest. Look at Garland. Kuz doesn't have to lay huge bodychecks, or block shots. But what he can do is make smart passes, active stick to block passes, and in general just to have puck pursuit, and try to be elusive with the puck. Sometimes offence is the best defence.

[canuckster19]

3 hours ago, hockeyfan-observer said:

 

Or when we had a 3-1 series lead against the Wild way back in the early 2000s - think one of the Wild goals was some "strange bounce" over our goalie in front of the net in game 7.   Definitely not to count any team out.

 

While Cloutier was garbage in game 5 and 6, he gets way too much flak for game 7. Crawford let off the gas pedal after 2-0 and defensive breakdowns cost them the game.

 

I have no doubt we would have won the cup that season if we got past them because that Canucks team wasn't the kind of team that gets goalied by a guy like Giguerre and the Canucks had Brodeur's number.

Edited December 24, 2023 by canuckster19

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Yup post game guys critical of Demki’s game again. Two single bubble games now. Need Double Bubble Boy back. Where did he go? 

Pre-game SN radio, had Demko as pretty much the slam dunk for the Vezina so far this season.   And then a group of guys at number two (Hellebuyck, Sorokin).     Has had moments of mere mortal, but he's played a ton and his allowed goals expected, plus wins and pretty much everything else (sp would have taken a little hit last night) is at or near tops in the league (for number number one goalies, they did say they can't do Boston goalies, splitting duties, not yet anyways) .    As for the other awards, they figure if things ended right now,  Tochett would be unanimously voted number one (get all the number one votes), the other trophies are up for grabs still, other then Barkov a slam dunk for the Selke, and Demko the likely Vezina winner.  

 

Wasn't his best game.   It's amazing to me anyways, that we've pretty much continued our goalie legacy.   Massive thing for our fortunes.    Sucked terribly going from McLeans great years, to his modest ones, to Luongo.   We've been blessed in the net since then.   Have a great Chrismtas break Alf! 

Edited December 24, 2023 by IBatch

[IBatch]

A huge shout out to our third line.   I truly am struggling to find, in the grey matter, when we've had a better month (3rd line wise).   Or when the last time, we've had a third line that not only can win us games (Maholtra/Torres), but really pile up the points.   Dixon Ward had a terrific year in 93.    Tied Murzyn for best plus minus (34, something H. Sedin I think tied or eventually topped?) ... maybe 1993.  

 

And Garland.   Guys got some Martin St. Louis in him, and it's starting to show.    We've all seen it, his zippy doodling.   Was the CHL a point leader after he wasn't drafted (too small!).     That's a great third line we've got right now.     We've got 3 lines the coach can roll.   And a fourth line that won't hurt us either.  

 

Going into Christmas, it's a nice feeling.     

Edited December 24, 2023 by IBatch

[DownUndaCanuck]

Big game by everyone, obviously very sloppy defensively and Demko was very average on some of those goals but our depth guys like Suter, Blueger and the rest of our 3rd line keep shining. Our stars were decent but not amazing but get the job done. 

 

Got to say Blueger has made some incredible offensive plays lately, some brilliant dekes and that fake shot pass was something you'd see a star like Kaprizov make, brilliant play.

 

Vegas loses to Florida and suddenly we're sitting at the top of the league at the Christmas break which of course no one would have predicted. We haven't played brilliantly in all of our games but have just found different ways to win, whether it be our offensive stars scoring loads at the start of the year, our PP carrying us then dipping, good defensive shutdown performances, goaltending steals or depth scoring. Hopefully in the playoffs all these things happen at the same time.