[PGT] Canucks vs Kings, Feb 29th 2024

[LillStrimma]

1 hour ago, JamesB said:

Losing 5-1 sounds bad. And it was pretty bad, but not as bad as the score looks. 1. Here are some of other stats. Canucks led in all-strength Corsi 60-38, in shots 23-20, in scoring chances 24-19 and they even led slightly in expected goals: 1.88 - 1.82.

 

Based on expected goals, the game was pretty even, so how did the Canucks lose so badly?

 

1. First is timing. In a low-event game the Canucks were behind 3-1 halfway through the 3rd period against a tight defensive team so they started taking chances. As often happens, the result was giving up a couple of high danger chances the other way and LA scored on both. As the chasing team Canucks out-chanced and outshot LA but lost ground on the scoreboard.  But even in the first two periods the Canucks a slight edge in the underlying stats, so it not just a late push. 

 

2. Goaltending.  Demmer has an ugly stat line with 5 goals on 19 shots. As the expected goals number is 1.82, the goals above expected is 3.18, which is a very bad number. Both of the first two LA goals were on medium danger shots. One was from just inside the blueline and the other was from a bad angle where it looked like Demmer overplayed the short side. The two cross-ice tap ins and the breakaway were all grade A chances but NHL goalies still make saves on those plays more than 2/3 of the time. Tonight, it looked like LA buried every good chance they had. It might be time to give Demmer a bit more rest. He has had a good season, but his play has definitely been worse after the all-star break. 

 

3. The stars fizzled. Boeser scored a nice PP goal, but he contributed to two LA goals. He skated too slowly to the bench for a change on the first LA goal and Lafferty did not have time to reach the shooter, although he was close. If Boeser hustles on that play I doubt that a goal scores. He was also slow on 4th goal. By coasting back instead of skating hard he changed what should have been a 2-2 into a 2-on-1. breakaway goal by Moore.  Hughes and Hronek both struggled and were both -3. On the "breakaway" LA goal (the 5th goal), Moore just skated between them and then beat Demko.  Hughes made a bad pinch on the 4th goal and Hronek's penalty in the 3rd period after the Canucks pulled to within 1 was also a big negative as LA scored on the PP.

 

Petey obviously had bad game, going -3 and making a couple of critical give-aways that resulted in goals. And he was visibly frustrated at times. Miller was the best of the stars, but made a major mistake on the 5th LA goal.

 

4. On the plus side, some of the other guys looked good, even though they did not get "rewarded" with points. Lindholm and Garland both had good games after a poor game against Pittsburgh. Hoggy was very good and so was Mikheyev. Those four guys were all unlucky not to get on the board. And Myers, after getting criticized (deservedly) are a costly penalty against Pittsburgh, had a good game. Juulsen was also good -- going 24 to 9 in Corsi.

 

Overall, the Canucks are obviously in something of a slump but, like a lot of slumps, bad luck is playing a role. My biggest worry is Petey. I wonder if the contract situation is getting to him. (And all the current talk is probably not helping.) I am also wondering about fatigue for Demmer, Hughes and Hronek. 

 

The Canucks obviously need to come back with a good game against Anaheim on Sunday. 

 

 

I haven’t been able to watch the whole games but one thing that is visible is that Hughes take a shot pretty quick when the defence has him covered.

Before when they where successful the cycled a bit and confused the defence before any shots.

Is it Tocchets idea or is it Hughes that think he needs the goals? 

[CanucksJay]

We got out battled tonight. 

Slow to pucks, low energy, out muscled along the boards. 

 

Juulsen and Miller looked like the only ones with some fight. 

 

I fear how this team will respond when the game turns into a grind like a lot of playoff games do... 

 

I don't think our team can win that way. They need to outskate and outhustle other teams and bring more energy to have success. 

 

Maybe they started reading their own press clippings and think they don't need to bring it anymore. 

 

This team needs to skate if they want to win. They can't slow down their speed to match their opposition if the opposition wants to slow it down and grind. 

 

Maybe they are catching their breath and will turn it up again soon. It looked like they were skating in mud tonight. 

 

 

[The Aquaman]

1 hour ago, Canuck You said:

Haha is this real or edited?!

[iinatcc]

6 minutes ago, The Aquaman said:

Haha is this real or edited?!

 

Edited, I remember seeing the original somewhere. Also I assume if Affleck was a hockey fan he'd be cheering for the Bruins.

Edited March 1 by iinatcc

[DownUndaCanuck]

Tight close playoff-like game against a team we may well see in the first game of the playoffs and what was the score? Ouch. The Kings battled so hard they won just about every puck battle which made us look bad. That usually is and should be our game, but wasn't.

 

Miller and Boeser looked fantastic tonight, they were buzzing and even they struggled to generate loads and loads of chances but get a goal and looked great. Suter was strong too.

 

Petey had some good moments and puck control but his best chance was what, a sort of weird wrap around? Did not fight hard enough for the puck and gave it away twice badly. Hoglander looked good but again, you could see the extra battle they had to put in to win pucks which came easy against other teams but LA just made it look easy.

 

Lindholm was invisible again defensively but hey look he won some defensive puck battles. I've said my piece about him and am waiting for him to prove me and everyone wrong but another game, another blank offensively. Garland on the other hand looked like he got his game back and was buzzing, winning battles and creating chances out of nothing. No thanks to Lindholm or Mikheyev who again was useless.

 

Lafferty was one of our better players again for the battle, Blueger was alright and Bains pretty average.

 

On defence, Hughes is cooked. He looks tired, isn't skating the way he was to start the season, and he gets stripped of the puck about once per game now which leads to a chance against. Hronek the same, couldn't get his shot through to save his life.

 

Cole and Myers got eaten alive and they will do in the playoffs, they're old and slow out there against faster teams.

 

Juulsen with some lovely hits but not much more than that and Zadorov was alright, no big hits but at least no dumb plays.

Poor Demko was left out to dry but I will say a couple of those goals were a bit soft for my liking and he could have had them, especially the Kopitar shot when the team in front of him really needed a save.

 

On the whole, we're a mess, below 0.500 since the ASG, and it's not just one or two players but everyone's playing badly. We can't blame this all on Petey or Lindholm or Hughes and Hronek, this is everyone to a man playing badly. When that happens, you look at the coaching staff. Tocchet deserves some heat - he hasn't gotten his boys ready to play just about every night since the break. He hasn't managed fatigue well. It's not management's fault - they've constructed a power-house, and sure a tweak here or there would help, but this is a team that should be playing at least 0.600 hockey. I wouldn't blame injuries like many of you either - Joshua and Soucy are not the reason for this tail spin and even losing their depth isn't massively important. It'll help, sure, but we're seeing so many individual mistakes across the board that need to be addressed. It's as if we need another training camp really.

 

 

[LillStrimma]

2 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Tight close playoff-like game against a team we may well see in the first game of the playoffs and what was the score? Ouch. The Kings battled so hard they won just about every puck battle which made us look bad. That usually is and should be our game, but wasn't.

 

Miller and Boeser looked fantastic tonight, they were buzzing and even they struggled to generate loads and loads of chances but get a goal and looked great. Suter was strong too.

 

Petey had some good moments and puck control but his best chance was what, a sort of weird wrap around? Did not fight hard enough for the puck and gave it away twice badly. Hoglander looked good but again, you could see the extra battle they had to put in to win pucks which came easy against other teams but LA just made it look easy.

 

Lindholm was invisible again defensively but hey look he won some defensive puck battles. I've said my piece about him and am waiting for him to prove me and everyone wrong but another game, another blank offensively. Garland on the other hand looked like he got his game back and was buzzing, winning battles and creating chances out of nothing. No thanks to Lindholm or Mikheyev who again was useless.

 

Lafferty was one of our better players again for the battle, Blueger was alright and Bains pretty average.

 

On defence, Hughes is cooked. He looks tired, isn't skating the way he was to start the season, and he gets stripped of the puck about once per game now which leads to a chance against. Hronek the same, couldn't get his shot through to save his life.

 

Cole and Myers got eaten alive and they will do in the playoffs, they're old and slow out there against faster teams.

 

Juulsen with some lovely hits but not much more than that and Zadorov was alright, no big hits but at least no dumb plays.

Poor Demko was left out to dry but I will say a couple of those goals were a bit soft for my liking and he could have had them, especially the Kopitar shot when the team in front of him really needed a save.

 

On the whole, we're a mess, below 0.500 since the ASG, and it's not just one or two players but everyone's playing badly. We can't blame this all on Petey or Lindholm or Hughes and Hronek, this is everyone to a man playing badly. When that happens, you look at the coaching staff. Tocchet deserves some heat - he hasn't gotten his boys ready to play just about every night since the break. He hasn't managed fatigue well. It's not management's fault - they've constructed a power-house, and sure a tweak here or there would help, but this is a team that should be playing at least 0.600 hockey. I wouldn't blame injuries like many of you either - Joshua and Soucy are not the reason for this tail spin and even losing their depth isn't massively important. It'll help, sure, but we're seeing so many individual mistakes across the board that need to be addressed. It's as if we need another training camp really.

 

 

The two things Tocchet need to do for the remaining games is to get all players on the same page, as a team.

 

If I can watch a whole game I will give example of this non team behaviour I’ve seen by some. 

And rest Demko so he won’t get injured before playoffs.

Now it starting to look as when Green overplayed Marky before the bubble playoff.

 

[Jeremy Hronek]

3 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said:

Not seeing a PGT, so here's my low effort, first and last one because I wanna meme.

 

5-1 Kings, Canucks are 1-5-1 in their last 7.

 

Miller, Boeser, Hogs, and Garland looking at the rest of the squad.

 

 

They're overcomplicating things in my eyes.   

 

Too much volatility outside of the rink with Rutherford/Alvin trying to over-trade (and inadvertently altering the culture and/or demonstrating a lack of faith to the boys who have worked hard all season).

 

If the wheel ain't broke?

 

Create three lines with a duo anchoring each line:

 

Line One:  Petey/Miller

Line Two:  Lindholm/Boeser

Line Three:   Bluegar/Garland

 

 

 

 

[DownUndaCanuck]

Strange to see LA as one of the best road teams in the league but terrible at home, just a game above 0.500. Would make for a very interesting back and forth first round series but if we play like that we're toast.

[GothamGhost]

Bigger, heavier team. 

 

There Goalie played better than our Goalie. 

 

The EP40 situation seems to be having an affect on the team. 

 

Lindholm? 

[iinatcc]

1 hour ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

 

On the whole, we're a mess, below 0.500 since the ASG, and it's not just one or two players but everyone's playing badly. We can't blame this all on Petey or Lindholm or Hughes and Hronek, this is everyone to a man playing badly. When that happens, you look at the coaching staff. Tocchet deserves some heat - he hasn't gotten his boys ready to play just about every night since the break. He hasn't managed fatigue well. It's not management's fault - they've constructed a power-house, and sure a tweak here or there would help, but this is a team that should be playing at least 0.600 hockey. I wouldn't blame injuries like many of you either - Joshua and Soucy are not the reason for this tail spin and even losing their depth isn't massively important. It'll help, sure, but we're seeing so many individual mistakes across the board that need to be addressed. It's as if we need another training camp really.

 

 

 

I wonder if we need to talk about a Canucks All-Star Curse

 

[Pears]

Some form of regression was bound to take place sooner rather than later, and I'd argue this is the perfect part of the season for it to happen. A week before the trade deadline and month long home stand coming up. Plenty of time to figure out what's wrong and fix it. I would be getting a bit concerned though if we didn't basically have a playoff spot locked up already. 

 

**Also we're now seeing that Joshua and Soucy are more important to our success than we ever could have imagined. 

[DownUndaCanuck]

13 minutes ago, iinatcc said:

 

I wonder if we need to talk about a Canucks All-Star Curse

 

 

I think it's just the Lindholm curse. Look how good Calgary are after being rid of him...

[iinatcc]

In the end March and April is the true test of what this core really is. 

 

Last two seasons, when the games were meaningless, the team was able to March and April. They were able to pull an rather impressive .681 and .634 point percentage on those two seasons when they were pretty much out of the playoffs.

 

The team is still in ranked 4th overall with 83 pts so far.

They have 20 games left so using the above Point Percentage this is between 25 to 27pts.

 

Which puts them to 108 to 110 pts if they maintain their March/April Performances from previous seasons.

 

The question is if they can. If they do we can brush off Feb as a "scheduled bad month" but if they don't pick it up and fall below the expected points (based on the last two seasons) then we may have to consider to move on from this core. Since it shows the team can't show up when the pressure mounts. 

 

Edited March 1 by iinatcc

[iinatcc]

10 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

 

I think it's just the Lindholm curse. Look how good Calgary are after being rid of him...

 

Lindholm curse or Kuzy Charm ? 

[Power-Forward]

4 hours ago, Hammertime said:

Maybe we should wait until the off season to negotiate with Pete. 

Might not be a bad idea.  We have time to sign him, that’s what he wanted anyway.  Let’s see how he does in the playoffs.

[DownUndaCanuck]

1 hour ago, iinatcc said:

 

Lindholm curse or Kuzy Charm ? 

 

This too - we trade away our most beloved locker-room (and fan fave) guy and no wonder our team chemistry is a mess. Something to be said for this and I mentioned it prior to the ASG. We love our defensive forwards and I certainly do, but at the cost of charm and character. We trade away one of Petey's good friends and are surprised he sucks all of a sudden?

 

I remember when we made the initial dealings with Calgary when we started tearing our team up, boy did our team struggle after that. Obviously losing good players hurt but we lost so many friends in one swoop, whoever was left openly admitted it was hard.

Edited March 1 by DownUndaCanuck

[OldFaithfulcap]

We're 5-6-2 since all-star break, 26 point on offer and we've gotten 12. Home 2-2-1, Away 3-4-1.

 

Definitely not our best performances but not time to burn it all down. It was a bad stretch and 20 games to go. If we kept at this pace and won 9/20 then we'd still hit 100 points. 

 

No-one remembers the regular season if you improve for the playoffs. The powerplay has been terrible, the goals against terrible (2nd worst in league since ASG) and dumb penalties. 

 

We cut out the dumb pens, we go back to stacked lines (lotto, hogz-pettey, bluegs-gar) and fix the powerplay (miller's unit is doing alright) and get soucy/josh back and we should be back amongst it. 

 

I think we'll regroup and do better on this next west coast road trip, We take 2 of 3 there and then we have the big 9. 

 

If we keep fading then yeah, i know who to blame but i'd rather us step back up. 

 

Edited March 1 by OldFaithfulcap

[IBatch]

33 minutes ago, OldFaithfulcap said:

We're 5-6-2 since all-star break, 26 point on offer and we've gotten 12. Home 2-2-1, Away 3-4-1.

 

Definitely not our best performances but not time to burn it all down. It was a bad stretch and 20 games to go. If we kept at this pace and won 9/20 then we'd still hit 100 points. 

 

No-one remembers the regular season if you improve for the playoffs. The powerplay has been terrible, the goals against terrible (2nd worst in league since ASG) and dumb penalties. 

 

We cut out the dumb pens, we go back to stacked lines (lotto, hogz-pettey, bluegs-gar) and fix the powerplay (miller's unit is doing alright) and get soucy/josh back and we should be back amongst it. 

 

I think we'll regroup and do better on this next west coast road trip, We take 2 of 3 there and then we have the big 9. 

 

If we keep fading then yeah, i know who to blame but i'd rather us step back up. 

 

It's frustrating for sure.    Phil the Thrill...maybe he will help the locker room.  Sticks i'm sure are getting tighter all around.    Effort seems to be an issue.    The team knows it can win, and convincingly.   Joshua and Soucy back, absolutely will make a difference.     Sky isn't falling yet. 

[IBatch]

1 hour ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

 

This too - we trade away our most beloved locker-room (and fan fave) guy and no wonder our team chemistry is a mess. Something to be said for this and I mentioned it prior to the ASG. We love our defensive forwards and I certainly do, but at the cost of charm and character. We trade away one of Petey's good friends and are surprised he sucks all of a sudden?

 

I remember when we made the initial dealings with Calgary when we started tearing our team up, boy did our team struggle after that. Obviously losing good players hurt but we lost so many friends in one swoop, whoever was left openly admitted it was hard.

This is an odd take.   EP was struggling on his own to make things work at times prior to the trade.   By all accounts, Lindholm is the better player on paper.    Nobody is above the team, if trading away one guy, is going to mess with your head that much,  then more major surgery isn't a bad tactic.    Yes JB made a mess of things with his OEL obsession, but we couldn't keep all those guys, and i'm sure they did their grade school math.   If we re-signed Markstrom, Demko would have been traded for a tiny haul, another team would have had to roll the dice on using a protection spot on him.   Also would have cost us more cash.   We could have kept one of them.    That's it.   We could have kept one of Tanev or Toffoli, for me 300% Tanev.   That stung. 

 

We were always going to lose a goalie.   And one of Tanev or The Rental.    Schmidt.   What a mess for sure. 

 

Kuzmenko was given every opportunity with EP this year, and just do two simple things.    How's he doing in CAL?   Benched already.   Wonder why.     At over 5 a season.   Mikheyev is a cap issue right now ... and EP is playing to about 9.5 overall.    Even when we had our hot start, and EP was piling up points,  several posters on here (myself included) felt EP was playing with something.    Came back after the Christmas break, and things got better for awhile.    It's probably a body issue, compounded with the media circus and anxiety over what his next deal will be for the fans.   It's a legitimate concern.    Has more slumps them JT Miller has (one bad start).   

 

Lindholm was supposed to shake that out, and give the team the top six forward Kuzemenko isn't in this system (playoff hockey system, when it's working anyways).    Hasn't worked out. 

 

The Thirst line, was also carrying a heavy load.   This team doesn't need all 3 lines clicking.   Just two at a time and the others, not messing up.    All 3, and we are as good as anyone.   Boston and PIT.   WNP we win that game 2 out of 3 times.    We know how to beat the good teams. 

 

Team needs a re-set.   And EP, well if he's still got a nagging body issue, maybe it's best to sit him for a week or so. 

 

 

[Jeremy Hronek]

3 hours ago, GothamGhost said:

Bigger, heavier team. 

 

There Goalie played better than our Goalie. 

 

 

 

This semen definitely smells familiar.

 

Smells like April 2012 all over again.  

[IBatch]

2 hours ago, iinatcc said:

In the end March and April is the true test of what this core really is. 

 

Last two seasons, when the games were meaningless, the team was able to March and April. They were able to pull an rather impressive .681 and .634 point percentage on those two seasons when they were pretty much out of the playoffs.

 

The team is still in ranked 4th overall with 83 pts so far.

They have 20 games left so using the above Point Percentage this is between 25 to 27pts.

 

Which puts them to 108 to 110 pts if they maintain their March/April Performances from previous seasons.

 

The question is if they can. If they do we can brush off Feb as a "scheduled bad month" but if they don't pick it up and fall below the expected points (based on the last two seasons) then we may have to consider to move on from this core. Since it shows the team can't show up when the pressure mounts. 

 

 Biggest difference this year, teams are chasing us.    The ones below will all be high intensity.    Bruce bump, teams did start taking us seriously.   Beating COL...their fans that sneak in and end up playing us in the first round, rightly so.   Oh so close. 

 

Last year ... easy schedule, but you're right, we did play better, and with an AHL loaded defense. 

 

4 hours ago, Jeremy Hronek said:

 

 

They're overcomplicating things in my eyes.   

 

Too much volatility outside of the rink with Rutherford/Alvin trying to over-trade (and inadvertently altering the culture and/or demonstrating a lack of faith to the boys who have worked hard all season).

 

If the wheel ain't broke?

 

Create three lines with a duo anchoring each line:

 

Line One:  Petey/Miller

Line Two:  Lindholm/Boeser

Line Three:   Bluegar/Garland

 

 

 

 

Can't break up Miller and Brock.   Adding EP to their line to spice things up, that's fine once Joshua is back.   Create a second line with Lindholm, Mikheyev maybe, we'll just call it our third line.  

 

That said, if you're going to blender, this could be an experiment worth trying.     The blender is on full right now, messing with Brock and Miller isn't something i'd like to see. 

[DeNiro]

Any word on Myers?

[IBatch]

5 hours ago, LillStrimma said:

I haven’t been able to watch the whole games but one thing that is visible is that Hughes take a shot pretty quick when the defence has him covered.

Before when they where successful the cycled a bit and confused the defence before any shots.

Is it Tocchets idea or is it Hughes that think he needs the goals? 

The strategy we've been successful doing, is the wingers and the centers, switching sides or "scissoring" back and forth, much like QHs does when he's at the point (he might be the best player i've seen at walking the line) ... maybe the other teams have the book on that somewhat, but it's awfully hard to defend against.   This is when we have possesion.   Our forecheck when on, is also tough to defend against with this added to it.    Creates space (east west skating) and a lot of pressure (forechecking).   When the system is on, we can beat anyone. 

[iinatcc]

9 minutes ago, IBatch said:

 Biggest difference this year, teams are chasing us.    The ones below will all be high intensity.    Bruce bump, teams did start taking us seriously.   Beating COL...their fans that sneak in and end up playing us in the first round, rightly so.   Oh so close. 

 

Last year ... easy schedule, but you're right, we did play better, and with an AHL loaded defense. 

 

 

That is true, so now it's time to see what this team is really made of in the last 20 games. 

 

Edited March 1 by iinatcc

[Sativika]

Our performance in this 2024 leap year month of February is concerning. Not a good month for us and it's not easy to pinpoint exactly why. Though it is evident that some fatigue issues seem to be present. Both physically and mentally. 

 

Huggy didn't seem to be too present last night. His facial expressions during the game and in the post game interview showed such. He seemingly wasn't skating at his usual Huggy self and made some noticeable mistakes. Mind you, he wasn't the only one. On the whole the team looks bagged. 

 

I know. They're professionals and are required to look like the elite athletes they're payed to be. Well......Not to be trite......But they are only human. An 82 game season is hard on every team. Every team slumps. Some more than others for whatever reasons. 

 

- Glass half full? We've so far had a great season and this is a minor stumbling block. We'll be fine.

- Glass half empty. Boy we look tired. Guys gotta pick it up or were gonna be in a world of hurt when the world of sh*t comes upon us in round 1! Swept 4 straight. Nooo!!!!!

 

Cheers.

Go Canucks Go!!!!!