[PGT]Canucks vs Golden Knights

[JIAHN]

All I got to say, is that was the worst game of defense I have seen in a while! FN terrible.....and that is being nice!

[The Duke]

43 minutes ago, Pears said:

One bad game after an 8-3-1 stretch and all the trolls come out celebrating in the streets. 

People talk about the team not having the playoff experience to be mentally prepared - but it also goes for the fan base.  
 

Just melting down right now and we’re still 2 weeks out.  

[JamesB]

The Canucks could not overcome a terrible start even though they were the better team over the final two periods. Here are my thoughts.

 

1. Bad start: Bains loses his stick, kicks the puck weakly to a Vegas player who makes a quick-up pass for an odd-man break. Hughes falls down, allowing a breakaway that DeSmith stops, but DeSmith weirdly tries to pass the puck to himself, misses, and Vegas shoots the puck into the wide-open net. Canucks back-checkers nowhere to be seen due to a bad change. Things snowball from there. 

 

2. DeSmith: Since Demmer got injured DeSmith has been good. But tonight reminds us of how important it is get Demmer back. Giving up 4 goals on 9 shots in the first period is an ugly stat line. Overall, Vegas had only 2.73 all-strength expected goals (about average for what the Canucks usually give up) and 6 actual goals. I won't go through each goal. Vegas had some good chances but I would say that 3 of the 6 goals are fairly routine saves for most NHL goalies most of the time. I was kind of expecting Silovs to come in after the first period. I am not saying DeSmith was terrible. But he was not sharp and that was a problem.

 

3. Bains: Bains is a good news story. An undrafted UFA from the local South Asian community, he has made a lot of progress last year and this year in Abby. But he had a rough night tonight. He made a weak play on the first Vegas goal. The third Vegas goal started with him losing a puck battle in the Vegas end then he could not back fast enough to make a defensive play. In 8 games he has no points and is -5. I really want him to do well but I think he needs to take another step forward to be an effective NHL player. Maybe he will get there by next year. The entire 4th line (Blueger, Bains, Lafferty) once again generated almost nothing offensively (0.06 expected goals) and gave up some good chances against.

 

4. The Canuck D. Hughes continues to be great and gets 2 goals tonight, further cementing his hold on the Norris trophy. (Actually, he needs to keep playing well to stay ahead of Makar in the Norris race.) After that there is a big drop-off. We like Zadorov's size and toughness. And he can skate and get involved in the offence to some extent. But he takes too many bad penalties. Tonight, his high-sticking penalty was a phantom call on a classic head snap-back by Pietrangelo. Don't know why the referees don't check the replay on those calls. Pietrangelo deserved the penalty, not Z.

 

But his major on Howden was a bad penalty. Sometimes that play only gets a minor penalty but I have no problem with a major as I think that play should be taken out of the game. Z hit Howden in the numbers and his head hit the glass. Z did not apply a lot of force on the hit but it was still a dangerous hit. Z. also made some poor defensive plays. I like having him on the team but Tocchet has to get him to play with more discipline. Cole also had some problems tonight. Myers is taking some heat but he actually played pretty well and so did Hronek and Soucy.

 

5. The "third line".  The Suter-Mik-Podz line was good. Their Corsi differential was 11-3 and they had the best expected goals differential of the 4 lines. They gave up very little defensively. But, unfortunately, they have a hard time converting expected goals into actual goals. Mik and Podz are both conscientious player who just are not good finishers and lack offensive creativity. But they are still valuable players.

 

6. The top six. The Miller line was good. So was Petey's line, with a nice goal by Hoggy. Petey is taking a lot flak in the PGT, but he made good plays on two the goals, even though he did not pick up any points. Is he justifying a cap hit of 11.6 million -- No, but he is playing pretty well.

 

Bottom line: An ugly game but not as bad as it seems. The Canucks actually won the all-strength Corsi (62-50), shot differential (30-29) and high danger chances (10-9), and that is despite Z's 5-minute major. With good goaltending and subtracting a couple of mental errors, the Canucks would been right in this game and maybe could have won.

 

Looking forward to a bounce-back on tomorrow against Arizona.

[Robinfood]

1 minute ago, MikeyD said:

Had he produced at the same rate as the year before he would have been a massive steal of a contract. The contract wasn't a bad contract. Signing a near ppg player for 5 mill and on short term isn't a bad move at all. That's a great move. Not even a gamble because at worst you move him at a TDL. Teams take on 2 years easily. 

If you know any thing of statistics that shooting % was always going to regress to the mean with a bigger sample. With that information 5+ was still more than necessary to retain him. 3.5-4 then we’re golden. 

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

Our management group seems to be one of the few that doesnt have dirt on him, im sure the majority of managers want to keep their inside guy on the payroll

Then let him ref other games not involving us.  Make it clear to the league that allowing this crook to continue to rig Canucks games won't be tolerated.  It's a player safety issue when the ref simply refuses to call an honest game.

[hockeyfan-observer]

17 minutes ago, CanuckDownUnder said:

 

I can't see them playing like this in the playoffs...but it is definitely begging some questions

I agree - No desperation tonight - not until the score was like 4-1 / 5-1.  Yes, they are playing poorly lately especially the PK (giving up another 2 goals tonight) and will be facing hot teams in the playoffs.  To right the ship and to be successful in the playoffs for this team, it will all boil down to PK and team defense along with consistent goal tending.  They do not have the firepower of some of the other teams (as the team is also built a bit differently) - so will need to address a much stronger D performance. 

 

Everyone starts at zero and it does not matter if you have a previous 7 game winning / losing streak go into game 01.  First one to 16 takes it all. 

 

Only thing I hope is that the Canucks have a lot more left in the tank to give - other teams like the Oilers / Avs seem to have  infinite energy in the last 3 months and never seem to be tired.

 

 

 

 

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

12 minutes ago, buddyguy said:

 

I'd be worried if this was a little blip. But it's clearly more than a blip. Their PP has been trash since December and their overall play and intensity has dropped since the all star break. Bottom 6 scoring and EP has dried up at the wrong time of the year. This team is definitely not trending in the right direction. Even when they win games they look off.

Yup we lost our mojo

[The Aquaman]

3 minutes ago, Robinfood said:

If you know any thing of statistics that shooting % was always going to regress to the mean with a bigger sample. With that information 5+ was still more than necessary to retain him. 3.5-4 then we’re golden. 

His agent wasn’t taking no less than 5 million, you have to understand this. UFA, at that time the whole league would have signed him.

Edited April 3 by The Aquaman

[Robinfood]

3 minutes ago, JamesB said:

The Canucks could not overcome a terrible start even though they were the better team over the final two periods. Here are my thoughts.

 

1. Bad start: Bains loses his stick, kicks the puck weakly to a Vegas player who makes a quick-up pass for an odd-man break. Hughes falls down, allowing a breakaway that DeSmith stops, but DeSmith weirdly tries to pass the puck to himself, misses, and Vegas shoots the puck into the wide-open net. Canucks back-checkers nowhere to be seen due to a bad change. Things snowball from there. 

 

2. DeSmith: Since Demmer got injured DeSmith has been good. But tonight reminds us of how important it is get Demmer back. Giving up 4 goals on 9 shots in the first period is an ugly stat line. Overall, Vegas had only 2.73 all-strength expected goals (about average for what the Canucks usually give up) and 6 actual goals. I won't go through each goal. Vegas had some good chances but I would say that 3 of the 6 goals are fairly routine saves for most NHL goalies most of the time. I was kind of expecting Silovs to come in after the first period. I am not saying DeSmith was terrible. But he was not sharp and that was a problem.

 

3. Bains: Bains is a good news story. An undrafted UFA from the local South Asian community, he has made a lot of progress last year and this year in Abby. But he had a rough night tonight. He made a weak play on the first Vegas goal. The third Vegas goal started with him losing a puck battle in the Vegas end then he could not back fast enough to make a defensive play. In 8 games he has no points and is -5. I really want him to do well but I think he needs to take another step forward to be an effective NHL player. Maybe he will get there by next year. The entire 4th line (Blueger, Bains, Lafferty) once again generated almost nothing offensively (0.06 expected goals) and gave up some good chances against.

 

4. The Canuck D. Hughes continues to be great and gets 2 goals tonight, further cementing his hold on the Norris trophy. (Actually, he needs to keep playing well to stay ahead of Makar in the Norris race.) After that there is a big drop-off. We like Zadorov's size and toughness. And he can skate and get involved in the offence to some extent. But he takes too many bad penalties. Tonight, his high-sticking penalty was a phantom call on a classic head snap-back by Pietrangelo. Don't know why the referees don't check the replay on those calls. Pietrangelo deserved the penalty, not Z.

 

But his major on Howden was a bad penalty. Sometimes that play only gets a minor penalty but I have no problem with a major as I think that play should be taken out of the game. Z hit Howden in the numbers and his head hit the glass. Z did not apply a lot of force on the hit but it was still a dangerous hit. Z. also made some poor defensive plays. I like having him on the team but Tocchet has to get him to play with more discipline. Cole also had some problems tonight. Myers is taking some heat but he actually played pretty well and so did Hronek and Soucy.

 

5. The "third line".  The Suter-Mik-Podz line was good. Their Corsi differential was 11-3 and they had the best expected goals differential of the 4 lines. They gave up very little defensively. But, unfortunately, they have a hard time converting expected goals into actual goals. Mik and Podz are both conscientious player who just are not good finishers and lack offensive creativity. But they are still valuable players.

 

6. The top six. The Miller line was good. So was Petey's line, with a nice goal by Hoggy. Petey is taking a lot flak in the PGT, but he made good plays on two the goals, even though he did not pick up any points. Is he justifying a cap hit of 11.6 million -- No, but he is playing pretty well.

 

Bottom line: An ugly game but not as bad as it seems. The Canucks actually won the all-strength Corsi (62-50), shot differential (30-29) and high danger chances (10-9), and that is despite Z's 5-minute major. With good goaltending and subtracting a couple of mental errors, the Canucks would been right in this game and maybe could have won.

 

Looking forward to a bounce-back on tomorrow against Arizona.

Bottom line: we looked outclassed all night

[Robinfood]

Just now, The Aquaman said:

His agent wasn’t taking no less than 5 million, you have to understand this.

Understand. Trade his rights, instead of çaving into unwarranted contracts. 

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

there’s a new show staring the Canucks….

 

Edited April 3 by I.AM.THE.WALRUS

[I.AM.THE.WALRUS]

there’s a new show staring the Canucks….

 

[MikeyD]

5 minutes ago, Robinfood said:

If you know any thing of statistics that shooting % was always going to regress to the mean with a bigger sample. With that information 5+ was still more than necessary to retain him. 3.5-4 then we’re golden. 

With teams clamouring to get him you really think he'd sign that? Lol. Guy was getting 7 on the market easy why would he suspend half his wage? He took a discount to play with us and if you thought he should walk you would have lost your job had he signed for 5 on another team. A regression was expected but even if you cut his percentage to a normal percentage he'd still be a 5 million dollar player. 

 

He just came out looking absolutely nothing like the year before and his linemates turned to trash as well. Mikheyev turned into the biggest black hole on the team and Petey wasn't getting him the puck anymore and on top of that the coach certainly didn't help AT ALL in his development. 

[Canuckfanforlife82]

Just now, I.AM.THE.WALRUS said:

there’s a new show stating the Canucks….

 

lost…..in translation

 

 

[The Aquaman]

6 minutes ago, Robinfood said:

Understand. Trade his rights, instead of çaving into unwarranted contracts. 

All good man, what got me was when you said, “the team is different after Kuzmenko left” come on man. He’s going back to the KHL after next year. Kuzmenko has a hard time being on the 3rd line with the Canucks…yet alone produce.

Edited April 3 by The Aquaman

[NHLer]

Rather we play like shit now than game 1 of the playoffs

[JeremyCuddles]

Watched the highlights, DeSmith let in some softies. But the coverage on a few others was downright atrocious. Team loss imo. Onto the next one.

[Robinfood]

13 minutes ago, MikeyD said:

With teams clamouring to get him you really think he'd sign that? Lol. Guy was getting 7 on the market easy why would he suspend half his wage? He took a discount to play with us and if you thought he should walk you would have lost your job had he signed for 5 on another team. A regression was expected but even if you cut his percentage to a normal percentage he'd still be a 5 million dollar player. 

 

He just came out looking absolutely nothing like the year before and his linemates turned to trash as well. Mikheyev turned into the biggest black hole on the team and Petey wasn't getting him the puck anymore and on top of that the coach certainly didn't help AT ALL in his development. 

Agree with some of what you’re saying. Still giving him a 500% raise seemed uncalled for based on the available information at the time , even if other teams would give him 7x his first contract. 

[J-23]

Not a bad game after the 1st period. Team actually played good in the 2nd.

 

However, why was our 4th line out against their top line. And then we put them out against the top line again. 
 

Defencemen were terrible tonight outside of Hughes. Someone needs to get scratched. Juulsen should’ve been in again.

 

Podkolzin needs more minutes.

Edited April 3 by J-23

[Conscience]

Needed to trade for a couple veteran bangers for the 4th line instead of the lindy trade.  Had high hopes for lindy but losing kuz might have messed up the teamchemistry.
 

kuz plus a couple Duhaime/greenways 

 

would look real gud rn

[bertuzzi44fan]

If they can,start benching players.

[Rick_theRyper]

Boo urns, the knights are Cheetas 

[coolboarder]

1 hour ago, KFAN said:

Bad, bad 1st. Bad goaltending, bad backchecking, bad reffing, bad coaching. Why would RT put the Blueger line out against LV top line 3 times (3 goals)? Bains looked lost out there. 

We're going to be okay, maybe not too far into the playoffs, but the 1st and 2nd lines are looking pretty good. And tonight Suter's line had some good shifts.

We don't have the last change and can't blame coach but I do agree that the coach should do everything to make shift shorter with match-up games.  Also I think that the coach is still in experiment mode for a month now.   I think that it is time to end that and get back to basic.  Send Bains to the minor and keep Podz up as I do think that he is ready but is not really given an opportunity to succeed just yet.   The Canucks are getting a bit of taste what desperate team look like in Vegas.  When the Canucks do match the intensity, they are scary team to play against when Quinn Hughes is playing a man possessed.  I think they do understand the importance of playing with urgent now but has not figured out how to be consistent with it.

[Captain Kirk]

1 hour ago, Pears said:

One bad game after an 8-3-1 stretch and all the trolls come out celebrating in the streets. 

It might help if you look at who the loses were to though, L.A. and Vegas are teams we'll probably be playing in the first round and they've been smoking us lately.

[Captain Kirk]

DeSmith looked like Desh@t! If the Nuckelheads don't come out with a better effort on the 8th against these golden rods they'll be a problem.