[PGT] Vancouver Canucks at Vegas Golden Knights | Sept. 04, 2020 | Golden Knights win series 4-3

[knucklehead91 762]

Not going to lie, in the first 5 minutes of the game, I knew it was going to be a very long uphill battle. The team looked tired from the moment the puck dropped. We had a long hard grind to get to that game 7, when you include the two prior series, the war of attrition began to show, the longer the series went, the slower we were to the puck. 
And you know what? I am 100% okay with how game 7 went. I saw guys beaten down and burnt out, STILL taking hits to make the play, STILL diving in front of pucks, STILL winning faceoff battles. A team that gave it every single ounce of energy they had, against a top seeded, much bigger, faster and deeper Vegas... we still took them to the 54 minute mark of game 7 before they could finally break us. This is a measuring stick for Benning to fill the holes and a great experience for the Canucks to know what next year will be.

you can look at it many ways, had Marky not played injured and a few bounces did not go Vegas’s way in game 4, game 6 would have been an elimination game for Vegas. We were leading going into the 3rd and some bounces went Vegas’s way. None the less, we didnt roll over and play dead being down 3-1 in a series to a top ranked team. We dug deep and forced a game 7 into the final moments where we eventually came up short. 
Next year will be better

[N7Nucks 8,734]

21 hours ago, x00x said:

Agree, our def sucked in this series ...if it weren't for markstrom and demko, we woulda been out along time ago...our team defensive play was horrible...but other than that, we did ok, game 7 our total shots kina sucked  or we mighta had more potential goals...minus brocks attempt

Our defense and team defense sucked all year. I been saying it all year. Our PP skates in quicksand as well. It's like they are walking up the ice. Not here calling for heads. But our coaching staff also needs to learn from this playoff run. Not just the players.

Edited September 6, 2020 by N7Nucks

[LateNightBus 141]

Congrats to the Canucks for bringing the best they had...well done, and I found out what an excellent talented goalie emerged in Demko. 

[Coconuts 11,098]

Do we have any confirmation on Canucks injuries yet?

 

I saw something on Canucks reddit about Hughes battling knee and ankle injuries but I dunno if there's actually anything to it 

[Wilbur 5,420]

8 hours ago, DeNiro said:

Game 4 was where this series could have been won.

 

We hold onto that lead in the third and make it 2-2 it could have been a whole different series.

 

Demko comes in and plays the way he did in game 5 and 6 and the series is over.

 

Hopefully that’s a good learning lesson for them though. Closing out 3rd periods is still a work in progress.

Very true.  But is something they looked more confident at in the playoff bubble than during the regular season.

[N4ZZY 1,359]

11 hours ago, mll said:

 

Normally 6 October for the draft per the CBA MOU.

 

The CBA MOU has 1 December as tentative start date but seems very unlikely that they'll hold that date.  

So the draft for sure is October 6. 

 

NHL season tentatively December 1? I hope that holds true. Can't wait for the boys to get back onto the ice! 

 

[N4ZZY 1,359]

2 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Very true.  But is something they looked more confident at in the playoff bubble than during the regular season.

hopefully that carries into next season. 

 

[Wilbur 5,420]

Just now, N4ZZY said:

hopefully that carries into next season. 

 

It'll be very interesting/exciting to see what carries over from the bubble.  If a lot does, we're in for some fun.

[N4ZZY 1,359]

12 hours ago, Robert Long said:

ANA probably wouldn't have done the deal with us, they probably assumed Vegas would be in the toilet for a few years and it would be lower risk. 

they obviously assumed wrong.

 

[PistolPete13 3,026]

4 hours ago, canuck73_3 said:

DeBoer barely beat us with a much deeper team. DeBoer is overrated. 

He made Doug Wilson look bad as a gm

 

That’s  why SAN Jose canned him. 

[mll 7,641]

1 hour ago, N4ZZY said:

So the draft for sure is October 6. 

 

NHL season tentatively December 1? I hope that holds true. Can't wait for the boys to get back onto the ice! 

 

Highly unlikely to be a 1 December start date.

[afan 117]

The difference in this series was that Vegas played a north-south game, putting pucks on net whenever they could. The Canucks however played a east-west game and often looked too afraid to shoot. Every Canucks line change began with a dump in to give away the puck and the fresh legs had to start defending to begin every shift. That's how you won faceoffs but didn't have puck possession. You can't score if you don't put pucks on net and this should be the most important lesson to learn from the loss.

[UKNuck96 996]

8 hours ago, Down by the River said:

It's crazy to me that fans' memories can be so short. Look at how hard this team battled against much more physical teams. You're right. The Wild, Blues, and VGK are just much heavier, especially at the top of their lineup. 

 

One thing about Hughes and to a lesser extent Pettersson is that they have not yet had much time to train like a true professional athlete. The ability to take care of your body. Get it ready for that grind. Hughes and Pettersson are both slight, and its a lot to handle on bodies that just aren't used to this much intensity. 

 

The great news is that I see Horvat becoming to the Canucks what Chara was to the Bruins. A gym rat that just commands that everyone do what he's doing. And then when you look at Pettersson's competitiveness. He is just the perfect player. He wants to be the best at everything. He'll make the right adjustments. And when your most talented player is also that hardworking, it will also trickle down through the lineup. 

 

To reiterate, I don't think there EVER has been a group of players that I felt better about cheering for than this group of Canucks. They aren't just a group of extremely good hockey players, they are a group you feel proud to cheer for because of how they carry themselves and build each other up.

We already have that with Beagle - he was that character at Washington and seems to be the same here. I would jeep beagle around as I think he is a good influence and example to the younger players on how to be a pro

[UKNuck96 996]

4 hours ago, N7Nucks said:

Our defense and team defense sucked all. I been saying it all year. Our PP skates in quicksand as well. It's like they are walking up the ice. Not here calling for heads. But our coaching staff also needs to learn from this playoff run. Not just the players.

I think a lot of players were playing with injuries.

 

however I agree Coaching teams needs to also learn, prior to playoffs I wasn’t to enamoured with green. Felt he was okay but not able to really work the tactical side or manage a game side.

 

however he has proved me wrongs with both. The short shifting top lines against STL which gave them time as space in the ice was great. He changed up the D strategy early on in the wild series, and also tweaked certain areas of play.

 

im happy for him to stay and actually surprised at how well he has done. However some of the support staff around him I think needS changing. 

[filthycanuck 1,042]

20 hours ago, IBatch said:

Unfortunately aside from AP whos most definitely signing in St Louis now that they cleared the cap space and publicly stated that’s why the did it, the only other UFA options are Homonic and Ceci, lateral moves at best and really they aren’t better players other then maybe having the ability to stay healthier.    In other words without a blockbuster trade we aren’t going to see a major change in our defense yet ... or maybe we will:

 

Travis Green has next season to bring OJ into the lineup and see what he can do at this level.   For me one of the main issues we had was the ability to outlet pass and make plays where Vegas wouldn’t have a smart stick on it right away.   That was because they use speed and a system that always had a player picking (shadowing) - giving little time to make a play.   Stetcher, Myers, Fatenburg and Tanev were the most effective at getting the puck up ice and getting the puck back.   The rest had their troubles. OJ has enough size and enough skills that he might be a nice upgrade on the left side.   
 

Not as confident about Rathbone, seems he could be Stecher 2.0 with offensive upside.  Not sure another 5’11”, 190lb defenseman will help us b

eat this team.  And we need to be able to beat Vegas if we want to go far the next four or five years.  Their core has a window that long.   Rafferty I doubt will be anything more then a depth option as well. 

 

This is what makes Myers so important.  We don’t have much after him, Tanev re-signed is fine but we need to make some changes.   Best case scenario is two of our prospects come in and beat out someone - allowing JB to make a trade.   And it changes internally.   Next year hopefully another top four player in Myers range level becomes available and LE is done by then.   I absolutely do see us doing that one more time.   And we should have the cap space as long as JB doesn’t spend it on TT this off season, and maybe even then if we go for Demko and part ways with Markstrom. 

That needs to be done next season, we need more swift D-men and if OJ becomes the player we think hes going to be, he would've made a difference. Edler played well against the Blues but that was against a big SLOW team. When facing a team like the Knights who are bigger and just as fast, they need, regardless of size (obviously bigger the better) dmen that can skate. Funny how I was in the "to hell with Stetcher" camp in the Blues series, but man Stetch played very well against the Knights. What the Knights did was attacked our d-men, knowing the fact that guys like Edler were slow. Edler would get the puck, get in trouble from the forechecker, circle back, defer to the other side, turnover. Rinse repeat. It was our inability to get out of our own zone that lost us that series. Getting hemmed repeatedly for 1-2 minute stretches and by the time we got the puck past the red line, line change. Absolutely no offence and Vegas has an easy break out. Its the little details like just chipping the puck past our own blue line, or getting the puck deep enough, Vegas took advantage of our mishaps

[filthycanuck 1,042]

49 minutes ago, afan said:

The difference in this series was that Vegas played a north-south game, putting pucks on net whenever they could. The Canucks however played a east-west game and often looked too afraid to shoot. Every Canucks line change began with a dump in to give away the puck and the fresh legs had to start defending to begin every shift. That's how you won faceoffs but didn't have puck possession. You can't score if you don't put pucks on net and this should be the most important lesson to learn from the loss.

I agree as well. There were many plays that the team was trying to be too cute. Overpassing. Vegas just shot the puck from everywhere, even trying below the red line. I know JT Miller was able to get his numbers, but man oh man, he had a lot of great looks and his numbers probably wouldve been even better had he had a shoot more mentality. Vegas PP was getting shots from everywhere, without even hesitating. A player gets a look, gets a shot off and gets to our net. Seems like the Canucks were "K i got an opening, but the other guy has a better one". Its wrong to assume that just the fact the look isn't perfect, the goalie is going to stop it automatically

[Hairy Kneel 7,133]

On 9/4/2020 at 11:15 PM, N7Nucks said:

Motter is really the only PK main stay among the younger players. Bo unsurprisingly doesn't kill penalties, given his 5 on 5 and PP deployment. But they may need to reign in his usage and start giving him PK minutes. We have like no young centers that have defensive pedigree to their game. Game plan might be to just find some more Beagles in Free agency as time goes on too. It's a problem for the future. Right now Beagle and Sutter are fine. Although would be nice to move Sutter for cap space. 

They need to train Jake to pk.

[Hairy Kneel 7,133]

On 9/4/2020 at 11:17 PM, VancouverHabitant said:

Yesh yesh....  Lukash Jashek is the next one in line!  That's Lukas Jasek, but I spelt it phonetically so we can all get accustomed to his name.  

 

I honestly hated everyone other then Beagle/Motte on the PK, but I may be biased  

Cash 

Motte Cash Big Mac

Edited September 6, 2020 by Hairy Kneel

[VforVirtanen 2,724]

21 hours ago, janisahockeynut said:

I am really proud of our guys, and think they actually over achieved, this summer

 

It wasn't the skill that causes me this feeling, as we have plenty of that, but........

 

Anyone that questions if size matters, just has to look at the teams remaining, and who we just played against

 

In the question of Vegas, their size was just daunting........

 

Yes, the Reeves head shot was $&!#ty, but if he had hit Motte shoulder to shoulder, the result may have been, worse......

Whitecloud misses Gaudette, but if he would have hit him, the result may not have been good....

I also think after looking at that hit, that it amazes me that Whitecloud, never missed a shift........

The speed that these players closed at, caused our players concern, and you could see that in our breakouts

Which, was one of the reasons, I really liked Myers game, as he did not sit and look at the headlights

but actually took the puck and skated it out, passed the charging forecheckers

 

Size, itself, is not that key, but it doesn't hurt

Size and tenacity, is what the Vegas players have

a certain meanness,  that comes along with every hit

Size without tenacity equals Virtanen

Where you are always left wanting more........

No one questions Reeves, Whitecloud, Carrier, Tuch or Roy's commitment

to punish their opponents, with their check's

 

If you noticed on the Vegas forecheck, that they were in on our players very quickly

and came with speed and commitment, even after our player had released the puck

The Vegas's objective was the contact on EVERY forecheck

Sliding back to Myers for a second

He could withstand the physical contact, and in many cases, skated passed it, before it was initiated

 

There is no doubt that  Vegas has skill, but it comes in a much bigger package

and in a much meaner player. Personally, I think the Canucks have more talent, but that size and tenacity makes such a difference

 

Having a fly...buzz your ear (Rousell) does not hurt you, it just annoys you......

 

I hope Benning can address that problem in some way, in the future

Unfortunately he did, but Ferland didn’t make it to this series. 

[VforVirtanen 2,724]

19 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

There's nothing wrong with Jake's physical tools, or his hands.

Nor even his heart. Or him as a person.

It's his head. Jake could be a dominant player if he just had a higher hockey IQ. 

If he did wraparound goals like in the Vegas series on a consistent basis, I'd have no issues.

 

 

To me Jake just played the way you expect most young players to play in a first big playoff run. Similar to Gaudette. In over their heads but they will learn from this. I think we are so spoiled by players like Petterson and Hughes who are gods among me that we forget this is the normal trajectory for most players. 
 

Folks give up too easily. We need speed, size and goal scoring ability. He may be exactly the type of players we need for our bottom six in future.