[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Lames | February 15, 2021 | 7 p.m. PT | SN1, SNP

[spur1]

1 hour ago, Dirtman said:

Virtanen has basically cost us two games now. Do we keep playing him? Why? What's the upside to his game over Big Mac?

Ya right...and Bo and Schmidt didn't gift the Flames a goal.

[-SN-]

1 hour ago, Dirtman said:

Virtanen has basically cost us two games now. Do we keep playing him? Why? What's the upside to his game over Big Mac?

Excuse me Virtanen has a particularly important role on this team. He's in the lineup to show we have speed in our bottom six for approximately six minutes per night. That can be the difference between winning and losi....wait. 

[IBatch]

4 minutes ago, Hairy Kneel said:

I don't think he ever fully recovered from his shoulder injury. He was touted as a good hitter but that's gone now.

[“He brings meanness and ruggedness and we’re trying to change the culture and he’s a piece of the puzzle,” the Vancouver Canucks general manager said Friday after selecting the Abbotsford native sixth overall in the NHL draft.
Virtanen had a sublexed shoulder during the season and suffered the same ailment at the end of the regular season and in the playoffs. "Once a shoulder is dislocated, the joint can become unstable and prone to future dislocations or subluxations." He had surgery a month ago and told The Province that doctors said the progression of flexibility and strength will only get better over time. Virtanen impressed at the draft combine and in follow-up interviews with the Canucks and whispers they were leaning that way only got louder as this week progressed.]

Can concur - that said they heal and you don't have to stop hitting.   If anything it's affected his ability to shoot and pass more then hit.   Had both out and worse, around the same age and a little younger,  never stopped me from bull dogging.   JV is an enigma.   He's not done yet..that said comparing him to Lucic isn't fair either - Lucic is a bully.   He has fought some tough customers, but back when enforcers still were around cries for the linesman to break it up the first heavy shot he takes.  McGratton ... wish he cleaned his clock. Instead Prout is about his best level of competition... not much different then Sandy McCarthy pounding Lindens kidneys once he was down, with the exception, the Sandman fought everyone, way way better fighters then Lucic ever has.    

 

JV ... well it's up to him at this point.   If he wants the minutes he's got to fight for them like Motte has.    Something tells me he won't do it, which is unfortunate.    Hope he makes me wrong. 

[Hairy Kneel]

2 minutes ago, IBatch said:

Can concur - that said they heal and you don't have to stop hitting.   If anything it's affected his ability to shoot and pass more then hit.   Had both out and worse, around the same age and a little younger,  never stopped me from bull dogging.   JV is an enigma.   He's not done yet..that said comparing him to Lucic isn't fair either - Lucic is a bully.   He has fought some tough customers, but back when enforcers still were around cries for the linesman to break it up the first heavy shot he takes.  McGratton ... wish he cleaned his clock. Instead Prout is about his best level of competition... not much different then Sandy McCarthy pounding Lindens kidneys once he was down, with the exception, the Sandman fought everyone, way way better fighters then Lucic ever has.    

 

JV ... well it's up to him at this point.   If he wants the minutes he's got to fight for them like Motte has.    Something tells me he won't do it, which is unfortunate.    Hope he makes me wrong. 

Yes I had mine out from rugby. But there were times I knew I had to be careful.  In softball I had to be careful for it not to pop out.

Maybe he's just protecting his shoulder. 

[IBatch]

9 minutes ago, spur1 said:

Ya right...and Bo and Schmidt didn't gift the Flames a goal.

JV - absolutely, hasn't done anything to either help the team win, or lose a game the last two games - with the exception of on bone head play where he had a chance to get the puck out of the zone twice in one shift - which didn't affect the outcome one bit.   Schmidt ... well let's just hope that wasn't his LE moment lol.   It won't be.   Edler has done the same thing maybe 5-6 times over the years right?   Horvat - shame.   You can bet neither of these guys are happy about it - but for some reason i think Schmidt takes it harder.

 

And since we are picking on guys, why the heck is Miller STILL passing the puck across our net and the slot when a CAL player is right there!   The saving grace was it was so unexpected nothing happened, could easily be digging it out of our own net though.   Once a game he's still doing that it seems - where as every other player has got the memo - keep it simple and chip it up the boards. 

[Rick_theRyper]

14 minutes ago, spur1 said:

Ya right...and Bo and Schmidt didn't gift the Flames a goal.

Peoples blind hate for single players is just hard to stomach. Thumbs up!

[IBatch]

2 minutes ago, Hairy Kneel said:

Yes I had mine out from rugby. But there were times I knew I had to be careful.  In softball I had to be careful for it not to pop out.

Maybe he's just protecting his shoulder. 

Maybe.   But if i was him i'd be more interested in protecting my career and the hell with my body.   Forsberg ... well not everyone is like him and will kill himself all the time - Tanev too...warriors both of them.   JV should be fighting for his career at this point - not far from becoming the next Bear in this club, and hate to say this - like Bear - he's risking getting waived with no takers very soon. Sucks. 

[Hairy Kneel]

1 minute ago, IBatch said:

Maybe.   But if i was him i'd be more interested in protecting my career and the hell with my body.   Forsberg ... well not everyone is like him and will kill himself all the time - Tanev too...warriors both of them.   JV should be fighting for his career at this point - not far from becoming the next Bear in this club, and hate to say this - like Bear - he's risking getting waived with no takers very soon. Sucks. 

Or Kenin's. Had such high expectations for him. Times running out though. Podz Lind etc even Gadz

Edited February 16, 2021 by Hairy Kneel

[oldnews]

11 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

The Flames are a bad team & we lost to them again... We shouldve won all 3 games against them yet found a way to lose 2 of 3. 

 

Canucks are playing well & continue to find ways to lose.

 

It's so disappointing to be out of the playoffs this early. 

 

 

The Flames are not a "bad team" (unless by "bad" you mean a gaggle of milkhotdogs).  They're annoying af, but they're a well built team - Treliving has made a lot of good moves.

 

I remember that asshat Specter mocking Calgary when Deadmonton won yet another lottery - the McDavid lottery - and he could not stop trash talking Calgary's mediocre, improper rething....ironically, the Flames have 27 more pts than the Coil in the McDavid era.

[IBatch]

3 minutes ago, Rick_theRyper said:

Peoples blind hate for single players is just hard to stomach. Thumbs up!

A season is just that - a season.   Game to game nitpicking is understandable to a point.   Fans and media almost ran the Sedins out of town before they shined.   

 

Things have changed with the internet, i love talking hockey with most posters on here and get the frustrations.   Linden is beyond reproach ... a legend.   But he had off games too, quite a few really.   Glad this stuff wasn't around back then - used to be once a player put on a Canuck sweater - people would buy it because they identified with how they played and wouldn't pick them apart for every mistake.   And would glorify the good stuff and be easy on the judgement (with the exception of a few guys..like Adrien Plavsic lol - because yeah he sucked).    You'd even see Dirk sweaters in the crowd.   We need more of that - and less micro complaints.   

[oldnews]

11 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

Most penalties drawn during his time in the league... Why am I not surprised.

 

Guy flops when you breathe near him. 

inexcusable that they keep rewarding that idiot's behaviour - while at the same time they throw the whistle away where Roussel is concerned - free shots at Roussel - while they protect and enable that smarmy little prick.

[smithers joe]

if we were out on the ice playing and realizing how quick we have to make decisions, we might not be, so quick to judge a player's wrong decisions. when a player make a decision that costs his team a goal or the game, i'm sure he feels super bad about it, but it's done. picture yourself in that position. would you always make the right play?

[IBatch]

3 minutes ago, oldnews said:

inexcusable that they keep rewarding that idiot's behaviour - while at the same time they throw the whistle away where Roussel is concerned - free shots at Roussel - while they protect and enable that smarmy little prick.

Apple didn't fall far from the tree... well not really but i didn't like his Dad much either ... at least one of his sons appears to have some honour.   Hope Myers gives him the entire butt end next time. 

Edited February 16, 2021 by IBatch

[IBatch]

Just now, smithers joe said:

if we were out on the ice playing and realizing how quick we have to make decisions, we might not be, so quick to judge a player's wrong decisions. when a player make a decision that costs his team a goal or the game, i'm sure he feels super bad about it, but it's done. picture yourself in that position. would you always make the right play?

Nope.   Saw Linden make plenty gaffes, Bure even more. 

[Nucker 67]

I critique Jake pretty harshly, but there was one play in the game where it looked like was mad? Took the puck into the O-zone with speed and authority to the net, and then a bit of a tussle after the whistle. Jake does this very rarely, but when he does I can see the potential. It must drive the coaches mad, seeing a glimpse, and then "poof"  it's gone. If anyone is an alien on the team, maybe it's Jake 

 

I've seen it before after he got mad, finding another gear and confidence. Like Popeye, Jake needs his "spinach" to be effective. Maybe Miller can slap him around before a game, get him riled up. lol 

 

 

[IBatch]

10 minutes ago, oldnews said:

The Flames are not a "bad team" (unless by "bad" you mean a gaggle of milkhotdogs).  They're annoying af, but they're a well built team - Treliving has made a lot of good moves.

 

I remember that asshat Specter mocking Calgary when Deadmonton won yet another lottery - the McDavid lottery - and he could not stop trash talking Calgary's mediocre, improper rething....ironically, the Flames have 27 more pts than the Coil in the McDavid era.

Old news provides a lot of perspective - and this is recent news really - good post.

[oldnews]

11 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

What happened to the league? Guys who embellished consistently used to get a reputation. 

 

While nowadays Tkachuk is constantly rewarded for making a mockery of the sport.

 

Slewfoot Juolevi, unexpectedly crosscheck Virtanen after the whistle, go after a rookie (hog) after the whistle, and most the time you can't do anything about it because Tkachuk won't answer for it & he'll flop for the call if you take it into your own hands.

 

And the refs continue to give him the benefit!!! Unbelievable

And what's also annoying are the responses to him.

Myers had the best approach thus far this season when he simply got full value with a shiver.

 

People whine constantly about Virtanen - but he's the only guy that got in Tketchup's face last night - dropped his gloves and was ready to go while Tketchup kept his on and clutch and grabbed in avoidance.  Kudos to Virtanen for being game while not crossing the line and taking a penalty in a very tight game.

 

The captain, on the other hand - looked away/turned the other cheek - where he needs to be showing Tketchup an appropriate level of both pushback and disrespect.

That - along with another generally light effort by Horvat was the most disappointing aspect of that loss imo (and I'm not simply microing his back-breaking giveaway).

Aside from set play powerplay goals and faceoffs - Horvat's game has been sub par - and when that's the case with your captain, it's hard to be calling out depth players - borderline inappropriate to be.

Virtanen last night had 0% ozone starts, 41.7% corsi, 2 shots and a hit (in 6:52....Horvat had 2 hits in 19:54 to give with the LE snowshower non-hit on the forecheck).

The goal after Virtanen didn't manage to clear the zone (with a fraction of time and a blueliner and Lucic on him...) - there were a chain of errors/mistakes on that play that preceded, included a worse failure to clear, and an exhaustion/frustration 'slash' that Juolevi took (an extremely rare incident where Juolevi wasn't at the top of his game).  In any event, the dwelling on Virtanen gets that much more absurd on a night like last night - where the real gaffs - and vacancies - came from the top down.

 

MIller has been taking comparable heat - but right before the Boeser goal to tie the game, he absolutely ran over a defenseman in the neutral zone and set the tone that, shorthanded or not, they meant business = that lifted the team.   The other best hit of the night came in one of Virtanen's 6+ minutes - where he absolutely ran over the opposing captain/Giordano.

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Curmudgeon]

18 minutes ago, IBatch said:

JV ... well it's up to him at this point.   If he wants the minutes he's got to fight for them like Motte has.    Something tells me he won't do it, which is unfortunate.    Hope he makes me wrong. 

Jake has played 293 games in the NHL and has 51 goals and 45 assists to show for it. He was drafted seven years ago this June. More important, he most often looks like a raw rookie or minor league call-up. If Jake hasn't got it by now, he isn't going to, either here in Vancouver or anywhere else he might end up. Jake isn't going to put it together; what you see is what he is. 

[oldnews]

Toffoli has 2 goals in 10 games this season that did not come against this team.

Let's stop pretending that the team would be better off with him than they are with Hoglander.

I get it - it serves the fishbowl drama this market loves to dwell on - but the player the team really misses was on Calgary's blueline last night.

 

Tanev last night had 13 dzone starts, 3 o, 18.8% ozone starts, 42.5% corsi, 2 hits and a block.

 

On the season

45.0% ozone starts

53.3% corsi

3pts, +4, 28 blocks

.953 on ice sv%

20:47/game, 3:14/game shorthanded

2.1 on ice goals for per 60 at es

1.2 against.

Outstanding.

Edited February 16, 2021 by oldnews