[GDT/PGT] Vancouver Canucks @ Ottawa Senators l April 26, 4 p.m. l TSN5, SNP

[Dazzle]

4 minutes ago, x00x said:

u really thought the canucks would make the playoffs esp with the current schedule that had? i see either flames or habs being the last and 4th team, both can make it....im just glad the canucks are actually playing, i already counted them out along time ago LOL , shocked ppl still think they can make it haha

Nah. The Canucks still have a chance. It's difficult, but they still have a chance. 14 more games to go. It's still too early to write them off.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, DefCon1 said:

Why don't the canucks play Lind and Rathbone??? They keep playing scrubs like Highmore who couldnt even make blackhawks 4th line and was a waiver wire player. At least have those guys gain some experience playing in the NHL without pressure.

Highmore has been one of our better bottom 6 forwards.  Weird guy to pick out. 

 

I'd like to see Lind and Rathbone though.  For me Vesey would be the one sitting. 

[BPA]

Team looked tired and sluggish after the 1st.  Need to put some fresh legs next game.  Put in some rookies.  Worked well for Ottawa.  Lol.

[J-Strap]

7 minutes ago, spook007 said:

It ain't over till the fat lady sings... 

 

Keep fighting boys...

That lady and her fat friends have all sung!

[DefCon1]

2 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

Holtby's been incredible...really feel good about his play.

Yeah, all our wins were because of Holtby and some $&!#ty goaltending by Toronto. 

[1-d]

Other than Juolevi goal, this game was a total disaster for literally every Canuck skater.

 

Couldn't get the puck out, couldn't win one board battle, couldn't make a crisp pass, and no urgency whatsoever when the team needed push for a tying goal in the 3rd.

 

If they said they now treat every game as a must-win game, this one certainly didn't qualify.

[aliboy]

For me, this season cannot end fast enough!!

[24K PureCool]

Back to square 1.

Knew we gonna let some seive look like a Vezina goalie. It is the Canucks way!

[MikeyD]

5 minutes ago, LeafsFanDan said:

Oilers doing just fine with 1 line tho

Honestly the Oilers just play a much smarter offensive game. They run and gun and they're winning games because of it. The defense is willing to activate unlike ours who is terrified of letting go of their leash that's attached to the blue line. 

[JoshuaGuy]

2 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

Holtby's been incredible...really feel good about his play.

It's wasted though, when this team cannot string two passes together. Dump it in 90% of the time, fail to collect 90% of that 10% and then point shot 100% when they do. Won't even bother critiquing d-zone. 

[Bertuzzipunch]

5 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

Let's get some duct tape and fix Petey up.

 

Red Green style.  We need him right about now.

Pfft yeah right. Hes nowhere to be seen 

[J-Strap]

Hirsch is as a good a commentator as he was a goalie

[PhillipBlunt]

There’s always next year. 

[Beary Sweet]

Tough one tonight. Needed this one but we couldn’t find a way to get the W. OJ looked great out there scoring a goal. Hogz was buzzing out there creating chances. We came close a few times but luck just wasn’t there for us tonight.  Holtby kept us in it and within striking distance. Hope we bounce back next time around! GCG!

[aznmonk]

5 minutes ago, Trebreh said:

put Vesey back on waivers and play KOLE LIND!! why do we always look elsewhere for help when we've got guys in Utica waiting for their chance.

I know eh, so frustrating.  We have players that are hungry for a chance and we are giving scrubs, wire rejects a chance from other teams.... 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Guest]

Just now, DefCon1 said:

Yeah but we also are missing Petersson. Even with Petey we have like 4 or 5 legit top 6 NHL forwards that can score with rest being scrubs and 4th liners. Without Petersson, we will even have a harder time of scoring. You can thank Benning for getting rid of Toffoli to keep franchise players like virtanen lol.

[Slegr]

I was not prepared for such a frustrating loss. 
Terrible situation. 
We need more offensive weapons.

[DownUndaCanuck]

Dreadful game, we played well in the first 5 minutes and last 8 minutes but apart from that were the worse team by a long way. I know the commentators were talking about how it looks like we're fatigued but I disagree - we poured it on in the final minutes so always had something in the tank. All game, our passes were off and that's what lead to odd-man rushes and takeaways, not our skating. I thought we skated and battled hard but we couldn't string 2 passes together.

 

Miller looked like he was on a mission tonight, Boeser was pretty invisible and Vesey was waived for good reason. Glad to see Lind get called up, you've got to think that's where he's going. I liked the move to get Motte up on the top line but I wanted it from the get-go.

 

Bo and Hoglander had some nice chances and should have scored 2-3 goals tonight but got a bit unlucky in all fairness. Pearson really didn't do very much at all.

 

The bottom-6 is where it gets interesting. I thought Highmore was fantastic for what he's worth, a very smart stick that broke up a lot of plays but not much else. Vesey was dreadful, just sloppy defensive play and couldn't cash in on some great opportunities. Hawryluk had a strong game for the time he got. Sutter had a solid, safe game by his standards. Virtanen was invisible apart from a gimmick fight and absolutely no idea why Green trusts him in the final minutes to be on the ice.

 

On defence I thought we actually played pretty well, limited shots and chances apart from 2 absolutely bone-headed plays by Schmidt which we're sadly coming to expect. Edler was a rock on the ice, rarely lost a puck battle. I'm most impressed by Hughes to be honest, he was dreadful before the Covid break defensively and has come back playing like his rookie season-self on the defensive side - smart poke checks and using his body smartly. If there's one positive to take away, it's that Hughes' defensive game is back and he's much more of a respectable player when he's defending well. Shame he couldn't get any pucks through in the final minutes. Hamonic had a strong game apart from the brain-fart at the end as well with some nice slap shots through, and Myers was stable as always. Juolevi though was IMO our best defenceman, not just for the goal but he uses his body well defensively and plays a heavy game which we need. This kid has to play the rest of our games, he racked up 15 minutes tonight and deserves around that each night for the rest of the year.

 

Of course Holtby made some rediculous saves and the only goals against were just a product of pathetic team defence so can't blame him, he's still playing hot.

 

On the whole, not sure what it is but this sloppy passing really let us down and some stupid plays at our own offensive blueline which lead to chances/goals against was sadly reminiscent of our early-season struggles. The playoffs pretty much got washed away tonight, of course anything is possible but I think Green needs to work in some practices to get that passing stronger if we've got any chance. They didn't look fatigued to me the way they did against Vegas in the playoffs, they just looked sloppy which is much more concerning.

[Petey40]

This isn’t because of Covid lol they literally look no different than the vast majority of the season earlier this year. They’re just poorly coached and lacking talent. Bet you wouldn’t hear one player on the team blaming Covid.