[PGT] Vancouver Canucks at Vegas Golden Knights | Apr. 06, 2022

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[khay]

27 minutes ago, CanucksFan8353 said:

I don't see the Knights getting over 90 points looking at their remaining games.  That means the race is between the Canucks and the Stars for the wildcard.  The back-to-back games on April 28th and 29th will decide things.

Love the enthusiasm but Dallas need to $hit the bed really bad and we have to win almost all remaining games.

 

I think the playoff race is over.

 

Love to be wrong though and we end the season on a 12 game winning streak and Dallas to fail... Dallas just needs to win 6 of 13 games remaining to get to 95 points.

 

Dallas has won 10 games in the OT and 4 games in the SO. They are 14-3 in the OT/SO. In comparison, we are 6-10. That's 8 points difference. Us winning a few more in OT/SO and them losing a few would have made things more interesting. All those OT points we blew by playing low IQ hockey in the OT is definitely costing us.

 

All I want is for us to continue to play hard and fast like we did tonight regardless of the playoffs. 

 

[RakuRaku]

Is Lockwood impressing yet after a few NHL games?? 

[DJB]

43 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Oilers/Flames/Leafs all lose in the first round.

It’s too bad because even who that are it’d be nice to see a Canadian team bring a cup back here. Bettman won’t like that. 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Coconuts]

25 minutes ago, Odd. said:

Him adding 2-5 pounds of muscle over the summer and maybe even another 5 pounds of fat and he’s up to 195lbs. 
 

Hopefully he adds some weight to help him with some of his balance issues. 

He'll fill out gradually, I think sometimes folks forget just how young he is 

 

He's got the frame for it 

[Curmudgeon]

1 minute ago, RakuRaku said:

Is Lockwood impressing yet after a few NHL games?? 

Yes. His speed and hockey sense are really promising. With more experience, he will make us forget Tyler Motte.

[spook007]

1 hour ago, Locke Lamora said:

It’s far too late for a tank to be all that effective, so a few more games like this please! 

 

Petey, OEL and Demko were the standouts for me tonight. Horvat excellent in the circle as per usual. 

Liked Pearsons and Burroughs game as well...

[spook007]

1 hour ago, J-23 said:

Could be both Garland and Boeser gone.

That would help big time with Cap.

[JamesB]

1 hour ago, rekker said:

Can't say I saw that coming. Thanks for making my day Canucks. 

 

47 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Wow, huge game by the Canucks but it was really just Petey and Demko who won this game for us....

Some late comments.

 

1. Have to agree with @rekkar. Very enjoyable win made even better because if was a surprise.

 

2. Good game summary by @DownUndaCanuck. I would just disagree with the criticism of Burroughs. In addition to his 9 hits, I thought he played well for a guy just coming back from a fairly long layoff. He adds a lot to the physical game, which we need. 

 

3. Great game by Petey.  In the GDT there were a couple of people complaining that he "gets pushed off the puck" and is not strong enough. I just shake my head. In fact, he wins more than his share of puck battles. He is smart, quick, and has a great stick and that more than offsets the fact that he has a slight build.  Also, in addition to his great offensive skills, he was excellent on the PK again tonight. SInce he has taken on a big role on the PK, it has been very good. He has a great stick and great anticipation, which are important on the PK. 

 

4. Putting Petey on the right side with Miller and Pearson just emphasizes how disappointing Boeser has been at RW.

 

5. Great game by OEL. He plays better when Hughes is out. I guess the real reason is that his role changes when Hughes is out. Also, Schenn seems to be a better fit than Myers for him (which is weird considering that Myers gets paid almost 10 times as much as Schenn.)

 

 

 

[khay]

2 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

Some late comments.

 

1. Have to agree with @rekkar. Very enjoyable win made even better because if was a surprise.

 

2. Good game summary by @DownUndaCanuck. I would just disagree with the criticism of Burroughs. In addition to his 9 hits, I thought he played well for a guy just coming back from a fairly long layoff. He adds a lot to the physical game, which we need. 

 

3. Great game by Petey.  In the GDT there were a couple of people complaining that he "gets pushed off the puck" and is not strong enough. I just shake my head. In fact, he wins more than his share of puck battles. He is smart, quick, and has a great stick and that more than offsets the fact that he has a slight build.  Also, in addition to his great offensive skills, he was excellent on the PK again tonight. SInce he has taken on a big role on the PK, it has been very good. He has a great stick and great anticipation, which are important on the PK. 

 

4. Putting Petey on the right side with Miller and Pearson just emphasizes how disappointing Boeser has been at RW.

 

5. Great game by OEL. He plays better when Hughes is out. I guess the real reason is that his role changes when Hughes is out. Also, Schenn seems to be a better fit than Myers for him (which is weird considering that Myers gets paid almost 10 times as much as Schenn.)

 

 

 

OEL showed his offensive prowess tonight.

 

Next season, I hope to see OEL with a more defensive minded partner so that he can focus on offence.

 

On OEL-Myers pairing, OEL is the conservative one and has to stay back to play defence while Myers goes for a skate.

 

[Odd.]

4 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

Some late comments.

 

1. Have to agree with @rekkar. Very enjoyable win made even better because if was a surprise.

 

2. Good game summary by @DownUndaCanuck. I would just disagree with the criticism of Burroughs. In addition to his 9 hits, I thought he played well for a guy just coming back from a fairly long layoff. He adds a lot to the physical game, which we need. 

 

3. Great game by Petey.  In the GDT there were a couple of people complaining that he "gets pushed off the puck" and is not strong enough. I just shake my head. In fact, he wins more than his share of puck battles. He is smart, quick, and has a great stick and that more than offsets the fact that he has a slight build.  Also, in addition to his great offensive skills, he was excellent on the PK again tonight. SInce he has taken on a big role on the PK, it has been very good. He has a great stick and great anticipation, which are important on the PK. 

 

4. Putting Petey on the right side with Miller and Pearson just emphasizes how disappointing Boeser has been at RW.

 

5. Great game by OEL. He plays better when Hughes is out. I guess the real reason is that his role changes when Hughes is out. Also, Schenn seems to be a better fit than Myers for him (which is weird considering that Myers gets paid almost 10 times as much as Schenn.)

 

 

 

I actually didn’t notice that I think this was Petey’s first game playing RW. 

[Hairy Kneel]

1 hour ago, -DLC- said:

Burroughs with NINE HITS!

That's what we've been missing! 

Time to showcase OEL!! 

Huggy has more more and more records ahead of him. 

Saw Garland whispering to Podz, wouldn't that be the best style for Podz to follow. Adding snarl to his developing skill. 

Please Halak show up tomorrow. 

Hogz and Boes out, maybe we need more yeoman in our mix? Lunch bucket crew meet fondue dippers. 

 

[-AJ-]

For the first time in a bajillion years, we're not last in PK%. We have risen above the Red Wings.

[RomanP]

1 hour ago, J-23 said:

PA and JR need to find Petey a young winger this off-season. Prospect. Player. Idk. Right now I am 100% on the Fabian Lysell train.

Danila Klimovich…

[khay]

1 hour ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Wow, huge game by the Canucks but it was really just Petey and Demko who won this game for us. For some reason we're so much better on the road than at home. By no means a perfect game but good to see us crush Vegas' playoff hopes a bit.

 

Firstly have to start with Pettersson, absolutely brilliant performance tonight. Probably his best game of the season, he just dominated the Golden Knights in each 3 zones, on and off the puck. His smart stick sometimes just disrupts offence but today it created some goals as well. Nifty plays by him and he buried his chances as well (unlike most of our top scorers). Hope he continues this pace into next season, he was such a force on the ice tonight compared to Eichel who disappeared in the second half.

 

Pearson was absolutely superb again tonight, he is worth every penny and makes whichever line he's on look better. You need a Pearson for each line. He was very physical tonight, crushed guys along the boards, won puck battles and has some great offensive chemistry with Petey. Sure, he whiffs on two chances in the slot, but I'll take those whiffs from Pearson any day because he brings so much else to the table. For those of you who say we need to "cap dump" him and get rid of his expensive 3+M cap, I beg to argue that this team needs about 3-4 Pearsons. A player who scores 20 goals, 40 points but defends and checks as well as Pearson is far more valuable than a 60-70 point scorer who can't defend for their own life.

 

That brings me to Miller who had another so-so game, kind of just cruised through the game tonight but I hate to say he made some stupid defensive plays (namely one where he tried to drag the puck from behind the net straight through the middle of the ice and turned it over). Miller is a risky player. He gets assists though - look at the OEL pass and Petey tip, great play but that's a risky back-pass at the offensive blueline which sometimes leads to a breakaway against us. I think Miller's always going to play this way though so Bruce has done a great job of putting Pearson on his line to help stabilise the line defensively.

 

Our 2nd line was average tonight but I suppose they did their job of neutralizing Vegas. Horvat looked strong all night long but didn't have much help with Dickinson sucking a lot of offensive skill from his line. If Bruce wants to play our 2nd line as a checking line then Dickinson fits, but he sucks out all the offence from that line. I think that was his plan against the 1-line Vegas though and it worked well. Garland was tragic tonight in my opinion. Usually he's out there at least working hard but tonight he wasn't even doing that, and made 1 or 2 bad defensive plays. I think he just needs to get to the off-season and start from scratch, but hopefully he bumps that scoring drought soon. He had a couple of whiffed (to be fair, quite tricky) one timers tonight again.

 

Our bottom-6 really struggled tonight and it's no surprise we're a thin team. Lammikko, Chiasson and Podkolzin were hemmed in their own zone so many times and just kept losing their man in the D zone, they were brutal defensively. Of course offensively, Chiasson makes a nifty play on the PP and Podkozlin was flying all night long, he deserves about 4 assists in the last 2-3 games for his play. He doesn't suit a checking role, I hope he and Dickinson swap for the next game because Podkolzin looks a step ahead of the play and has done for the last 2 weeks.

 

Our 4th line was brutal defensively too, Richardson with a nice goal but he's noticeably slow out there in his own zone and is the last guy to get to the puck, but he does battle pretty hard in scrums. Petan had a pretty average game and while Lockwood looks great skating and hitting, boy does he need to work on defensive positioning and being careful in his own zone because he missed a couple of key clearances in the defensive zone which just lead to more sustained pressure against him. He could learn a lot from Pearson.

 

On defence, what a game without Hughes. OEL puts in a performance fit for a star number 1 defenceman. Brilliant plays in the offensive zone, couple of great assists but I was more impressed by how he defended. He hit hard, threw his big body around and crushed a couple of guys and to be honest the pairing looked much more balanced than with Hughes. Looked every part worth 6-7M, it would be nice if we used him more as this sort of role and had a 3rd pairing as more of a checking role (but obviously we can't do that). Schenn had a solid game, nothing fancy, but looked to me like he was trying a few skating moves that Quinn would do - namely spinning on a dime to relieve pressure.

 

Myers had a solid game defensively, was never stuck in his own zone for too long, nothing flashy and a bit physical which is just what we need, and Dermott played pretty well all over the place. His versatility and low cap hit is what this team needs. Sure, he failed to get the puck out a couple of times but he played a hard, physical game.

 

The 3rd pairing was an absolute disaster. Burroughs looked out of place all night long and was victimized for it. Slow along the boards, beaten to a couple of pucks and gave up a couple of great chances, he certainly didn't look ready to be back. He and Hunt together are just an AHL pairing ready for disaster. Hunt looked really good with Dermott who stabilised him a bit but Burroughs just kept getting caught out of position and that doesn't help the risky Hunt either. 

 

Of course the buck ends with Demko who was brilliant and very good to see him stop less than 2-3 goals in a night again, and he had to earn it. Our defence broke down time and time again, especially on the PK but also when we had either of our bottom-6 lines and bottom pairing defence out there. There must have been around 5-7 A-grade scoring chances but that was peak Demko again so hope he has enough in the tank for a few more wins like this.

 

On the whole good game by about 5 players, average game by most, terrible game by around 5-8 players but when Demko and Petey are on you don't need much else to take over a game.

Miller is a risky player indeed. But he is a bargain deal at 5.25mil and you can live with those mistakes as he puts up points and plays in all situations.

 

But at 9+ mil, no way we can live with those mistakes. And his low IQ mistakes get magnified in the OT where there's no one to cover for the mistakes.

 

If there is a season to try to transition, it would be next season. 

 

Trading Miller and one of Garland or Boeser wouldn't be a bad idea to improve other positions of need.

 

[*Buzzsaw*]

First thing I would say:

 

Its time for those who were dumping all over Pettersson earlier this year and saying how he was too weak, couldn't shoot, fell down too much, we should trade him, we should send him to the minors, etc. etc.  Time to Man up Bozos!!!  Time to admit you ARE a Bozo and Pettersson is a freakin' Star.

 

2nd thing I would say:

 

Those stupid gold plated Vegas helmets look like sh*t... the team looks like a bunch of used Cadillac salesmen running some cheezy promotion at some Vegas 2nd rate lot.

 

Other things to mention:

 

-  Pettersson is getting stronger on his feet and tougher in the rough stuff.

-  I like Burroughs...  I like his grit... real shame he is not 20 lbs heavier.

-  Podz is a Stud... his defensive play is exemplary... and he should have had an assist except that Chiasson can't put anything in the net further than 3 feet away.  Podz should be playing with someone who complements his skill level, because this kid has tons of talent.

-  Demko of course, is the biggest Stud on the team... nothing else needs to be said... its already obvious.

-  I like Lockwood too... good hustle and speed... he is getting better every game.

 

Well the chances are pretty remote, but obviously the Team can still make the playoffs...  if they take it one game at a time... we'll see I guess. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by *Buzzsaw*

[Elias Pettersson]

Last 20 games:

 

Connor McDavid - 33 points

Jonathan Huberdeau - 32 points

Leon Draisaitl - 31 points

Elias Pettersson - 26 points

 

Get the f*** out of here that Petey isn't a superstar...

[ilduce39]

44 minutes ago, wai_lai416 said:

coz you are cherry picking too aren't u? you want to take out the abysmal start and say we are a playoff team well if you going to say take out the abysmal start then u should take out the coaching bump where we were playing backup goalies every night for most of the 8 games.. since everything settled down.. most of the bad habits are back with consistency.. no show to start the game almost every game.. inconsistent PP inconsistent PK.. even if we didn't have the abysmal start.. we might be in a playoff position right now competing with Dallas?? but the way we have played since 2022.. we would slide right out of the playoffs.. so still wouldn't matter we are still not a playoff team. 

 

since 2022.. the stars are 25-15.. good for 50 points we are 18-13-7 good fo 43 points lol.. let's just say we win the 2 games in hand to make it 20-13-7.. the stars still out gaining us in terms of points...

 

let's look at the oilers.. they are 23-13-4 since 2022 started.. good for 50 points in 40 games.. again they are out gaining us in terms of points.. 

 

toss in 5 more extra wins for the canucks instead of the abysmal start and 10 extra points.. we would still be behind edmonton dallas nashville LA after all games in hand are played by those teams.. and all of them have been collecting points at a higher rate than vancouver since 2022.. so we would still slide right out of the race the way we've played in 2022.

Taking a team’s record after they replaced a coach who was clearly having a negative psychological effect on the team isn’t cherry picking.  Even if you think this team peaks at mediocre, they were seriously underperforming under Green the last year and a half of his tenure.  Again, that’s not cherry picking - an arbitrary start point like New Years has no impact on team play, unlike the impact of a coach. 
 

I said in my post there’s a lot of room to grow.  How much can Boudreau instil mid season?  I’d say if anything the team took a step back under Green this year - so they need to learn how to manage the grind of making the playoffs.  They haven’t figured it out yet but I’d bet next year they’re more likely to improve than regress.