The Canucks’ only losses of late have been tough ones. This can only be good news, unless you’re an early season adopter of Team Tank. Even then, these are still losses, which help your tankish goals.
But for those wanting to see the Canucks win, it’s encouraging to see them play well enough to do so, even if the result doesn’t go their way in the end. This was another game that the Canucks could have — perhaps even should have — won. The Red Wings may have scored three goals, but one was an own goal from the unlikeliest of sources and the game-winner was scored after a blatantly missed trip off a faceoff that came shortly after a missed offside call.
Those things are going to happen. The blown calls will generally even out over the course of the season and the Canucks will win a few games they should have lost before the season’s over. Frankly, losing in this fashion is preferable to getting blown out in soul-crushing fashion.
Most importantly, a few tough losses can help a team make the small changes it needs to in order to improve, whereas a winning streak can ingrain some bad habits or bad lineups. I saw a few areas that need improvement when I watched this game.
- The Canucks’ shutdown line of Markus Granlund, Brandon Sutter, and Derek Dorsett is becoming a concern. They matched up mainly against Henrik Zetterberg’s top line and got crushed by shots, both in attempts and on goal. Derek Dorsett ended up on the ice for all three Detroit goals and while he wasn’t strictly to blame for them, when you’re on the ice for that many shots against, bad things happen. Meanwhile, Brendan Gaunce is nearing a return to the Canucks lineup after a conditioning stint in Utica. I bring up these two facts in close proximity to each other for no reason whatsoever.
- Michael Del Zotto has a part-time career as a DJ, but generally the only time his two careers meet is when he makes pre-game mixes to pump up his teammates. On the Red Wings first goal, however, he was definitely spinning when he should have been playing defence. He got caught puck-watching, losing track of the Red Wings’ forwards, as he spun around to watch the shot rebound off Markstrom’s pads to Darren Helm, who put it Helm’s Deep into the net.
- Del Zotto and Erik Gudbranson ended up playing the most minutes against the Red Wings’ top line, which cannot have been the plan going in. The pairing got badly out-shot, both in attempts and shots on goal, as they repeatedly struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone. Of the 50 times the pairing touched the puck at 5-on-5, those touches led directly to a controlled zone exit just 4 times. Meanwhile, Alex Edler is nearing a return to the Canucks lineup, skating with the rest of the team in practice. I bring up these two facts in close proximity to each other for no reason whatsoever.
- Who is the least likely candidate on the Canucks to score an own goal? If you answered Chris Tanev, you’re wrong, but only because all defencemen are more likely to score an own goal than most forwards. Still, it was a shock to see Tanev take a rebound off Markstrom’s pads and fire it into his own net. His stick was checked by Anthony Mantha as he tried to play the puck, but that doesn’t completely absolve Tanev of his responsibility, just like Aristotle’s philosophy of an Unmoved Mover that sets deterministic events into motion does not absolve us of responsibility for our actions.
- The Canucks’ veteran forwards were feeling their oats in this game — maybe someone put some extra brown sugar in their oatmeal this morning — as the Sedins and Thomas Vanek were creating some of the team’s best chances early on. But just like when you’re served too much oatmeal, they just couldn’t finish. Henrik had three of the best chances of the game but couldn’t put the puck in the net.
- First, Vanek set up Henrik with an open net on the power play. Henrik got tied up in front and tipped the puck wide. Then Jake Virtanen gave Henrik a breakaway with plenty of time: he deked to the forehand and put the puck in Jimmy Howard’s crest. Finally, Virtanen fed Henrik the puck on a 2-on-1. With room to shoot, he tried to force a pass back to Virtanen instead, leading to a rush the other way. As a punishment for trying to make the non-shooting Sedin shoot, Virtanen was later taken off the Sedin line.
- Honestly, I think it was less of a demotion for Virtanen when he was bumped off the Sedin line and more of a promotion for Vanek. Green clearly liked what he saw from Vanek and played a hunch; it immediately paid off with the Canucks’ first goal. Ben Hutton’s point shot was blocked, but Henrik kicked the puck free and Vanek helped it along to Daniel at the side of the goal and he tucked it around Howard like a bunting bag.
- The two passes after Hutton’s shot meant he once again did not receive a point on a goal he helped create and still sits on one point this season.
- Del Zotto made up for some of his defensive issues with a lovely goal. With a little more room on the ice at 4-on-4, Del Zotto found an opening, while Horvat found Del Zotto. By skating out wide, Horvat further opened up the middle of the ice, allowing Del Zotto to cut inside on Tomas Tatar and whip the puck past Howard like it was fresh cream, or possibly his hair, back and forth.
- Ben Hutton looked terrible on the Red Wings’ game-winning goal: he was up by the blue line with the puck in the Canucks’ zone, he fell to the ice, allowing Tomas Tatar a free path to the net, and he reached in and deflected Tatar’s shot past Markstrom. Only, he was by the blue line by design: he lined up for the faceoff along the boards and broke forward right as the puck dropped on what appeared to be a set play for them off the faceoff. As for falling, that’s because Tatar’s stick was in between Hutton’s legs, tripping him with no call. There’s not really any excuse for reaching in and tipping the puck, but 9 times out of 10 that play prevents a shot on goal instead of causing a goal.
- Despite the three goals against, Jacob Markstrom had a strong game. There wasn’t much he could do on any of the three goals. The first was a defensive error that led to an unexpected shot on goal that Markstrom could only kick aside without controlling the rebound. The second was an own goal and the third was deflected off the stick and should have been blown dead for a penalty anyways. All-in-all, Markstrom was more snakebitten than Sami Salo in this game and deserved a much better result.
