“It’s gonna be a fun one tonight,” said Dave Amber as he set up Saturday’s game between the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames on Hockey Night in Canada.
So, that was a lie. That wasn’t fun at all.
A zero-zero game does not, by definition, have to be boring.
That’s especially true when the goaltending matchup is Thatcher Demko versus Jacob Markstrom. Saturday night’s matchup could have been a legendary goaltending duel and those can be tremendously exciting.
But this wasn’t really a goaltending duel. Even though both Demko and Markstrom stopped every shot they faced in regulation, it felt like they were barely challenged. There were barely any shots from high-danger areas, no wild scrums around the net where it felt like the puck could bounce in at any moment.
Or, perhaps it could have been a display of solid systems and impressive defending. That may not be as exciting as a freewheeling back-and-forth thrill ride, but there’s still something enjoyable about a well-played defensive game.
This game wasn’t that either. The lack of chances really didn’t seem like a result of great defending but of incompetent offending. Passes were off the mark, attacks were sloppy and out of sync, and shots went sailing wide with depressing regularity.
“We didn’t manage the puck too well, I thought. We were turning it over a lot,” said Noah Juulsen, who drew into the lineup in place of the injured Tucker Poolman.
Of the two teams, the Canucks struggled the most. They had just one shot on goal in the first period — just one! By halfway through the game, they still only had three shots. It was a shock that they even reached double digits by the end of regulation, but they still only managed 15 shots.
“Having one or two shots about halfway through the game just isn’t going to do it,” said a visibly frustrated Tyler Motte.
15 is the Canucks’ lowest shot total of the season and their lowest since December 21, 2019, when they had just 14 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“It was like we were skating in quicksand all night long,” said Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau. “I don’t know what the reason was, we’ll try to find that out tomorrow.”
The worst part of it is that the Flames are a team that the Canucks need to catch in the playoff race. This was an opportunity to make up a little ground and they simply didn’t.
“I’m used to seeing our team play with a lot more energy,” said Boudreau. “It’s unfortunate, especially when you need the points. They were a beatable team tonight and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
I’m used to watching a game with a lot more energy. As it is, I’m just happy I didn’t fall asleep when I watched this game.
- This game was terrible.
- There were two good things about this game for the Canucks. One was the return of Thatcher Demko from COVID protocol and him playing as if he’d never left. Demko may not have been challenged much but he stepped up every time he was through regulation, including on a second-period penalty shot for the Flames leading scorer, Johnny Gaudreau.
- The other good thing about this game — somewhat related to the first — was that the Canucks managed perfection on the penalty kill despite the Flames getting 11 minutes on the power play. For the third game in a row, they didn’t allow a power play goal.
- That’s pretty impressive since the Canucks still have the league’s worst penalty kill at 69.5%, nearly historically bad — the worst ever was the 1979-80 Los Angeles Kings at 68.2%.
- “On the discipline side of it, I think we can help ourselves out by taking a few less, but it’s good to have a little confidence, a little momentum on the PK,” said Motte. “I think we’re working together, a little bit more in sync.”
- The other side of their special teams was significantly less impressive. The Canucks had three power plays and didn’t manage a single shot. It’s even worse than that, actually — they didn’t have a single shot attempt in their six minutes of power play time. Wait, wait, it gets worse — they gave up two shorthanded shot attempts, one of them on goal, to the Flames.
- Ugh, so terrible, this game.
- One of the worst parts of the game was Tyler Myers hit to the head on Trevor Lewis, for which he got a match penalty. It’s important to note that a match penalty means that, in the assessment of the referees, they considered the hit to be an attempt to deliberately injure Lewis. They made this assessment after video review. So, let’s review the video.
- I hate it.
- As Lewis attempted to get around Myers, he got his hand up in Myers’ face, which probably should have been a penalty but was missed. It seemed like this upset Myers, who drives Lewis’s head into the boards with his shoulder. You could argue that Myers was attempting a clean hit but caught the head because he’s tall but Myers has been tall for his entire NHL career and has mostly managed to avoid hitting people in the head. Being tall is no excuse for concussing someone.
- Myers is likely looking at a multi-game suspension for this one.
- With Myers ejected from the game midway through the first period, the Canucks were down to five defencemen and leaned heavily on Quinn Hughes the rest of the way. Hughes finished the game with a career-high 31:07 in ice time, with only 29 seconds of that coming in overtime, so he would have still bested his previous career high of 30:21 if the game ended in regulation.
- The Canucks got their only shot of the first period while killing the penalty, a backhand chance from Tyler Motte that Jacob Markstrom stopped with a nod of his head. In the words of Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole, that’s using your face.
- That’s right, one of the few highlights of the game I deemed GIFable for an article about the Canucks was a Flames save. Have I mentioned how terrible this game was?
- Even in a terrible game, Quinn Hughes remains excellent at exiting the zone. I quite enjoyed this nifty little pass through Elias Lindholm’s legs to Juho Lammikko. The timing was particularly important, as it came after a penalty-killing shift and he and his linemates needed a change.
- Honestly, so little happened in this game. The most noteworthy event of the third period was when a puck fell out of the netting in the Flames’ zone, so there were two pucks on the ice. The referees blew the play dead but honestly, they should have just let it go. Multi-puck might’ve been the best chance for a goal in regulation.
- Such a truly terrible game could only end in a truly terrible way: with a blown non-call on an obvious penalty. J.T. Miller was blatantly hooked in the hands as he tried to cut to the net and lost his stick. The Flames went the other way 3-on-2 and Johnny Gaudreau sent a low slap shot into the bottom corner.
- It might not have made a difference but it was still disheartening to see how casually Miller skated back to the bench to change for Bo Horvat after losing his stick. I get it, he was frustrated over the non-call, but you still have to show a little hustle and Boudreau agrees.
- “No, not in overtime, of course, it’s not acceptable,” said Boudreau. “We’ll discuss that between me and him tomorrow. It’s a terrible play…It won’t happen again.”
- See? Terrible. I told you.
