It got overshadowed by Brock Boeser’s season-ending injury, but the Canucks actually won the game on Monday night, avoiding the ignominy of the Crap Mantle, and effectively playing spoiler on the Islanders playoff hopes.
That’s a big battle to win, but it’s hard to avoid feeling like the Canucks lost the war. With Boeser injured, there will be no Calder debate in the coming weeks, no franchise rookie records to celebrate, and, worst of all, no Boeser on the ice to watch and appreciate.
I wish I had known it was my last chance to watch Brock Boeser play this season when I watched this game.
- Fortunately for Canucks fans, Brendan Leipsic and Jake Virtanen gave them a reason to watch the rest of the season with their standout performances. Could Leipsic and Virtanen be top-six forwards? I’ll admit, I have my reservations, and I see them more as potential offence-minded third-line forwards, but this game injected a healthy dose of optimism into the conversation.
- I’m trying to think of ways that Brendan Leipsic could have had a larger impact, both positive and negative, on the outcome of this game. Maybe if both Canucks goaltenders got hurt, he could have suited up in relief? He could have donned a ref’s jersey and made a few calls? Maybe Rogers Arena announcer Al Murdoch could have come down with a cold and Leipsic could have stepped in to announce goals, penalties, and the last minute to play in the third period.
- Leipsic did everything: he stole pucks, he gave pucks away, he took penalties that led to goals against, scored two goals himself, and assisted on another. He was on the ice for five of the seven goals scored in this game, and one of the other goals was a penalty shot for Darren Archibald, so he couldn’t be on the ice. We should start calling him Brendan “Facts of Life” Leipsic, because you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have Brendan Leipsic. As long as the good keeps outweighing the bad, he’ll be a fun addition to the lineup.
- One of the most intriguing developments in this game is that Travis Green split up Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat. After a first period where the Canucks were out-shot 15-6 and out-attempted 24-11, Green put Jake Virtanen with Leipsic and Bo Horvat, creating a speedy line that the Islanders struggled to contain. With Boeser potentially out long term, we’ll likely get some more chances to see this combination.
- The Islanders didn’t just out-shoot the Canucks early, they out-scored them too, but not as badly as they should have. They reminded me of Arsenal, the Premier League club I unfortunately support, who have a tendency to play a gorgeous possession game, then seemingly forget that they actually need to score goals. The Islanders skated and passed circles around the the Canucks, but seemed to look for perfect chances to score instead of forcing the issue. Instead of being up by half-a-dozen goals halfway through the game, they were only up by a brace.
- The touch pass through his legs by Thomas Hickey on the Islanders’ second goal was a thing of beauty. It was Sedinesque in its perfection, so let’s just take a moment to appreciate it.
And that pass from @thomas_hickey14. pic.twitter.com/DY0PGLkL6M
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) March 6, 2018
- Mathew Barzal got the second assist on that goal and, as several people pointed out after the game, if you look at primary points — goals and first assists — Barzal and Boeser aren’t that far apart. Barzal has 44 primary points this season, while Boeser has 42.
- Side note: when you focus on primary points this season, Henrik Sedin gets crushed. 30 of his 43 points this season are second assists.
- The Canucks came storming back late in the second period, with the Horvat line providing payoff to some momentum-building shifts by the rest of the team. Horvat and Virtanen got the puck moving below the goal line, then Virtanen tried to catch Jaroslav Halak napping and bank the puck in off his pads. Instead, it came out to Leipsic, who took the puck on the backhand and made like Daniel Plainview, raising the puck like it was his own son then abandoning it in the net.
- Darren Archibald looks like he belongs in the NHL. Either that, or Johnny Boychuk doesn’t. Archibald turned on the jets like he was watching TSN3, leaving Boychuk behind and forcing the Islanders’ defenceman to hook Archibald for a penalty shot.
- Archibald’s penalty shot move was subtly fantastic. He didn’t do much, just skated in from the right side to get Halak moving, then left his intentions open to interpretation like a Charlie Kaufman screenplay. As Halak brought his right pad and blocker down to cover the five-hole, Archibald touched the puck forward to change the angle, then leaned on his stick to load up a quick, surprising snap shot over that same pad.
- Virtanen was flying, delivering hits, rushes, wraparounds, and go-ahead goals. When Leipsic created a turnover at the Canucks blue line, he and Virtanen were off to the races. Leipsic drew in defenceman Brandon Davidson, then wrapped a pass around him to the rushing Virtanen, who had left Nathan Pelech behind like a note to buy more milk. Those J. Walter Weatherman lessons really paid off. Virtanen took the puck and beat Halak low to the glove side.
- Bad Leipsic showed up at the end of regulation, taking a penalty with two minutes left that allowed the Islanders to tie the game. Fortunately, Good Leipsic bailed him out, scoring the game-winning goal on a great solo effort. He stole the puck from Anthony Beauvillier, avoided Halak’s over-aggressive pokecheck, and deposited the puck in the open net. Here’s hoping Disney’s solo effort will be as good.
- Leipsic doesn’t get a chance to score that goal without a fantastic Virtanen backcheck at the beginning of overtime. Nick Leddy was streaking in on the left wing, loading up a shot, but Virtanen lifted his stick at the last second and stole the puck. Pavel Datsyuk couldn’t have executed that stick-lift any better.
