If only every single team could gut their roster for prospects and picks before facing the Canucks, it would lead to some pretty entertaining hockey.
The newly-defanged Rangers and the basically-still-the-same Canucks played some sloppy, creative, and fun hockey on Wednesday night, combining for 11 goals. The coaches and goaltenders probably hated it. It was great.
It was a mess, but it was beautiful, glorious mess. That’s the kind of hockey you want to see from two teams that won’t be getting anywhere near the playoffs. If you’re not going to be good, at least be fun.
The fun was good when I watched this game.
- If you want to see the polar opposite of the Canucks’ approach to the trade deadline, it’s the Rangers, who blew up their team and acquired a ton of picks and prospects. They traded away Michael Grabner, JT Miller, Ryan McDonagh, Nick Holden, and Rick Nash. That removed from their lineup their leading goalscorer, second-highest point-getter, top pairing, and, well, Rick Nash. That should adequately explain why their systems looked essentially non-existent. Poor Henrik Lundqvist.
- This is how you keep things positive while losing. Nikolay Goldobin was making plays, Jake Virtanen was ripping slap shots, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat were dominating, the Sedins were Sedining, and newcomer Brendan Leipsic was the best player on the ice. They had 55 shots! 55! That’s not 55 factorial, which is 12,696,403,353,658,275,925,965,100,847,566,516,959,580,321,051,449,436,762,275,840,000,000,000,000. That’s way too many shots. Just 55 with an exclamation point.
- Let’s avoid negativity by glossing over the bad stuff, like the lousy defensive coverage every time the Rangers managed an offensive foray and the questionable goaltending that saw Jacob Markstrom pulled after allowing three goals on five shots. Sure, the Canucks were down 3-0 halfway through the first period, but we’ll have none of that negative thinking. Let’s make like The Hold Steady and Stay Positive.
- When the Canucks scored, they, like Agent J, made it look good. A dominant shift by the line of Leipsic, Horvat, and Boeser culminated in a pass so sweet it gave me cavities. Horvat set up Boeser at the back door by passing through Leipsic’s legs in the slot, then Boeser did what Boeser does, going top shelf where Grandma keeps the good china.
- The power play came through to pull the Canucks to within one. Henrik Sedin gave the puck away for a shorthanded breakaway, but Anders Nilsson bailed him out with a pokecheck. Henrik took the puck back up ice and set up Daniel Sedin with a glorious opportunity that Lundqvist turned aside, right onto the waiting stick of Horvat at the side of the net. Horvat followed Keith Richards’ advice and made no mistake.
- The Sedins combined again in the second period to tie the game. The Canucks put together a great breakout off a defensive zone faceoff, with Goldobin heading straight to the point to tip Troy Stecher’s ring-around through the neutral zone, where Daniel collected the puck, stopped up, and found Henrik coming off the bench. Henrik tried to set up Michael Del Zotto, but Vladislav Namestnikov tipped the pass away. Fortunately, it was the perfect set up for Daniel to step into a slap shot like Run the Jewels steps into the spotlight (NSFW).
- That’s 20 goals on the season for Daniel Sedin, who has been one of the hottest players in the NHL over the last nine games, with seven goals and 12 points. And there’s people who think that he and his brother are holding up a Canucks rebuild, as if they’re the problem and not the plethora of veterans Jim Benning has signed to terrible contracts. NO! STAY POSITIVE! STAY POSITIVE! SERENITY NOW!
- The Canucks couldn’t quite take advantage of a third-period 5-on-3, with Sam Gagner getting robbed by Henrik Lundqvist twice in short succession, but it’s an area where they’ve been successful this season. They’re tied for third in the NHL in 5-on-3 goals, with four. Neat!
- Travis Green and Newell Brown went full youth on the second power play unit: Leipsic, Baertschi, Horvat, Goldobin, and Pouliot at the point. Baertschi is the oldest player on that unit at 25. They combined to tie the game 4-4, albeit just after a power play ended. Leipsic’s fake slap shot into a pass was marvelous and Goldobin fired past Lundqvist’s stack like a bad shot in Altered Carbon.
- The Rangers pulled ahead once again, but Brock Boeser busted out “Electric Worry” and got Clutch, tying the game with Nilsson pulled for the extra attacker. Leipsic found him with a pretty backhand pass of the boards and Boeser pulled the puck around an over-aggressive Jesper Fast, and beat Lundqvist by his blocker. He erased the Rangers’ lead and any concerns about the health of his right wrist.
- The Canucks lost in overtime, but that’s not very positive, so let’s instead talk about how good Leipsic looked in the extra frame. He looked pretty good! The extra room suited his speed. I’m curious to see how Leipsic performs against a team that hasn’t traded away five key players recently, but there’s room for some optimism when it comes to Leipsic.
