Stick-taps and glove-drops is a recurring feature after every Canucks game giving some quick kudos and criticism before the longer I Watched This Game feature. That’s right: two post-game articles for the price of one! That price is still zero dollars.
Jacob Markstrom deserves all of the stick-taps in this game. The scoresheet will only show 29 saves, but it won’t show how difficult those saves were. Without Markstrom playing out of his mind, the Canucks don’t win this game, so feel free to mentally append “But really, Markstrom deserves this stick-tap” to every stick-tap in the rest of this article.
A tap of the stick for Travis Green, who made a good offside challenge on what looked like the Flames’ opening goal. The successful challenge wiped away some questionable defending by Michael Del Zotto and Erik Gudbranson and gave the Canucks the chance to open the scoring later in the first period.
I’m dropping the gloves with the Canucks’ power play, even if it did produce the opening goal and the game-winning goal. The power play that led to the opening goal was a disaster, repeatedly failing to gain the offensive zone and get set up. It lasted nearly the full two minutes and the only shot was Sam Gagner’s and it went in. Ridiculous.
Sticking with special teams, the penalty kill gets the gloves dropped as well. The Flames scored with seconds remaining in the first period on the power play, then went up by one midway through the second period on another power play goal. The penalty killers struggled to keep the Flames from getting set up and working the puck around the offensive zone.
Thomas Vanek has been playing well of late and he gets a big stick-tap for his bomb of a slap shot goal from the right faceoff circle. When he gets a little bit of room, his slap shot is terrifying, particularly since he always uses it from so near to the net.
Stick-tap to Brandon Sutter and Derek Dorsett for combining on the Canucks’ third goal, a shorthanded marker. Sutter did most of the work, beating TJ Brodie to the puck, then having the presence of mind to centre for Dorsett when he couldn’t get a shot off.
I’ll drop the gloves with two more unlikely Canucks: Chris Tanev and Brock Boeser. Tanev was at fault on the Flames’ third goal, giving up the puck to Micheal Ferland on the forecheck, while Boeser had one of his worst games and saw a lot of the bench, particularly in the second period.
Here’s the thing about great players: even when they’re having a bad game, they can still contribute. Stick tap to Boeser for assisting on the game-winning goal and another stick-tap to Bo Horvat for scoring it. Boeser’s centring pass went off two Flames’ defenders, but it eventually got to Horvat in front.
The Sedins still have some life in them and they get a stick-tap each. After failing to finish on several chances on Monday, Henrik made good on his 2-on-1 chance set up by his brother, roofing the puck over Mike Smith.
Big stick-tap to Derrick Pouliot, who was the lone Canuck with a positive shot attempt differential at even-strength. He did it while playing most of the game with Erik Gudbranson, who has cratered his other partners’ corsi in previous games.
Brendan Gaunce gets a stick-tap for stepping straight into a tough role in his first NHL game back from injury. He played just short of 17 minutes in this game, including a tough matchup against the Flames’ top line.
Stick-taps all around for the Canucks on the ice in the final minutes of the game. In the final 4:42, the Flames didn’t get a single shot on net. The Canucks either kept the puck out of the zone or blocked the shots when they came.
One final tap of the stick for Jacob Markstrom, because he deserves it. His final save on Johnny Gaudreau was one of his best, flashing out his left pad to turn the Flames’ leading scorer aside. It was a fitting cap to a fantastic performance.
