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. Feel free to leave your own stick-taps and glove-drops in the comments.
I’m dropping the gloves with the Dallas Stars for being so utterly terrible. They’re ostensibly in the playoff race, just a few points back of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, and they couldn’t even muster a win over the freefalling Canucks, who were missing three of their top-six defenceman, two members of their first line, and another member of the first line that replaced the injured first line. How are the Stars this bad?
A tap of the stick to Jacob Markstrom, who was outstanding in net for the Canucks. He made 30 saves on 31 shots, with the only goal that got past him coming on a shorthanded breakaway. His best save came early in the first period as he lunged across to rob Jamie Benn with his left pad on a 2-on-1.
Ashton Sautner deserves a stick-tap for his first NHL game. He gets the superlative of every first-time NHL defenceman that doesn’t outright embarrass himself: he didn’t look out of place. We’ll just look the other way when it comes to his team-worst minus-10 shot attempt differential, because everyone’s corsi looked bad today.
Jake Virtanen and Alex Edler both get the gloves dropped for the giveaway that gave Mattias Janmark a shorthanded breakaway. Virtanen’s pass was behind Edler, but Edler still had a chance to knock it down, then stumbled as he tried to recover. Janmark had a clean breakaway from the red line in and he snapped the puck past Markstrom’s blocker to open the scoring.
A tap of the stick to Travis Green for coming right back with Virtanen after the goal against, giving him a little vote of confidence after the giveaway. Virtanen responded by providing the screen on the tying goal.
Stick-tap to Reid Boucher, who has loved playing the Dallas Stars this season. He had two goals against them earlier this year, then had a goal and an assist on Sunday. His goal came on a perfect deflection on a hard Jussi Jokinen pass into the slot, sending it just inside the far post past a screened Kari Lehtonen.
A tap of the stick to Nikolay Goldobin, who keeps showing flashes of being a legitimate top-six forward. During the second period, he provided some of the best sustained pressure the Canucks managed all game, setting up both his linemates, Bo Horvat and Jussi Jokinen, for good scoring chances. It led directly to Boucher drawing a high-sticking double-minor as the Canucks were able to change with the Stars stuck in their own zone.
Nic Dowd deserves a stick-tap for his power play goal. He was only on the ice because it was at the very end of a double-minor, but full credit for picking up Troy Stecher’s wrist shot and turning it into a more dangerous chance by pulling the puck around Dan Hamhuis into the slot. His snap shot hit the post, but went in off Lehtonen’s skate.
I have to give a stick-tap to Alex Edler for being a workhorse in this game. He played just short of 28 minutes, largely against the Stars’ top line, and had a team-high eight shot attempts, four of them on goal. In the final 30 seconds of the second period, Edler got to work defensively, throwing a crunching check on Nick Shore, disrupting a couple passes, then blocking two shots to maintain the one-goal lead going into the third period.
Jake Virtanen gets a tap of the stick by default on the third goal because he’s the one who put the puck in the net. A Michael Del Zotto dump-in from the left made it all the way around the boards on the right side. Virtanen picked it up and threw it on net from a bad angle, where it somehow squeaked past Lehtonen on the short side. Sure, why not?
He hasn’t made much of an impression since the trade deadline, but Tyler Motte has to get a stick-tap for scoring his first goal as a Canuck. It may have been scored into an empty net, but Motte created the opportunity by forcing the puck out past Hamhuis at the blue line and he finished with some authority as Stephen Johns tried to slide in front of him to block the shot.
