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.
Huge stick-tap to Anders Nilsson, who was the Canucks best player tonight. He posted 44 saves on 45 shots, including 18 saves in both the first and third periods. He got some help from a couple posts and the Bruins missing the net on some great chances, but he was still superb, staying calm and square through most of the game, but also making stops on more scrambly plays.
Tap of the stick to Loui Eriksson, who opened the scoring two minutes in against his former team, then added a shorthanded goal for his third two-goal game of the season. He had a team-high four shots on goal and had a couple good passes for scoring chances to boot.
Daniel Sedin gets a stick-tap for his savvy pass on Eriksson’s opener. With Tuukka Rask down on the ice after a pair of stops on Alex Edler and Eriksson, Daniel could have tried to lift it over him, but instead made a slick little backhand feed to Eriksson for the tap-in.
Stick-tap to Thomas Vanek for setting up Daniel Sedin with an open net of his own. After a strong cycle, Henrik’s centring pass hit a skate and came to Vanek, who drove hard to the net, then unexpectedly passed to Daniel from a foot in front of Rask. Daniel deposited the fantastic pass into the net.
A tap of the stick to Bo Horvat, who made it 3-0 with a power forward move to the net after driving wide on Charlie McAvoy. He pulled up and roofed the puck on the short side as Rask started to move across the net. Fantastic goal.
Troy Stecher gets a stick-tap on that goal too, as he pulled away from a forechecker, slalomed by two more Bruins, then made the pass up to Horvat.
Erik Gudbranson gets a stick-tap for his overall strong performance. He laid a licking on Brad Marchand that lit up the Rogers Arena crowd (though it should be noted that Marchand was already going to the ice from an accidental high stick from another Canuck) and made a fantastic defensive play on David Pastrnak to erase one scoring chance off the rush. With the Canucks getting a big early lead, score effects kicked in and the Bruins out-shot nearly every Canuck at 5-on-5. The only one who didn’t get out-shot was Gudbranson: shots were 9-9 with him on the ice.
Tap of the stick to Brock Boeser on the 4-0 goal. He started the rush by winning a puck battle in the neutral zone and kicking the puck free to Horvat, who gained the zone, and tapped the puck across to Sven Baertschi, who shot for a rebound. Horvat missed it, but jumped over Rask to avoid a goaltender interference call, while Noel Acciari tried to clear the puck, but sent it off Boeser’s stick and in.
Dropping the gloves with the official scorer in Rogers Arena, who missed that the puck went in off Boeser’s stick, crediting the goal to Baertschi instead. That’s the second time in as many home games that Boeser has been robbed of a goal. He should have 29 by now but is still sitting on 27. I’m mad, but I ain’t stressing (NSFW). In all honesty, it’s possible that it didn’t touch Boeser’s stick, but the hometown scorer should be a little friendlier to the guy trying to win a Calder, right?
Stick-tap to Jake Virtanen, who seemed to take inspiration from Bo Horvat’s net drive, making a power move of his own early in the second period. He drove wide down the left wing around the smooth-skating Torey Krug, then cut across the front of the net. He was stopped by Anton Khudobin, who came into the game in relief of Rask, but Nic Dowd cleaned up the rebound to make it 5-0.
I have to drop the gloves with Troy Stecher on the Bruins’ lone goal. He had two chances to move the puck up ice, but turned the puck over the first time, then sent a pass into Nikolay Goldobin’s skates the second time. Krug kept the puck in, then moved it across to Tim Schaller for the one-timer.
Tap of the stick for Nic Dowd, who won a puck battle on the forecheck while on the penalty kill and passed it out to Eriksson. He couldn’t beat Khudobin at first, but sent a one-timer through his legs off a pass from Derrick Pouliot a moment later.
Stick-tap to the Canucks for a thoroughly entertaining performance on Hockey Night in Canada. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, because the Boston Bruins are one of the hottest teams in the NHL and the Canucks are not, but any time the Canucks can embarrass the Bruins is a good time.
