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.
Glove-drops all around. After the Canucks’ best game of the season, they followed it up with their worst. Or, a repeat of their worst, as it was about the same as their performance on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets.
Okay, so Brock Boeser deserves a stick-tap. He was easily the Canucks’ best player and Travis Green cycled him through several different lines trying to find a spark. Boeser had a game high 8 shot attempts, with four of them on goal, and he made things happen almost every time he hit the ice. Shot attempts were 21-9 for the Canucks when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. He was good.
A stick-tap for Jacob Markstrom too, I suppose. He certainly wasn’t to blame for the loss, even if he only managed 22 saves on 25 shots.
Ben Hutton and Bo Horvat both get the gloves dropped on the Sabres’ first goal. Either one could have taken Scott Wilson as he came out from behind the net. Instead, Hutton was indecisive and stuck with Ryan O’Reilly, while Horvat stood in no man’s land and took no one at all. Wilson’s shot was stopped, but Sam Reinhart, also untaken, scored on the rebound.
SAM REINHART BACKHANDS ONE HOME FOR THE OPENING GOAL! SABRES LEAD 1-0! pic.twitter.com/anTcTYohQC
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) January 26, 2018
Gloves dropped with Nic Dowd, who had a dreadful game. The Canucks got out-attempted 8-1 and out-shot 4-0 when he was on the ice 5-on-5. He got benched, playing just three shifts in the second period, and only played one shift in the third period, the final shift of the game.
Alex Biega gets the gloves dropped for clearing the puck over the glass on a delayed Sabres penalty. All he needed to do was give the puck away and the Canucks would have had a power play and could have tied up the game. Instead, he made it 4-on-4.
I’m dropping the gloves with Jake Virtanen, who was a hot mess. He had a couple good moments early, but then displayed some terrible decision-making. He caused a too many men penalty by sending a pass towards the bench as his teammates were changing and had a couple ugly giveaways, including a drop pass to no one at the Buffalo blue line that led to the Sabres’ second goal. While the Canucks were on a change, Nicholas Baptiste ended up in all alone and tucked the puck under Markstrom.
Have to drop the gloves with Jacob Markstrom on the Sabres’ third goal. He thought he had Marco Scandella’s point shot, but the puck slipped under his right arm and dropped behind him, where Kyle Okposo poked it past the post.
