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.
Tap of the stick to the Canucks, who at least looked more engaged in this game than they did against the Arizona Coyotes. It’s a low bar, but at least they cleared it.
I don’t usually comment on the national anthems, but I have to drop the gloves with Tallyn Simpson for dragging them out inordinately long. If we’re going to have the anthems before the game, I prefer a utilitarian approach: get them done quickly and without fanfare. Does that make me a bad Canadian? Maybe. To quote Five Iron Frenzy, “I’m not the greatest patriot.”
Tap of the stick to Michael Del Zotto for striking first in the opening minute. He took a Bo Horvat pass and beat Devan Dubnyk through the legs, but the puck squiggled wide. Del Zotto stayed on the puck, took it behind the net, and tucked it in with a wonderful wraparound, giving the Canucks the early 1-0 lead.
I have to drop the gloves with Del Zotto as well, unfortunately. He played some crazily high-event hockey, which ended up costing his team. There were 45 total shot attempts for both teams when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, with the shots on goal 17-15 for the Wild. Del Zotto ended up on the ice for three of the Wild’s five goals, including the tying goal less than a minute after he opened the scoring, as Zach Parise took a bouncing puck and roofed it over Anders Nilsson’s shoulder.
I’m dropping the gloves with referee Jake Brenk for waving off Sam Gagner’s go-ahead goal late in the first period, saying Gagner kicked the puck in. I mean, it was the right call, but it’s more fun to write about a goal than no goal.
I’ll drop the gloves with Derrick Pouliot on the Wild’s second goal. Pouliot played a pretty strong game for the most part, but he got caught in no man’s land defending an odd-man rush, allowing Matt Cullen to get in behind him and beat Nilsson with a quick move to the backhand that Nilsson, playing the initial pass, had no chance to stop.
Tap of the stick to Jussi Jokinen, who scored his second goal as a Canuck. It’s unusual to see Gudbranson up in the rush, but it worked, as he forced a blocker save by Dubnyk, sending the puck into the slot where it went off Nate Prosser’s skate before Jokinen knocked it in.
Jake Virtanen gets the gloves dropped. Despite doing some good things offensively, he was on the ice for 14 shots on goal by the Wild in just under 14 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time. That shot-against-per-minute rate led to him being on the ice for four of the Wild’s five goals. That included the eventual game-winner, where he drifted aimlessly in the defensive zone, forcing Brendan Leipsic to try to cover two Wild players, leading to Mikael Granlund being wide open to pass the puck to Eric Staal in front, with the puck going in off Troy Stecher’s shin.
A tap of the stick to Alex Edler, who played nearly 26 minutes in this game, largely against the Wild’s top line, and was largely effective in that shutdown role. He was only on the ice for one goal against, the empty net goal that made it 4-2, which came after he got a point shot through traffic, but Dubnyk punched it away with the blocker, springing the rush the other way.
I’ll drop the gloves with Nic Dowd on the final goal of the game. He was checking Marcus Foligno, but left him alone a moment before Gustav Olofsson’s shot hit Foligno in front. Foligno spun and put the deflected puck past Nilsson, while Dowd could only swing at the puck.
I’ll give Bo Horvat a stick-tap, because I thought he played well, and this column needs some more positivity. He had just one shot on goal, but he created some excellent puck possession in the offensive zone and created chances for other, picking up the primary assist on Del Zotto’s goal.
