Post-Game Talk: GAME #30 - Canucks @ Roadrunners - March 21st

[BB6]

He had a little help from the Yotes player (forgot who he was) who gave him a bit of push just before the hit.

I don't find myself often saying D Sedin crashed the net, took my shot.

 

[Lawzy]

There's only three page, I'm guessing Canucks played good?

I think everyone went over to the main board to protect Edler.

 

[polarbearcub]

I was really impressed with keith ballard tonight. He created 2-3 scoring chances, made some nice passes, moves and almost scored a couple times.

I find myself really rooting for keith. Such a terrific team guy, and just seems like a really nice dude. I wish he could put up the points he used to. alas... the coaching staff doesn't wanna give him a chance on the pp.

 

[Royal Canuck]

I agree, really liked Ballard on forward.

 

[TheCrazedMadman]

A good grimey game by the nucks.....deserved the win.

Just about had a heart attack when daniel was leaving that trail of blood to the dressing room, glad to see he was alright.

Edler was going for the puck....Smith got in the way (it even looked like Edler tried to get out of the way a little), might have deserved a penalty, but not a 5 minute "charging"

REALLY hope the Hansen-Schroeder-Raymond line stays together when our players start returning to the lineup....I remember AV putting this line out in the scrimmage.....and Raymond getting a hat trick, why it took 6 forwards being injured for him to use it again is beyond me)

 

[Smokey McCanucks]

Canucks fans can take a lesson from the late Al Davis: Just Win Baby! A lot of people around here never got the memo, but there are no points for style in the NHL. An ugly win gives you the same two points as any other. We're going to need a lot more wins like this the rest of the way, with the roster the way it is we are gonna have to play some ugly hockey here. It's not gonna be a beautiful piece of art every night but this is how this team has got to play.

 

[orcatown]

Got the bounces tonight and mucked out a win. Nothing was much good about this game except getting the win. Phoenix looks about ready to throw in the towel.

The Good

Tanev - if we had drafted this player high in the first round we would be satisfied. Best player in this game

Schneider - really getting his stuff together. At the moment he is going to have to carry the team. Seemed so much more focused than earlier in the season

Raymond - made that bad turnover near the end but overall very effective. Thought he was the best player on probably our best line tonight

Ballard - skated hard and helped disrupt Phoenix breakouts. Sure a lot better than when they put Rome up on the wing

Garrison made some excellent and crucial clearance from around his net. Thought he had strong game. However, still doesn't seem in sync with any of his partners. Often seems that Garrison and whoever he is partnered with have poor spacing and mix ups in coverage. They need to get Garrison a set partner and allow them to develop some chemistry. Garrison has greatly improved during the season but I don't think you can say he has developed a very successful pairing with any other defenseman. I think he could but I don't think it's happened yet.

Bieksa - think you have to give credit for first, his trying to create offense when the team had so little going for it and second, for him playing thru injury. His leadership seems very important for this team.

The Bad

Ebbett - looked terrible on the PK. Phoenix passing it easily thru lanes he should have been shutting down. Surprising part is that he stays back in the box ( and gets no pressure on the puck) but still lets the pass get passed thru the box. I don't understand why he is on the PK. Even Gordon could do a better job. He did a better job in Chicago and could do a better job here. Every shift Ebbett was out there was a massive struggle in our own zone.

Other Points

Doan looked so much better than he did earlier in the season. However, he can not carry Yotes anywhere

Burrows (by his standards) continues to have a pretty mediocre season.

Don't think you can say Barker is playing that badly but there seems so little passion in his game. Like to see him try to assert himself more.

Nice to see Schroeder score and show some offensive flair. However, he had some major coverage issues and trouble in getting the puck out of his zone. Overall the last couple of games have been a big step forward for Schroeder but I don't think you can ignore some of the difficulties he had in his end. Got some tough match ups in this game and it is going to be tougher for Schroeder on the road. Could see that last time he was up. Still this has been a year of progress for Schroeder and he has become a much better prospect.

 

[mossey3535]

Canucks fans can take a lesson from the late Al Davis: Just Win Baby! A lot of people around here never got the memo, but there are no points for style in the NHL. An ugly win gives you the same two points as any other. We're going to need a lot more wins like this the rest of the way, with the roster the way it is we are gonna have to play some ugly hockey here. It's not gonna be a beautiful piece of art every night but this is how this team has got to play.

Fair enough, but if last year is any indication then Regular Season Style Points = Playoff Wins.

Sure, you can win ugly, but the question is if it's going to last in the playoffs when the intensity is ratcheted up a notch. If you can't at least OCCASIONALLY play a dominant 50-minute (I think there's always going to be 10 minutes of pushback) effort against lesser teams in the regular season, how are you supposed to suddenly turn that switch on in the playoffs?

 

[Smokey McCanucks]

Fair enough, but if last year is any indication then Regular Season Style Points = Playoff Wins.

Sure, you can win ugly, but the question is if it's going to last in the playoffs when the intensity is ratcheted up a notch. If you can't at least OCCASIONALLY play a dominant 50-minute (I think there's always going to be 10 minutes of pushback) effort against lesser teams in the regular season, how are you supposed to suddenly turn that switch on in the playoffs?

I felt strongly last season that the demands by the fans and in the press for MORE than victory was wrong, and that it augured ill for the playoffs. People need to get out of this mindset that playing to some standard of excellence is more important than playing to win the games.

 

[mossey3535]

I felt strongly last season that the demands by the fans and in the press for MORE than victory was wrong, and that it augured ill for the playoffs. People need to get out of this mindset that playing to some standard of excellence is more important than playing to win the games.

Why? Playing to 'win' the games last year didn't work in the playoffs. It would be different if we took it to 7 games or something, but we didn't.

Not expecting ANY standard of excellence is just as bad. I understand you want to temper expectations but in the end a lack of consistent energy and execution comes back to bite you.

I personally don't want to stand back for a whole season again after this one and last year and sing kumbaya pretending that the team is performing well when their record clearly doesn't reflect that.

 

[Lindt]

Team win off a tremendous performance by Schneider.

- Tanev was outstanding considering who he was playing with.

- Hansen was outstanding, even i , one of his biggest fans, can't believe he has 11 in 11. Though he needs 100 in 100 to be considered a top 6. Seriously, he is the main reason we have secondary scoring - quite apparent that if you give him good linemates, he can produce. Raymond not bad either.

- the 3rd and 4th line were good. Gordon did not look out of place at all and worth a further look, Ballard for a D was pretty good and showed his potential, Ebbett stepped up defensively, Weise and Sistito were alright. Only Lapierre played poorly.

- Schroeder showed the offensive potential he was drafted for. Defensively, he was iffy,covered by Hansen more than once.

- quiet night for the Sedins and Burr. Got abused again with Nada penalties.

Barker was horrible defensively. Hamhuis was poor, as was Bieksa (they both look hurt) though he redeemed himself in spades. Garrison his usual solid self and Elder was better than usual.

Last comment: after tonight, there is no reason to scratch Ballard because as a forward, he's just a better overall player than any 4th liner on this team, plus he's your 7th D.

Right, because you need to be a point per game player to be considered top 6. Even though there were only 7 PPG players last season, all of them bonafide first liners, and all of them in the Eastern Conference...

 

[tantalum]

Schneider played well but honestly I don't think he was asked to make a huge amount of big saves. He was called upon to make the number of big saves you want from your starter every night. He has had two solid games in a row now which is hopefully a sign of things to come.

For the most part the canucks limited second chances. Oh there were some scary looking moments but they cleared out the rebounds before any phoenix players could get there.

The Edler hit....I don't mind it. It was obviously a penalty and I wouldn't be shocked to see some disciplinary action resulting from it. HOWEVER, I don't think it's a bad thing to have a team where the opposition has to be on their toes a bit never knowing when a guy might "snap" and decide to make that huge questionable hit. I'm not saying this a regular occurence from Edler but if they know he might do that it adds to the fact they also already know Alberts WILL do it, Kassian WILL do it, Sestito WILL do it etc. Intimidation works.....canuck fans ought to know this having witnessed our team be intimidated in the past.

 

[Proto]

I liked Edler hitting Smith, but it might cost him a game. Smith does that all the time. Plus it looked pretty clear on the replay that after Daniel was pushed into the net, Smith reached out with his glove to hit Daniel in the face. Edler was just gettin' a little payback

 

[Proto]

As for the game, I didn't think it was a particularly good one. I thought the Canucks got pretty lucky, to be honest. They made an anemic Coyotes offense look like the Red Wings at time. The 'Yotes had a ton of open ice in the Canucks zone and had a lot of wide open looks from the slot, but thankfully they're the Coyotes, so most of them resulted in poor shots, flubbed shots, overpassing, or players waiting a half second too long to shoot.

Schneider was strong, but if the Canucks played like that in their own zone against a team with elite offense, that's not going to end well.

 

[Tiranis]

As for the game, I didn't think it was a particularly good one. I thought the Canucks got pretty lucky, to be honest. They made an anemic Coyotes offense look like the Red Wings at time. The 'Yotes had a ton of open ice in the Canucks zone and had a lot of wide open looks from the slot, but thankfully they're the Coyotes, so most of them resulted in poor shots, flubbed shots, overpassing, or players waiting a half second too long to shoot.

Schneider was strong, but if the Canucks played like that in their own zone against a team with elite offense, that's not going to end well.

Canucks created 8 scoring chances at ES and 5 of them by the Raymond - Schroeder - Hansen line. Kind of gives you an idea of how the team did. (Coyotes created 9 at ES but 14 including PP.)

 

[604]

I wonder if we could lock up Tanev long-term on a $2-2.5M deal rather than short-term on a $1.5M deal.

That kid is great.

Him and Garrison have been our strongest d-men...Hamhuis + Edler + Bieksa need to pick it up!

 

[Proto]

Canucks created 8 scoring chances at ES and 5 of them by the Raymond - Schroeder - Hansen line. Kind of gives you an idea of how the team did. (Coyotes created 9 at ES but 14 including PP.)

Yeah, I specifically didn't read anything about the game after, just because I wanted to see what my impressions would be. I think there must have been at least a dozen other times when the Coyotes made one or two nice passes to get open ice in the slot and then overpassed or lost the puck. It was an ugly game.

On the other hand, the Canucks were due to win some games like this, as the goaltending was due to rebound (instead of just giving out rebounds...), and they'd been awfully unlucky lately.

Team is a bit lifeless. If I was AV I'd pick a game like the one Saturday against LA and tell the team to go out there and just hit everything that moves. The team could use an ugly game or two to get them focused on something (my armchair psychological analysis).

 

[Proto]

I wonder if we could lock up Tanev long-term on a $2-2.5M deal rather than short-term on a $1.5M deal.

That kid is great.

Him and Garrison have been our strongest d-men...Hamhuis + Edler + Bieksa need to pick it up!

I think they can probably get Tanev signed for something like 3 years, 4.1-4.3 million.

 

[tantalum]

Holding a team to 14 scoring chances with a large chunk of the roster being AHLers is good. Holding a team to 14 scoring chances at any time is not terrible.

They didn't generate much but that should have been expected given 2 of the lines shouldn't even be expected to generate much more than a shot from the outside.

If the canucks were healthy and played like that then no it wouldn't be a great game. But they aren't and it was a good game. They were full marks for the 2 points.

 

[BenningHurtsMySoul]

Tanev looks like a stud right now. Can't believe they got him for free. Pickups like that help to make up for our first round disappointments.

 

[DustyMartellaughs]

I think in light of Tanev the Canucks should trade their draft picks for air miles and go find another undrafted gem, ideally one who shoots right.

 

[kmad]

This team could really use a gritty second-line center who can play Selke defense and pot 30 or so goals.

 

[TruGr1t]

I actually thought we played a fairly good game as far as limiting scoring chances went. Obviously Phoenix isn't exactly an offensive dynamo or anything, but our defensive game looked half-way decent last night.

Nice to see Schroeder get rewarded, and if Tanev can start converting on a few of his chances we could see those point totals on the rise for sure. Sheesh ... that bottom six is a mess, but I still like Sestito.

 

[Outside99*]

Right, because you need to be a point per game player to be considered top 6. Even though there were only 7 PPG players last season, all of them bonafide first liners, and all of them in the Eastern Conference...

Your sarcasm meter needs honing - had you done your homework, you would know I've been saying Hansen is a top 6 since last year. Been a fan since he joined the team 5 years ago.