Post-Game Talk: WCQF GM02 | Vancouver Canucks lose to Nashville Predators | 4-1 (Zadorov) | Stars Can't Score

[Vector]

18-12 isn't really a massive outshot.

They had something like 80 shot attempts versus 30 for the Predators.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Also - don’t see how we can hang this on DeSmith. A complete fluke, an absolute goal scorer’s goal by Forsberg, and a good initial save with no D clearing up the rebound on the third. He didn’t have much to do, but those three weren’t exactly “OMG he sucks” goals. IMO.

Agree.

DeSmith was good enough.

Our perimeter control playstyle inflates the stats. Still. You cant rely on blocking 4/5 shots from game to game. I dont think the preds have an advantage anywhere close to what it seemed in smothering Canuck scoring chances.

Pettersson looked good in the 1st but then his game tanked hard. Fighting the puck all game. Missing open nets... turnovers.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

So we're supposed to be cool with this guy deciding to mail it in every other season and only play when he feels like it? "Oh, don't worry.. he'll better next year!"... holy shit.

Miller?

 

[valkynax]

They had something like 80 shot attempts versus 30 for the Predators.

Also, we had WAY more high danger chances, the kind of chances that will make the opponent's blood flow backward for just a brief moment.

The team needs to improve, that much everyone knows. But saying 18-12 is not massively outshot is hilariously ignorant, likely as a result of someone who didn't watch a single minute of the actual game and just laid down numbers pretending to know what they are talking about.

 

[EpochLink]

Also a PSA to JT Miller and Brock Boeser, don’t you dare disappear come playoff time. For all the swag and bravado during the regular season, don’t go all Todd Bertuzzi with your disappearing act come post season.

Yall been warned. Play better.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Bit of a frustrating result for sure, but man are there some unmedicated takes in here.

I'm the biggest Pettersson fan, but I'll admit he's struggled. But he knows it, and as someone who has actually played the damn sport, sometimes you lose your confidence and struggle. It happens, and he'll get out of it. We have him for 8 years after this one, let's relax a bit on the desire to drive him out of town.

Boeser had quite a few bad puck touches tonight.

Miller looked like he was trying to force some things.

DeSmith looked horrendous. I know he 'only' allowed 3 (on 15 shots) but he was his own worst enemy tonight. Handled slow pucks behind the net like a grenade, Forsberg goal was sublime skill but he only had half the net and DeSmith went down and gave him shelf for no reason.
The 3rd goal was probably the worst 5 second stretch of Pettersson's career, but you let Anthony Beauvillier take a shot directly at your crest and turn it into an uncontrolled rebound directly to the slot?

DeSmith needs to regroup or we're in some trouble.

Could see the team playing tighter without Demko.

Juulsen played like a dumbass, but again, probably nerves in his first game. But two penalties and losing a puck battle AND net front position to Forsberg on the 2nd goal was a terrible look.
-

But we had the puck all night and were just squeezing the stick too tightly, double clutching, and making the wrong play.

Even so, we far outclass that team. Remember, Suter got robbed, Petey missed an open net, Joshua hit the post and then had his stick pinned with an open net, we hit the post.

Beauvillier's goal was somewhat fortunate.

So we lost a game and didn't play our best, and yet even so if you played that game 1000 times we probably win like 950 of them.

To me we are in the driver's seat in theory, but there's two risk factors to consider.

1. DeSmith is overwhelmed by the moment and shits the bed.

2. Our players react the wrong way to this and squeeze their sticks too hard and start trying to force things, get in their head, and Nashville plays rope-a-dope while we beat ourselves.

I still put us in the pole position and hope strongly that Demko can come back soon (2nd round at least).

Such poor luck to lose him and Myers after one game in which it wasn't obvious that either had been hit.

 

[Icebreakers]

Also a PSA to JT Miller and Brock Boeser, don’t you dare disappear come playoff time. For all the swag and bravado during the regular season, don’t go all Todd Bertuzzi with your disappearing act come post season.

Yall been warned. Play better.

Miller sure.

Boeser just isnt good enough

If this was ever the wake up call to fix your shit, then Pettersson should play better in game 3. The hockey world saw his performance tonight, he should feel embarrassed.

Might do the opposite and f*** up his mental even more.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

If it keeps going like tonight you have to wonder how banged up the Predators are by game 5.

 

[kanucks25]

Also a PSA to JT Miller and Brock Boeser, don’t you dare disappear come playoff time. For all the swag and bravado during the regular season, don’t go all Todd Bertuzzi with your disappearing act come post season.

Yall been warned. Play better.

Miller does need to be better, definitely trying to do too much at times.

Several times this series he's tried to take the puck to the net himself instead of finding the open guy which he usually would do and is excellent at.

I don't mind a player trying to take the puck to the net but there's a time and a place... can't try to force things and give away possession when you could have set a chance elsewhere or at least a cycle.

Boeser I just don't expect very much from in general unless one of his teammates (usually Miller) sets him up for a chance.

 

[VanJack]

I know some will say that this was an 'intense playoff game' but I don't see it. Looked to me like a lot of the games the Canucks lost after the all-star break, particularly after Demko went down. In losses to teams like L.A. (twice); Washington, Dallas, and even Vegas, they controlled play and got lots of shots, but still came out on the losing end.

The sad reality is they're just a different team playing in front of DeSmith rather than Demko. The swagger and creativity seems to be gone. So many poor passes and shots that got blocked before they ever got near the crease.

I almost hope the Canucks lose big in the first game back in Nashville. Then Tocchet will almost be forced to roll the dice with Silovs. But doubt it will ever happen.

 

[ellja3]

As a Latvian clearly I'd love to see Šilovs play, but not sure if SC playoffs is the right timing for such knee-jerk reaction after one crap game from DeSmith. Or is there extra context?

 

[kanucks25]

As a Latvian clearly I'd love to see Šilovs play, but not sure if SC playoffs is the right timing for such knee-jerk reaction after one crap game from DeSmith. Or is there extra context?

Not really any extra context, people have just really soured on DeSmith because he had a poor 2nd half of the season.

And I don't think he was the reason we lost game 2 but his work probably didn't instill much confidence in those who are low on him.

Silovs played 4 games in the regular season and his results weren't really any better than DeSmith's but he obviously has a higher ceiling as a potential future starter in the NHL.

Not sure if he's ready to start the team's first playoff road game with how high the stakes are. I think you have to put DeSmith back in and only make the change for game 4 if he has a poor performance.

 

[Bleach Clean]

I think going to DeSmith made sense given that he had the strong game in Edmonton and Silovs inconsistency in the AHL wasn’t too dissimilar to DeSmith’s NHL inconsistency

And I really don’t think going to Silovs first in the first away game is a great idea

Buut I do think the longevity of Demko’s injury changes the picture. Like in a “why not just try it” sort of thing.

Going to DeSmith was fine, but now that he's failed, I believe they would favour Silovs. It's not too dissimilar to Tocchet turning to Silovs against Vegas after DeSmith had faltered.

Tocchet is a jumpy coach that errs on the side of aggression (Silovs), but you could be right. Maybe he doesn't think DeSmith was at fault on this one? Have to allow for that.

 

[AzNightmare]

Don't know what's with everyone's man crush with Silovs. Clearly it's a hate for DeSmith.
Watch Silovs crumble under pressure just the same and then what will you guys be saying?

The matter fact is this team always needed elite goaltending to be a dangerous team. Silovs isn't elite either.

 

[ellja3]

Don't know what's with everyone's man crush with Silovs. Clearly it's a hate for DeSmith.
Watch Silovs crumble under pressure just the same and then what will you guys be saying?

The matter fact is this team always needed elite goaltending to be a dangerous team. Silovs isn't elite either.

This is my take also. It seems like people hate DeSmith here, otherwise there would be no such talks. Sure, Šilovs showed he can perform under pressure in this year's World Championships, but clearly it's too much of a reactionary take to say Šilovs for Game3? DeSmith's record isn't great, but Šilovs has extremely limited experience, so it's a matter of which gamble you're willing to take - hoping can Šilovs replicate World Championships performance (where he was also under pressure) or DeSmith somewhat changing the trend. Tricky.

Edit: it's only 1:1 and Vancouver seems superior in this series. If DeSmith fails in Game3, then you can consider Šilovs; 1:2 in series would be a bad momentum change but nothing dramatic.

Again, trying to see this rationally while at the same time willing to see my countryman on the ice.

 

[VanJack]

Don't know what's with everyone's man crush with Silovs. Clearly it's a hate for DeSmith.
Watch Silovs crumble under pressure just the same and then what will you guys be saying?

The matter fact is this team always needed elite goaltending to be a dangerous team. Silovs isn't elite either.

Maybe he isn't elite.....but as you say, neither is DeSmith. He gives them 'decent' but 'not great' goaltending. Enough to win some relatively meaningless games down the stretch, but not nearly good enough to go very far in the Cup playoffs.

So I suppose the Canucks can ride DeSmith into the inevitable sunset on the season.....or they can cross their fingers and hope a much bigger, but less experienced netminder like Silovs can get on the kind of roll he was on at last spring's World Championship.

I would suggest you've got little to lose by trying it.

 

[jd22]

This is my take also. It seems like people hate DeSmith here, otherwise there would be no such talks. Sure, Šilovs showed he can perform under pressure in this year's World Championships, but clearly it's too much of a reactionary take to say Šilovs for Game3? DeSmith's record isn't great, but Šilovs has extremely limited experience, so it's a matter of which gamble you're willing to take - hoping can Šilovs replicate World Championships performance (where he was also under pressure) or DeSmith somewhat changing the trend. Tricky.

Edit: it's only 1:1 and Vancouver seems superior in this series. If DeSmith fails in Game3, then you can consider Šilovs; 1:2 in series would be a bad momentum change but nothing dramatic.

Again, trying to see this rationally while at the same time willing to see my countryman on the ice.

Thanks for jumping in. It seems to me that (if Demko is out long-term), Canucks fans know that DeSmith is highly unlikely to be able to handle a starting role, whereas Silovs is unknown.

A bit of a reversal of the saying "the devil you know is better than the one you don't".

If the odds of being eliminated are high either way, I think the prevailing opinion is that you may as well roll the dice on the unknown rather than the almost-guaranteed elimination (with DeSmith).

 

[ScottishCanuck]

I think we dominated the game in so many ways and it’s frustrating to come out of it with nothing.

The lack of scoring is a concern. Not a sky is falling kind of concern as seems to be the case with a lot of posters, but a concern nonetheless. Petey is targeted, which is fair enough given the contract. But Boeser has been fairly anonymous for a long while. The Petey line just doesn’t work. He isn’t playing well and his linemates aren’t doing anything to help with that. I still think he’s injured and I don’t understand why we didn’t sit him the last game of the season. Although if it’s a surgery needed kind of deal then that wouldn’t have had much benefit anyway.

Goaltending is very meh. I think some of the criticism of DeSmith is really OTT and unfair, and the goals weren’t horrendous and a little fluky, but at the same time we need him to pull out some of those stops.

I think we have enough to get through this series but game 3 is a must-win.

 

[ScottishCanuck]

Also it does feel a bit like the Preds have watched our tape vs the Kings and replicated that model. I hate the way we struggle against it.

 

[Deezone]

One of the disappointments so far. You can see why Tocchet decided to go with experience in PDG over Podkolzin as PDG has looked pretty good in his minutes.

Though, Lafferty has looked underwhelming. I’d look to give Pod a try though

I bet Tocchet puts Podkolzin in the last game of the series and he plays dominant buts it’s too late and the series is over.

 

[theguardianII]

Hmm, odd game.

Canucks did LOOK like the dominant team but without any star players.

No Demko but really only one goal DeSmith might have wanted back. A little taller and protecting the post better and does Forsberg score?

Pettersson was notable, in a very bad way. Easily the worst case of playoffitis I have seen for quite awhile. An absolutely horrible outing for him. Missed open nets, passes too high in the air, face off no so good,

Did Boeser play? Garland wasn't as noticeable. They seem to be diverting defensive attention from Pettersson to Joshua.

Geez they got a couple of big boys at forward and they play big.

Another blown play resulted in Forsberg alone on DeSmith, Juulsen lost Forsberg there BUT DeSmith could/should have had that one, a great tip in for the first goal, Pettersson gets an assist for the 3rd goal, Hughes let his man go for the empty netter. Three goals from Canuck mistakes.

The Preds didn't win the game, the Canucks lost it.

 

[olafsson]

Dominated that game and still lost. The team had so many blocked shots, missed open nets, hit the post, with any luck whatsoever I think they could’ve pulled this off. Need to be better and get shots through next game.

Wake the f*** up, Pete

 

[theguardianII]

Dominated that game and still lost. The team had so many blocked shots, missed open nets, hit the post, with any luck whatsoever I think they could’ve pulled this off. Need to be better and get shots through next game.

Wake the f*** up, Pete

It's not a team, it's a cult. Defensive religion, stop shots at all costs.

The way they set up in the defensive zone it almost looks like the Canucks should bring the puck out and then try to score on the rush, they slowed the game down the Canucks need to make it a race, disrupt their time to set up in the Dzone.

 

[Cancuks]

Also a PSA to JT Miller and Brock Boeser, don’t you dare disappear come playoff time. For all the swag and bravado during the regular season, don’t go all Todd Bertuzzi with your disappearing act come post season.

Yall been warned. Play better.

Players are proving to be hypocrites. Pettersson especially. "I want to play for a winner." Proceeds to turn into a ghost for the past 3 months and is doing his best to get the Canucks bounced in the first round. Almost seems like he's more interested in playing golf and going boating with his buddies back in Sweden.

 

[JT Milker]

Silovs was pretty bad in the regular season. If we have to resort to him we’re boned.