Boeser played one of his best games in a Canucks uniform tonight. Generating chance after chance for himself and linemates -- I counted about 8 grade-A chances that came from plays he made. Was good along the boards, had a turnover here or there, but his vision and smarts dictated the bulk of our offensive attack (along with Leivo).
Pettersson made a fair share of magic again. Hawks had two men converging him on every PK, but they let him slip for one second and he made them pay with that blistering clapper. Played very responsibly in his own zone, got us out of a number of defensive jams with his shiftiness. Made some cool "how does he even think of that" passes and dekes. Shine's not coming off any time soon, but it's all eyes on him now.
Goldobin made a turnover at the blueline that I thought would get him benched, but beyond that he was energized and creative, was close to making some things happen. I just really like him with EP, they read off each other very well, and I don't mean that in a "Crosby with Dominik Simon" kind of way. Hope it starts translating to points soon. It's almost comical how unlucky he's been this year.
Virtanen's looked great this year, even in the stretches he's not scoring he's making responsible, team-first decisions. Been a while since I've seen him miss the net on a high shot from the far wall. Now he'll throw it down low, look for the trailer, or try to hit the goalie's pads. Made some excellent passes from the d-zone, and made a great neutral zone play to set up Leivo's goal. He'll be a key to our transition going forward.
Leivo was looking nice tonight, noticeable with his dangles, but it was his board work and team play that kept the team engine revved tonight. Spun off Seabrook to keep the play alive so the game could be tied. Best Canuck on the ice.
Biega, Stecher, and Hutton looked good, at least as good as could be expected from them. Biega's still got that Shane O'Brien "I coulda been a Bobby Orr" streak to him that occasionally makes him look a fool, but he almost cashed in on it tonight. Got a goal to show for a solid effort. Made some nice, un-panicked defensive plays.
Gudbranson got absolutely burned tonight. Passes just seem to go right through him. And his passes just explode in unpredictable directions.
Pouliot and Granlund gave some real head-shaker efforts tonight. Tons of plays that just made you wonder...."why? Why are you doing this? Why are you here?" Basically the same story for the past two years with those guys.
Tanev often looks like a man on an island and is getting victimized for it. Gets the toughest matchups, gets no help from Gud, and gets deployed in overtime when he's already gassed. I didn't like the play he made on the OT goal, shouldn't have committed the stick, should have kept the angle and kept the player away from the middle. But it was a desperation play directly resulting from having logged too many arduous minutes.
Bottom sixers weren't really noticeable. Nice to see Motte's effort rewarded with a drawn penalty. Roussel does as he always does. Beagle was bleh. Eriksson was bleh. Sutter hit a post, but was bleh.
Overall, I was pretty cheesed that the good efforts got outweighed by the bad ones. Felt like Hawks didn't really have much business winning. But that's how it usually goes when your defensive depth isn't up to task. It's really hard to outscore the anchors on this squad. Credit to Delia for stopping so many huge chances.
