Best goal tending effort in a while. DeSmith. unlike the other night with Demko, held them in, in the first when the team spend much of the time in their own end. Good defensive effort and important win to keep the team on an even keel and stop any nose dive.
Good
DeSmith - got the feeling as the game went nothing was going to beat him. Very good on scrambles around his net. Pretty odvious first star.
Garland - still the frustration with his inability to get the puck in the net but he drew penalties, pushed the play in the Wild end and came back hard on the back check better than any other Canuck. Effort on the Blueger goal typified his play
Blueger - nice move on his goal and his line was best all round in this game. Think he might have got hurt late with the check into the boards.
Hoglander - adventure in the third in his end but he is providing the offensive lift the team needs
Others
Juulsen - best game to date. No star but steady and mostly did a good job of taking people off the rush and getting the puck out. Don't think anyone on the defense stood out or played great. Cole might have been the weakest but after the first they generally did a good job of moving the puck. Didn't see much in Myers game to get upset about.
Aman - was his best game this season. Needs to be at center to provide what he does best - Check.
Kuzmenko - no one can complain about the effort and he did set up some chances with some good moves along the end boards. Some of those plays should have produced a goal but the team did not show good finish around the net in this game.
Boeser - his defensive play has improved and he is moving better. Getting big minutes in most of the recent games. Nice pass on the first goal.
Pettersson - more of the same. Give him credit for his defense but his puck movement and shooting continues to be so much weaker than earlier in his career.
Team is clearly changed from the past. The run and gun team that produced goals, but allowed more against, has been replaced by a team whose best quality might be their defensive play. That's a much more reliable system than hoping a few a star players can score the team out of trouble by leaving defense to others. Canucks have been one of the worse defensive teams for a while and Tocchet needs some kudos for building a system that, while it provides you less exciting hockey, is more successful in getting wins