Post-Game Talk: [GM32] Canucks defeat Blackhawks | 4-3 (Pettersson, Joshua, Boeser, Mikheyev) | Afternoon Delight

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Who knew Zadarov would be the guy calming down the chaos giraffe - still prone to a weird dangeroue miscue or two but otherwise Myers has been very solid.

Yup. Myers is actually on pace for a pretty nice offensive total this season, too. 15 points in 32 games. He’s looked good with either Soucy or Zadorov as his partner.

 

[Petey O]

3 points out of 4 so far on the road trip. Very pleased.

 

[Tact]

Yup. Myers is actually on pace for a pretty nice offensive total this season, too. 15 points in 32 games. He’s looked good with either Soucy or Zadorov as his partner.

All the sudden, Myers at 50% retained at TDL looks extremely attractive lol.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

On a different note, either you play kuzmenko on the first line, or trade the guy, there’s no point playing him on the fourth.

He seems lost

Sounds a bit drastic after 32 games

 

[LordBacon]

All the sudden, Myers at 50% retained at TDL looks extremely attractive lol.

Where is Jimbo when you need him

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

On a different note, either you play kuzmenko on the first line, or trade the guy, there’s no point playing him on the fourth.

He seems lost

I wouldn't mind giving him a shot with Miller and maybe moving Hoglander up but yeah, he needs to be in the top six. He's essentially a Kessel type player.

Tocchet's trying to force him into playing a style his game isn't suited for and I don't really know why.

 

[DFAC]

The Canucks have played a TON of hockey this season so far. Way more than most teams. They could really use a break and they have a very light schedule after the Sharks game so we just need a bit of a break soon.

Canucks have played 32 games (most in the league) and Ottawa has played 25? Wtf

 

[LuckyDay]

Worth pointing out that Chicago's second goal shouldn't have counted. They knew from the players it was out of play but they couldn't pull up their own video in time to prove it. SN found a clip after the break. Not sure if it was shown on the NBC Sports feed or the NHL Network feed.

PS- Why did the NHL Network have their own feed? They couldn't use NBC's or Sportsnet's?

 

[Aphid Attraction]

Worth pointing out that Chicago's goal shouldn't have counted. They knew from the players it was out of play but they couldn't pull up their own video in time to prove it. SN found a clip after the break. Not sure if it was shown on the NBC Sports feed or the NHL Network feed.

PS- Why did the NHL Network have their own feed? They couldn't use NBC's or Sportsnet's?

I watched the black hawks feed and they showed it 15 min after.

Canucks have played 32 games (most in the league) and Ottawa has played 25? Wtf

This is actually a good thing. It would suck if we we’re fighting for a wild card, but having an extra light second half is going to help.

 

[Hammer79]

Team has been on a heater in December. Almost Christmas and still easily in the convo for the presidents trophy. Never would have thought that.

The real take-away here is that the Flames are 15 back with 1 in hand, we're 16 up on the Kraken and the Oilers 17 back with 4 in hand.

It's before Christmas and we have all but locked up a top 3 spot in the Pacific. This is like the equivalent of 6.5, 7.0 and 8.0 GB (Games Behind like MLB) leads on the rest of the division.

 

[HockeyWooot]

I wouldn't mind giving him a shot with Miller and maybe moving Hoglander up but yeah, he needs to be in the top six. He's essentially a Kessel type player.

Tocchet's trying to force him into playing a style his game isn't suited for and I don't really know why.

It's a bit of a gamble by Tocchet, will see if it pays off. I kinda get both sides- skill and finesse players need more minutes to produce and maybe get more leeway, on the other hand if he's changing the culture of the team to one of accountability and no passengers it does make sense.

Kuzmenko doesn't need to become a 180 of what he is, but asking to up his compete level when he doesn't have the puck doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

[LuckyDay]

Game I watched the other day showed Kuz getting the message and backchecking, the game before he made a risky play trying to stickhandle into the zone (instead of the shooting it in) and costing the team a goal.

That's a very Russian thing to do. Got years of bad instincts to undo. It worked with Miller...

Speaking of, does anyone have that clip they showed a few games ago with Miller and Tochett arguing over the whiteboard on the bench? It was hilarious. Shorty and Ferraro were saying it was looking like Miller was running the play.

 

[Hammman]

Canucks have now reached their required record for December (6-5-1) in order to hit 95 points by the end of the season. They are well on their way to surpass this for December and make the requirement in subsequent months easier.

Canucks need 25 wins and one OTL over the next 50 games to hit this mark. A record of 25-24-1.

Basically, with each win the Canucks come closer and closer to locking up a playoff spot for the first time since 19/20 and the first real playoff appearance, with fans, since 14/15.

On a related note, the team has reached a point where they can go .500 the rest of the way and still be basically guaranteed a playoff spot.

 

[VanillaCoke]

So everyone loves Zaddy now hmm I for one am shocked..He's getting signed asap and at this rate maybe myers too

I didn't expect a myers zad pairing at all but that play 5 mins into the third they closed off Beauvillier easily on a rush, followed by a fight was great

 

[I am toxic]

Canucks were 1/4 on PP and 2/4 on the PK
Blueger 9-6 in the faceoff circle. Miller 7-9 and Petterson 6-4.

I'm glad Tochett has figured out that Joshua and Garland work as players. Sticking them on their own line makes it an energy and Joshua gives Garland room with his size, Joshua is turning into a goal scoring defection machine. Maybe put Hogs on that line but that might overdue it - too much of one thing.

They should make up a word for that, it's so good it's sinful.

Like sin-energy, or something like that . . .

Hopefully Tocchy figures out that EP and Kuz have that too, and stops trying to pound a round hole into a square peg.

Hopefully.

 

[krutovsdonut]

after quite a few hours i still have no thoughts about that game. very middle of the season forgettable.

 

[Grub]

Good stuff, third line has been our thrump card.

 

[Regress2TheMeme]

I'm very impressed with Zadorov so far. He's looked steadier than I expected and moved the puck out of the zone. In addition to the physicality I think he's got a bit of untapped offensive potential. I'm hoping they extend him.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Canucks were 1/4 on PP and 2/4 on the PK
Blueger 9-6 in the faceoff circle. Miller 7-9 and Petterson 6-4.

I'm glad Tochett has figured out that Joshua and Garland work as players. Sticking them on their own line makes it an energy and Joshua gives Garland room with his size, Joshua is turning into a goal scoring defection machine. Maybe put Hogs on that line but that might overdue it - too much of one thing.

Kuzmenko maybe? Who needs centers anyway

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

re: kuzmenko, it bears reminding that this is rick tocchet. the guy was a 6th round pick, entered the league as an enforcer, played his way up from the fourth line until he was good enough to be a first liner on a cup finalist in 1987, followed by a spot on the ’87 canada cup team, followed by breaking through as a 40 goal/90 pt scorer, followed by being traded to the defending cup champs for two hall of famers and being the do-everything first line winger who did all the dirty work and played all the defence that mario lemieux and kevin stevens couldn’t and wouldn’t deign to play, followed by finally peaking as a 100 pt scorer.

which is all to say, he really really believes in this mike keenan tough love because look where it got him.

look at hoglander. when hoglander started getting it, tocchet didn’t immediately bring him back up to the top six. he had to keep working on the lower lines, showing that he was building good habits, before he got his show with miller and boeser.

i imagine it’ll be the same for kuzmenko. a few good games isn’t going to do it, but he’ll work his way back up. and he’ll be better for it in the long run.

my guess is when all is said and done, we’ll see the top six being petey with kuz and mikheyev, miller with boeser and hoglander, a third line featuring some combination of suter, blueger, PDG, aman, and maybe podkolzin, and a forechcking fourth line from hell with lafferty between garland and joshua.

 

[alternate]

Gotta be honest, that start left a bad taste in my mouth. I get we turned it around, had dominant moments especially in the 2nd, b2b matinees, and we've played a lot yadda yadda yadda.

But we scored 1 goal yesterday and played flat. We were playing a bad starting 4 rookie dmen. Starts are a mindset thing and the mindset this afternoon needed to be "get pucks on net." To not have a SOG for the first ten minutes is simply unacceptable. That's where our leadership group -- including Coach Tocc -- need to grab the bulls by the beak and play simple hockey.

Take the 3 in 4, sure. Can't complain about where we are in the standings. But that start just wasn't good enough, and that's been happening too often.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Good response by Zadorov to tune up Reese Johnson...Yeah, it put them on the PP, and we gave up a goal...but these things don't go unchecked among players in the league...You want to take liberties with our star players, then there's going to be a price tag with that.

 

[Flik]

Good response by Zadorov to tune up Reese Johnson...Yeah, it put them on the PP, and we gave up a goal...but these things don't go unchecked among players in the league...You want to take liberties with our star players, then there's going to be a price tag with that.

Agreed 100%. That's the kind of response our PK needed to support and unfortunately didn't.

We absolutely need to tighten that up so our big bois can keeping playing big.

 

[potatowejj]

re: kuzmenko, it bears reminding that this is rick tocchet. the guy was a 6th round pick, entered the league as an enforcer, played his way up from the fourth line until he was good enough to be a first liner on a cup finalist in 1987, followed by a spot on the ’87 canada cup team, followed by breaking through as a 40 goal/90 pt scorer, followed by being traded to the defending cup champs for two hall of famers and being the do-everything first line winger who did all the dirty work and played all the defence that mario lemieux and kevin stevens couldn’t and wouldn’t deign to play, followed by finally peaking as a 100 pt scorer.

which is all to say, he really really believes in this mike keenan tough love because look where it got him.

look at hoglander. when hoglander started getting it, tocchet didn’t immediately bring him back up to the top six. he had to keep working on the lower lines, showing that he was building good habits, before he got his show with miller and boeser.

i imagine it’ll be the same for kuzmenko. a few good games isn’t going to do it, but he’ll work his way back up. and he’ll be better for it in the long run.

my guess is when all is said and done, we’ll see the top six being petey with kuz and mikheyev, miller with boeser and hoglander, a third line featuring some combination of suter, blueger, PDG, aman, and maybe podkolzin, and a forechcking fourth line from hell with lafferty between garland and joshua.

Mike Keenan can go jump in a pit of razors though. f*** that POS.

 

[andora]

I'm very impressed with Zadorov so far. He's looked steadier than I expected and moved the puck out of the zone. In addition to the physicality I think he's got a bit of untapped offensive potential. I'm hoping they extend him.

Careful .. thats what gets him into trouble.. wandering with the puck and wandering in the ozone

They have his leash at a good length right now