Post-Game Talk: Lucky Canucks def. Sens - 4-1 (Boeser x 2, Pettersson, Pearson)

[vadim sharifijanov]

i’m not quite old enough to be certain about this but i wanna compare him to petri skriko?

shifty little guy with sweet hands and legs that don’t stop pumping

if green’s looking for new blood for the pk, he should be working on hogs already.

 

[lawrence]

We did not even play that well and we absolutely ran up the score like I have hardly ever seen since the prime Sedin era, and even then...

It is legitimately like playing chel on the easiest difficulty

one thing I’ve personally keep bringing up during last years playoffs was that the Canucks are a bunch of opportunists can can run up the score board at any given time due to the amount of sharp shooters we have. I still think we need to improve 5v5 and not give up so many shots.

 

[Svencouver]

one thing I’ve personally keep bringing up during last years playoffs was that the Canucks are a bunch of opportunists can can run up the score board at any given time due to the amount of shady shooters we have. I still think we need to improve 5v5 and not give up so many shots.

yea, the personnel on this team is so insanely talented that it really just makes me wonder how good we would be with good 5 on 5 play

 

[EpochLink]

A nice overall morale boost for this team.
The guys who were struggling finally bumped the slump. Now hitting the road..

 

[CanuckleBerry]

We won't see the Senators again until mid March. Confidence boost, check. Difficult schedule incoming, time to see what this team is made of.

 

[logan5]

I never made any comments about playing style.

But to take issue with someone comparing an NHLer with over 600 career games with a couple of productive seasons while playing a gritty two-way game, with a 20 year old with 10 career games is just plain ridiculous.

Nils looks good, but countless players have looked better after 10 career games and ended up with worse careers than Hansen.

Sometimes you get a young player come in and he gets lots of good bounces go his way, or some gimme goals that make the player look better than he actually is, but Hoglander is out there making things happen, not waiting for things to come to him.

 

[JAK]

We won't see the Senators again until mid March. Confidence boost, check. Difficult schedule incoming, time to see what this team is made of.

Those games at the end of the season will help the Canucks close the gap,

 

[FOurteenS inCisOr]

Sometimes you get a young player come in and he gets lots of good bounces go his way, or some gimme goals that make the player look better than he actually is, but Hoglander is out there making things happen, not waiting for things to come to him.

Absolutely. He looks great.

Everything in my post still stands though.

 

[shottasasa]

I think it was clear the Canucks were the better team. Established an early lead and the Senators tried to push the pace but were still outchanced by the Canucks. It's not saying much as it's only Ottawa but I'm hoping its a good springboard for some better all round play and to get some guys going. Also kind of relieved that we've at least seen both goalies play really well at least once no.

Chatfield looked competent and I hope we see him play consistently at at least that level. His all round skating really is plus and I liked his pushback on Tkachuk who was getting frustrated out there. Felt a bit bad for him though, losing sucks and and at that age the emotions can run wild.

 

[Canucks LB]

@orcatown

Hughes - ok offensively

Usually you are pretty good in the write ups, but "Ok Offensively"
He got another two points tonight, and is leading the League in D points, and is 1 Point behind Mcdavid

 

[JAK]

@orcatown

Usually you are pretty good in the write ups, but "Ok Offensively"
He got another two points tonight, and is leading the League in D points, and is 1 Point behind Mcdavid

I would argue that Hughes has only been playing okay, so I'm very afraid what would happen if Hughes starts playing even better.

Afraid of his next contract that is.

 

[604]

First game we didn't hit the over...I'm going to consider it a loss.

 

[DonnyNucker]

118 shots given up to one of the worst teams in the nhl in our 3 game series. We have to stop bleeding shots or else we too will have a long season.

Lawrence, a lot of those shots weren’t dangerous. The Canucks can snipe with the best teams in the league. Playing possum and allowing perimeter shots isn’t the end of the world. Despite the shot advantage for Ottawa the three games were all won easily

 

[DonnyNucker]

He’s played 10 NHL games. Pump the brakes.

Hansen is not an insulting comparison.

Not at all but Hog has 10 times the skill of Hansen

 

[Cogburn]

It's nice to see Boeser Classic on the ice. Pettersson had a strong game and I feel it was Miller that was the "weak link" of the Lotto Line.

I haven't been impressed by Pearson so far, but he and Hoglander seem to be clicking well. Oddly, again, it was Horvat that was the "weak link" on this line too.

The third line seems a little all over the place. MacEwen seemed quietly (until the Tkachuk fight) effective, Sutter was quiet but seemed a little eradic as I watched the game in terms of his positioning and almost random spurts of energy, and Gaudette looked fast, sharp and wasn't able to capitalize, unfortunately.

Fourth line was...well I'm impressed. I'm not as negative on Beagle as a lot of posters here, but this was a good game from him. We all know what to expect from Motte, and he didn't disappoint. Roussel was far less noticeable, but that wasn't a bad thing.

Myers and Schmidt were almost invisible to me. That is a good thing with them, as Myers as a high event player usually invoke this boards wrath, and Schmidt has had a few questionable plays, but I think he was a lot more solid tonight. Hughes is definitely the biggest liability on defense. I don't hold it against him, his offense more then makes up for his defensive play, but he's not positionally sound, he's small enough that when he is in position, he's not effective, and while I think some of his tools would translate better (his stick and skating for instance), I don't think he's able to process all sides of the defensive side of the game as well as we'd all like him too. Benn didn't stand out immensely to me, but he's been on a tear from what I expected from him since returning. Chatfield is winning me over with his physical play. Even his crosscheck to Tkachuk getting us a PK is forgiven given the circumstances of his play. Edler was not having a great game tonight, but I'm not holding anything against him.

Holtby did quite well, I have 0 complaints with his performance.

I feel a better team would have made mincemeat out of us in the late game, especially with that 5-on-3. There are some big positives to take away from this series, and although Ottawa was expected to make strides this season, I don't think we can compare what we did here to what we should expect our team to do against leading teams in our division. We've got some momentum, and I want to see us build on that, and carry it into the Winnipeg game.

It's nice to be even up after those games against Calgary and Montreal.

 

[Shareefruck]

Agreed, but I think he will be a more skilled goal scoring Hansen. Hansen was known to have hands of stones, Hoglander is just smooth.

Hogs defs plays like Hansen but he has better hands

Obviously he doesn't have anything close to either of their defensive games (and I doubt he ever will) or the polish/awareness of Burrows offensive game yet (although his puck skills are stronger), but Burrows-like sounds a lot closer to me than Hansen-like, personally.

Other than the forechecking and motor (which Hansen was still way more impressive at), there's not much similarity in their games at all.

Hoglander's speed is closer to Burrows than Hansen (slower), Hoglander's center of gravity along the boards is closer to Burrows than Hansen (stronger), Hoglander's hand-eye is closer to Burrows than Hansen (stronger), and like Hoglander, Burrows quickly funnels-practical offensive chances to the net much more than Hansen does (Hansen was pretty good at having enough awareness to get open for a one-timer in the slot, but other than that, he was pretty tunnel-vision and hands-of-stone for the first half of his career).

I see more Viktor Arvidsson in him than either of them, though.

I think Hansen is the better forechecker though - faster straight-line speed. Stronger on his skates too but Hog's is young. He's like Wellwood with Hansen or Burrow's work ethic.

I would actually argue that being strong on his skates and knowing how to use his body-positioning is one of Hoglander's strengths, and one of Hansen's weaknesses-- not the other way around. Hansen didn't really become strong on his skates until really late in his career (like when Burrows started to show his age and play poorly), whereas the way Hoglander protects the puck and makes himself hard to handle is kind of insane for a guy his size.

 

[Bougieman]

Better hands than Wellwood but Wellwood was amazing at picking his spots and knowing where to be to score.

Wellwood had incredible hockey IQ, and had those "magic mittens" but lacked some other important elements to be really effective. I really liked the time he spent with the Canucks, and always hoped for more for him. I always felt like if we could have somehow merged Wellwood and Kassian, you would have a simply *incredible* hockey player, because each seemed to have what the other was lacking.

 

[HedonisticAltruism]

I would actually argue that being strong on his skates and knowing how to use his body-positioning is one of Hoglander's strengths, and one of Hansen's weaknesses-- not the other way around. Hansen didn't really become strong on his skates until really late in his career (like when Burrows started to show his age and play poorly), whereas the way Hoglander protects the puck and makes himself hard to handle is kind of insane for a guy his size.

I think he's incredibly strong given his stature and age. There is a reason why people think he's 'built like a fire hydrant'. However, watching the play, while he's determined as all hell, he still gets rubbed out more often than I recall Hansen did. Of course, I will fully admit a couple of things: I recall late era Hansen more than early era, even if I like Hansen early in his career anyway; my expectations for Hansen were never to generate offense per se; and, Hoglander is trying much more to carry the puck than Hansen ever did so likely facing different kinds of checks - i.e. Hansen is more likely to make hits given he's 'chasing' the puck on the forecheck more often.

I think your Burrows comparisons are decent though I think I give the edge right now to Burrows for hockey IQ and clearly a 'pest-ier' side.

Wellwood had incredible hockey IQ, and had those "magic mittens" but lacked some other important elements to be really effective. I really liked the time he spent with the Canucks, and always hoped for more for him. I always felt like if we could have somehow merged Wellwood and Kassian, you would have a simply *incredible* hockey player, because each seemed to have what the other was lacking.

The biggest problem for both was actually work ethic IMO. Kassian actually has some decent hands, especially for a big guy. Not as good as Wellwood, of course. I'd give the win to Wellwood on offense IQ though. They were equally bad defensively IMO (not terrible but you would never want them anywhere near the PK), but that's again probably more due to work ethic.

 

[Shareefruck]

Oh yeah, I completely disagree with the notion that merging Wellwood and Kassian would offset each others weaknesses.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Looks like I have quite a few games to get caught up. I had to PVR all of them but hot damn, we're alive again. And Petey is scoring!

... maybe I shouldn't watch any game live. We're doing okay since I wasn't able to

 

[Diversification]

Lawrence, a lot of those shots weren’t dangerous. The Canucks can snipe with the best teams in the league. Playing possum and allowing perimeter shots isn’t the end of the world. Despite the shot advantage for Ottawa the three games were all won easily

The first 2 games we surrendered more high quality chances than we did in the 3rd game. I can live with 35 shots if they were like the ones last night where Ottawa was just blasting it from the outside and hoping for a rebound.

It was the most promising development from last night: the team is forcing the play into the boards in their own end, which actually keeps the play to the outside (as opposed to whatever the hell they were doing before).

Not saying they're out of the woods, because that's just a super-basic fix, but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[I am toxic]

Looks like I have quite a few games to get caught up. I had to PVR all of them but hot damn, we're alive again. And Petey is scoring!

... maybe I shouldn't watch any game live. We're doing okay since I wasn't able to

Or, we should play all our games against the Sens.

 

[canuckking1]

I'm really liking the Schmidt-Myers and Benn-Hughes pairings. Can't say the same for the Edler-Chatfield pairing.

 

[Fatass]

The first 2 games we surrendered more high quality chances than we did in the 3rd game. I can live with 35 shots if they were like the ones last night where Ottawa was just blasting it from the outside and hoping for a rebound.

It was the most promising development from last night: the team is forcing the play into the boards in their own end, which actually keeps the play to the outside (as opposed to whatever the hell they were doing before).

Not saying they're out of the woods, because that's just a super-basic fix, but it's a step in the right direction.

High digerati chances are reduced, but who has the puck? Who is blocking shots, and getting trapped in their own end defending rather than attacking?
The Sens are a very low skilled team, so their possession doesn’t generate high danger chances at the same rate teams with elite skill will do. Was the improvement system play, or was the reduction in high danger chances the Sens are just bad?

 

[Hit the post]

The biggest problem for both was actually work ethic IMO. Kassian actually has some decent hands, especially for a big guy. Not as good as Wellwood, of course. I'd give the win to Wellwood on offense IQ though. They were equally bad defensively IMO (not terrible but you would never want them anywhere near the PK), but that's again probably more due to work ethic.

Disagree with respect to Wellwood (at least during his time as a Canuck). You think a player not having a decent work ethic (to work under the system) would've seen any time under AV back then? Kassian has actually seen PK with the Oilers and wasn't that bad it (mainly because he can skate).