Post-Game Talk: Pre-Season Game #3: Canucks 4, Oilers 2 (Sutter x2, Pettersson, Pearson ENG)

WetcoastOrca

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Jun 3, 2011
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There's like three players tonight where there can't be any argument as to if they played bad.

Chatfield, Pearson, and Boucher.
I generally agree. The thing with Pearson is though that even though he looked bad he came away with a goal and an assist. He’s one of those guys who just seems to get on the score sheet somehow.
 

Nomobo

Registered User
Feb 20, 2015
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he hustles battles and did play better than last one.

he's awful with the puck on his stick though and his reads are a massive work in progress. Not even remotely close to an NHLer right now but he can skate and compete so hopefully he can just get his game back and be healthy so he can be a positive for the Comets at least
I too like his skating and compete level and he’s not afraid to take the initiative. Work in progress for sure.
 

sting101

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Feb 8, 2012
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Ratings in order for me

F - Pettersson Sutter Gaudette MacEwen Goldobin Pearson Ferland Virtanen Ferraro Boucher Graovac Arseneau
D - Myers Hughes Biega Edler Sautner Chatfield

really liked Demko

bolded would be cut
 

Pastor Of Muppetz

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Oct 1, 2017
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cant say i saw more than one really bad play. Was the best defenseman tonight
Agreed.(Myers)..I was waiting for a bushel full of defensive blunders..There were a couple ,but his ability move the puck,outweighed those...Its only one pre season game...but from what I've seen so far, he's going to be a great addition.
 
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MS

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Mar 18, 2002
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Much better game than last night. Were still outchanced and outplayed but at least the pace of this game was NHL-calibre.

- Pettersson was easily the best player on the ice despite receiving little help from his linemates. Did not like Ferland in that spot at all - he just looks like a 3rd liner who can’t think the game on the same level. Boucher started there and was dumped for Goldobin after doing basically nothing.

- Goldobin had a couple good backchecks - which is good - but struggled passing the puck and again contributed nothing offensively.

- Sutter scored 2 goals but to me he was floating around in glide mode all night and not doing much to help his linemates. Continuation of last year.

- Pearson had a couple lazy moments defensively but was a load in the offensive zone and the most dangerous forward after Pettersson. Is an ugly player to watch but the puck follows him around.

- MacEwen had a few really nice moments - a great rush to set up Pearson, a good screen to free up Sutter for the 3-2 goal, and a nice backcheck to create the EN goal. Also had some puck management issues and some problems tracking the play defensively. Enough to earn another game but still needs more polish.

- Ferraro looks like he can be a handy guy in Utica. Didn’t show any offence but played a gritty game and was strong defensively.

- Gaudette ... meh. Really did nothing to show he belonged. Disappointing. Isn’t skating well at all.

- Graovac is a big slow nonentity.

- Arseneau had a poor first period but actually didn’t look out of place the rest of the way. Was a nice reward for a guy who has worked his tail off to become a useful player for Utica.

- Virtanen was basically put on the 4th line so it was going to be hard for him to really show much ... he was ok, had one really strong backcheck where he came from miles to break up a scoring chance.

- Myers had mostly a good debut. Moved the puck very well. But there were a couple major breakdowns against soft opposition and you wonder what it would have looked like if they were matching him against McDavid instead of Hebig.

- rough game for Hughes. Hopefully he’s ok and not out long. Had one nice PP shift and one other sublime breakout but mostly struggled to make an impact at ES although he wasn’t poor. His size and durability was always going to be a concern and not good to see him get banged up twice in the opening game.

- Edler-Biega mostly played together and were excellent. Biega was all over the ice as usual, especially early in the game.

- Sautner-Chatfield pairing get an A for effort and a D for effectiveness. There weren’t many obvious breakdowns but they were just buried in their own zone all night. Neither guy can settle the play and make a safe clearance and they were always on the back foot. Both need to play with a puck mover to be effective. Chatfield was better than in Calgary and skated miles but it was a lot of energy not well spent.

- Demko was rock solid. Bodes very well for his season. Moved well, looked confident.
 

David71

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Dec 27, 2008
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vancouver
damn that game was a snoozer. hope hughes is okay. got that chop in the hands pretty hard. myers was pretty good. making those outlet passes and using his reach. he had that one defensive mishap when he got pressured and coughed up the puck for the oilers. 5-6guys need to be cut. chatfield,arseaneu.graveoc
 

krutovsdonut

eeyore
Sep 25, 2016
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oof

jurco was good

i like goldys defence, myers was good and ferraro looks like a useful ahl add. demko mostly looking very solid. petey was petey.
 

Fire Benning

diaper filled piss baby
Oct 2, 2016
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Gaudette not really looking like he belongs in the big leagues which is disappointing, the clock is ticking for him.

Demko played very well tonight though.
 

Numba9

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Oct 3, 2011
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New Westminster, BC
There's like three players tonight where there can't be any argument as to if they played bad.

Chatfield, Pearson, and Boucher.
Interesting that your the only one ripping Pearson through out this thread.. I thought he was good. Not a fancy player at all but very efficient with the puck, really good positionally in the offensive zone, puck seems to follow him.
 

orcatown

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Feb 13, 2003
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Thought Edmonton dominated in terms of possession and offensive zone time. Canucks often had a dreadful time getting the puck out, especially up the wings. Also gave up the slot all game and Demko had to be huge. Maybe the Canucks need to move the puck up thru middle more, like the Oilers were doing, rather than banging up to the winger along the boards. Tons of work to be done here.

Good

Demko - lucky a bit on all the posts and near misses but the game could easily have gotten away if he hadn't been so good. Must get better support than this moving ahead.

Hughes - talent was evident. Could see the creativeness in his play and the way he can change gears to create space. Fun to watch on the PP. Have to have some concern about his physical ability to stand up to the heavy hitting ahead, but he is a real high level player

Beiga - showed good speed in gaining the o-zone and hard nosed around his net. Had to cover up for a lot of poor work by forwards along the wing. To me, Biega is clearly on the team.

OK

Sutter - shows his class on the goals and on the 2 man advantage against. But coasted thru much of the game. At this point Sutter >>>>>>>>>Gaudette.

Chatfield - showed more speed than I thought he had in this game and pushed the play in the o-zone. Again gets caught in transition and needs to read some situations better. But you'd rather see plays of commission than omission (if that makes sense) b/c that gives you something to work on. Overall an encouraging game.

Edler - half speed but at least steady.

Myers - some things to like but also some things not to like. Noticed he really slides over to his partner's side when his partner is picking up puck carrier and leaves lots of room on his side of the ice. Also there was tendency to pass into traffic. At other times showed excellent speed in bring up the puck from the back and looks to have a bullet of a shot.

Pettersson - nice touch on his goal but one of his weakest efforts as a Canuck.

Virtanen - lot of zzzzs for most of the game but there were times when he showed better positioning on the back check and forecheck - hopefully an indication he is getting to better understand the game.

Boucher better when moved away from Pettersson. At times hard to move off the puck and started getting chances. But this is not the Boucher you see in Utica who just nails his chances. Had very tough time early getting the puck out of the zone.

Ferland - showed a bit here and there. Mostly seemed to have it in neutral.

Not Good

Gaudette - puck was largely tied up in his end when he was out there. Also continues to mess up his passes and seems to panic with the puck when he gets it. Needs to get some calmness with the puck and show a better ability to size up the play before just flinging it in some teammates direction. Had big time problems covering the slot in his end. Almost like he is trying too hard and just beating the puck to death.

Sautner - whole lot of meh. Skating, his strong suit, was not present in this affair. Zone of coverage in his end was miniscule.

Goldobin - I'm about done. Fumbled with the puck, telegraphed his plays and had puck repeatedly picked off, and again created next to no offense. Made the odd decent defensive play but he will never make it as low scoring checker.

MacEwen - got better late but for most of the game was always making the extra stick handle or the giving it the extra look and messing up plays. Same as in Utica he tends to make bad turnovers in critical areas that lead to very good scoring chances against - thus the real bad +/- stats

Ferraro - hard for a player to make a good impression when he simply trying to figure out where he should be and get familiar with others. Effort was there but ultimately got nothing done and was weak along the boards in his end. Played a very individualistic type of game.

One thing the Canucks need to do better, based on this game, is win faceoffs.
 
Last edited:

Cogburn

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May 28, 2010
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Demko was our star tonight.

Sutter didn't look awful. He didn't look "two goals" good tonight but he wasn't bad. Great move on the penalty shot and great positioning on the tip in. If he can bottle tonights effort and result though I might have to take back a number of the bad things I said about him.

Myers looked fine. Defensively there were a few small hiccups but his play outside of those moments dwarfed those mistakes. A great first impression despite a lack of hattricks and huge open ice hits on McDavid or Draisaitl (both missing from this game).

Hughes didn't get into a groove tonight. An early injury and getting pulled when it became clear he had a target on him might be why. I'm not worried.

Ferland-Pettersson look to have real chemistry developing. I hope Boeser can add another strong element to this line.

Goldy was a non-entity offensively tonight but was (shockingly to me) rock solid defensively. He was pushed around a little but his footwork and stick work without the puck were absolutely noticeable.

I didn't notice Pearson as being a liability like some have but he wasn't a stand out. Except that last play where he stick checked an Oiler and got a goal from center on an empty net. I don't know if he and Sutter will stick but they didn't look awful together. I'd still like to see a Pearson-Horvat-Miller line at some point though.

Virtanen didn't have as flashy a game as last night but I was happy with his effort. I'd love to see him to create a little more offensively but I can't help but feel he is on a short leash.

I have no complaints (overall) with Edler or Biega or MacEwen but I think a lot of the AHL guys were giving it their all and it wasn't enough. Anyone not mentioned by name isn't worth worrying about at this moment. Graovac Arsenault Ferraro Sautner Chatfield Boucher and even Gaudette weren't noticeable enough. Gaudette just can't seem to catch a break...I wonder if he is injured to be honest.
 

sting101

Registered User
Feb 8, 2012
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i thought Gaudette looked better tonight.

Had one really awful shift after a foray into the Oiler zone and was stuck on the ice for like 2 plus minutes. Faceoffs were bad and need to make better reads in the defensive zone

Skating was good, effort was a positive, made some plays and charged through the neutral zone with force and had some excellent board battles. Played with Ferraro and Boucher who generally were poor after they slid up Goldobin who was decent with him early. Ran out of gas in his 2nd game in 2 nights after just getting rolling from the off season.

I agree he's probably tracking to Utica to start and is forcing the play too much but i see a lot more positives than some of you. Being a good centre in the NHL is no easy task especially if he's gonna be a 3C that has to play tough reliable minutes.

AG just has to keep getting stronger, keep his feet moving which he did tonight and learn to manage his defensive positioning and plays with the puck.
 

Bertuzzzi44

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Jun 26, 2018
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Hope Hughes is OK. Keep Quinn out for the remainder of the preseason for precautionary reasons. Preseason hockey has no structure and very little flow; choppy hockey with so many broken plays and players accidentally running into each other, why risk aggravating the injury.
 

DL44

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Sep 26, 2006
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There's like three players tonight where there can't be any argument as to if they played bad.

Chatfield, Pearson, and Boucher.
Pearson appeared more quiet rather than bad.

Like Edler tonight.

Just a couple of vets running their preseason reps... Tanner be like.. ho hum 2 pts.
 

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