GDT: WCSF | Game 3 | Vancouver Canucks vs. Vegas Golden Knights | Aug 29 | 6:45PM PST - SPAC

[Angry Little Elf]

Looking at Vegas’ roster. They’re missing a #1 D and C. Whereas we have 2 1st line C’s and a #1 D. Those are game changers

 

[Grub]

The big question mark:

IS Tyler Myers back??

If he is, Vegas better look out... we could use our Girafe.

 

[Grub]

This is for the folks that followed Pettersson when he dominated the SHL the first year after we drafted him.

I think what we saw last game is vintage Pettersson...the moves going around net and centering, his signature deek, his numerous break aways trying to snipe the corner. This is really Pettersson's break out.... It really reminds me of his moves during the SHL... he has confidence now to do those skilled moves in NHL ice and he is making Vegas pay.

I'm glad Vegas bullied him in game 1, an angry Petey, is a deadly Petey.

 

[MS]

PGT was closed so just posting thoughts from Game 2 here:

- First off, difference in our energy level from last game was night and day. The Canucks were much quicker to loose pucks and actually won their fair share of puck battles.

- Glad we finally beat Vegas in regulation for the first time! It was getting annoying.

- Loved our forecheck in how it consistently put pressure on the Vegas D-men throughout the first half of the game and generated offensive zone time as a result. Part of this was because they were a lot more consistent in putting speed on their dump-ins, making life better for whichever F1 was going in. Puck support coming out of our own end was better too. VAN continues to be opportunistic on creating offense off turnovers at 5v5 (mostly in the OZ/NZ) but need to better withstand some of the Golden Knights' pushes. The 1st and 3rd periods were positives for us at 5v5, but the 2nd was ugly.

- We're looking at going into the 3rd tied or maybe even down if Marky wasn't an absolute brick wall in the latter half of the 2nd. Wonder how long he can keep having 30+ save nights before he starts to burn out...

- Virtanen still looks lost at times in the O-zone: there was a sequence at 14:30 of the 2nd where he had more time than he thought and could've skated the puck deeper as Miller was covering back near the blueline. Nonetheless, he still drives possession and should be getting more than 9-10 mins/game. LOL'ed hard at him getting under Tuch's skin late in the 3rd - this is where you can see he might have a bit of an agitating side to him. JV hasn't shown it often, yet he has potential especially if he combines that with some timely body checks on top.

- Fantenberg and Benn may be physical and "good in their own end" and all that but they sure struggle at moving the puck cleanly. They got crushed tonight in possession.

- Miller's such a gamer. Playing hurt but still a key part of the offense, but sometimes I wish he wouldn't try to rush through 3 opponents all by himself... Though not overly huge, he's fiercely competitive physically and really knows how to use his size to his advantage all over the ice - one thing that JV should emulate more of.

- What a game from EP. Not only in scoring but his defensive positioning, effort in his own end and all the little stuff he does to facilitate zone exits. His skill's otherworldly of course, but I'm continually more impressed by his sheer intelligence and drive to be better. Did notice he got hit with 5:17 to go in the 3rd when Smith stepped up on him in the neutral zone after he was caught admiring his pass to Hughes - could've been dangerous even if it was shoulder-on-shoulder; hopefully he's more mindful of that in future considering he's already gotten a concussion before.

- Boeser barely played tonight... makes you wonder if he's playing hurt.

- Stecher continues to play well, not only in moving the puck but actually maintaining a tight gap on opponents in the neutral zone, which was key in stopping some of their rushes. His pairing with Edler - whose veteran savvy showed - continues to carry the defensive workload and shone tonight in pushing possession against the Golden Knights. They killed it against VGK's 2nd line especially.

- Wish they'd load up PP1 with Boeser and Toffoli on it so they'd have 2 right shots - did they not learn anything from Game 6 against STL? Also must do a better job of preventing passes across the slot on the PK.

- Green's really trying to hide Hughes at ES. Also noticed Horvat was being subbed in for Gaudette on D-zone draws. In these playoffs, by TOI the Beagle line is now effectively the 3rd line... which isn't exactly a good thing but is a natural conclusion to what Green was already doing in the regular season. Motte/Beagle/Sutter shouldn't be playing more than EP at 5v5 too.

- Noticed McNabb had problems with his positional awareness throughout this game. Seems to be a passenger as Schmidt is the one who really carries that pairing and might actually be a weakness which we can potentially exploit defensively.

- Boeser's delay of game midway through the 2nd period was absolute BS. Why isn't the league allowing reviews of those? Edler's penalty with 2:50 left in the 3rd was soft AF too.

- Dude sitting next to McPhee in the press box needs to learn how to wear a ****ing mask.

Agreed with most of this.

We had a really good first period last night. More of that is needed. What happened after that .... is not a model for success. Pettersson having the game of his life and Markstrom standing on his head worked last night, but it isn't going to work 4 times in a series against a team this good. We've averaged 40 shots against in the last 7 games. What we did in the 2nd period was a carbon copy of what Calgary did in their collapse in their elimination game against Dallas ... we just had elite goaltending and Pettersson to save us.

Stecher had a rough game in the first game after Myers was hurt and is a +7 in the 5 games since then. Hopefully this is putting to be the 'Stecher is a weak link' notion. He's actually playing Myers' minutes better than Myers did ... but the problem is that the 3rd pairing is just a catastrophe without Stecher or Myers on it. And Edler has been a monster in this series.

Ending the Pettersson-Eriksson fiasco and putting an actual player there in Toffoli is massive.

17 hugely sheltered minutes for Hughes last night. As great as he can play at times, this is why I was trying to pump the brakes on the rush to anoint him a #1 defender in this league. There is still a ton of work to do on his ES defending, and he'll have to make adjustments as teams center their gameplans around him. The 2nd season through the league isn't as easy as the first.

We have major problems on defense. One pairing is killing it and the other two are struggling badly. I thought Deboer was actually out-done by Green in terms of the line/defense matchups last night - as bad as Benn/Fantenberg were, Green did a good job of getting them out there mostly against Vegas' bottom-6 despite not having last change.

 

[rypper]

I get Green riding Beagle to close out last night's game. It was getting chippy, we had a substantial lead, and it was too protect Pettersson etc from guys taking runs.

Also i think they need to leave pp1 the way it is. Toffoli added in was the right move, and putting Boeser on the second unit actually makes it a threat to do something.

 

[M2Beezy]

I've been critical of Travis Green... but man these playoffs he is starting to prove me wrong... every time the Canucks hit a wall, he makes the necessary adjustments to counter the other team and get out with a win. I hope he keeps improving as a coach, team seems to be dialed in.

This. Where did this coach come from? Man I thought he was Willie D Version 2.0 for the longest time he could NOT make ajustments within game or game to the next game. He seems to have got the guys to ajust as he thinks is what is necessary.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

Travis Green is a good coach. He’s a better motivator than PDB for sure and he has better control of his players too.

 

[MS]

I've been critical of Travis Green... but man these playoffs he is starting to prove me wrong... every time the Canucks hit a wall, he makes the necessary adjustments to counter the other team and get out with a win. I hope he keeps improving as a coach, team seems to be dialed in.

I think he's generally done a good job in these playoffs, but to be fair the 'necessary adjustment' he made last night was undoing possibly the stupidest thing he's ever done in saddling Eriksson next to Pettersson for the previous few games.

 

[GetFocht]

Its better to play your bottom six when you have have a 3 goal lead so it rests up your too 6. This series has a long way to go and fatigue management is important.

 

[Phil Brooks]

I'm sure that chirp hurt Edler's feelings

 

[M2Beezy]

I'm sure that chirp hurt Edler's feelings

I dont get it, is that the NORMAL chirping that Las Vegas has been doing this series?? Its really kinda lame IMO i cant imagine the Canucks players even care about it. Do they do the same thing tho? Does Roussell?

 

[Flik]

I love it when Edler is hitting to hurt and lets his nasty side out.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

I'm sure that chirp hurt Edler's feelings

:’(

 

[TruKnyte]

Well, I hope we win the next 3 games so we don’t waste Marchessault’s time....

 

[End on a Hinote]

Semi unrelated but I hate how the Canucks Central podcasts get released AFTER games. I'm all pumped up, ready for my leg workout, just downloaded the recent episode that was made available just hours ago, and they're discussing what the boys should do for game 2!


Anyway, what game 2 made me realize is that while we all knew Vegas was physically tough, they are not so much mentally. A great revalation for the Nucks as now they can really try to get under their skin. Sure it probably means they will go back to their less than favorable reputation like back in 2011 since the Canucks (and all other Canadian teams, really) need to walk on egg shells in order to be respected.

But **** 'em.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

These "chirps" are news worthy? Rather tame and also lame.

Example from bantem days: "go **** your ***, you ***** and die mother****er."

Some shit that was said back then was so messed up.

 

[wonton15]

Feels like Vegas has the opposite approach that we have. High highs and low lows. We move on and forget.

That's why I love this current team so much

 

[rypper]

Semi unrelated but I hate how the Canucks Central podcasts get released AFTER games. I'm all pumped up, ready for my leg workout, just downloaded the recent episode that was made available just hours ago, and they're discussing what the boys should do for game 2!


Anyway, what game 2 made me realize is that while we all knew Vegas was physically tough, they are not so much mentally. A great revalation for the Nucks as now they can really try to get under their skin. Sure it probably means they will go back to their less than favorable reputation like back in 2011 since the Canucks (and all other Canadian teams, really) need to walk on egg shells in order to be respected.

But **** 'em.

650 takes FOREVER to get their audio out, while 1040 has theirs up within minutes of a show ending.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

Feels like Vegas has the opposite approach that we have. High highs and low lows. We move on and forget.

That's why I love this current team so much

Vegas is an emotional team.

 

[End on a Hinote]

650 takes FOREVER to get their audio out, while 1040 has theirs up within minutes of a show ending.

Thanks for the heads up, I can't believe I haven't subscribed to TSN 1040s podcast yet

 

[NetMapel]

How did the sharks beat them in last year's playoff? I'm reading the wiki now as I didn't pay much attention to that series. Looking at the wiki, the sharks apparently came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series. The scores of the 3 Vegas winning games seem very decisive too. What strategies did the sharks employ to come back in such monumental manner? Canucks need to study that closely.

 

[CantStoptheBrock]

This is for the folks that followed Pettersson when he dominated the SHL the first year after we drafted him.

I think what we saw last game is vintage Pettersson...the moves going around net and centering, his signature deek, his numerous break aways trying to snipe the corner. This is really Pettersson's break out.... It really reminds me of his moves during the SHL... he has confidence now to do those skilled moves in NHL ice and he is making Vegas pay.

I followed Pettersson's draft year in Timra, and he's doing some of the same moves he did then in the NHL. Really been a wild ride watching this player's incredible ascent from being projected to be taken in the middle of the first round early on in that draft year (so much was unknown about him then), to him being the obvious best player of that draft.

 

[Grub]

Agreed with most of this.

We had a really good first period last night. More of that is needed. What happened after that .... is not a model for success. Pettersson having the game of his life and Markstrom standing on his head worked last night, but it isn't going to work 4 times in a series against a team this good. We've averaged 40 shots against in the last 7 games. What we did in the 2nd period was a carbon copy of what Calgary did in their collapse in their elimination game against Dallas ... we just had elite goaltending and Pettersson to save us.

Stecher had a rough game in the first game after Myers was hurt and is a +7 in the 5 games since then. Hopefully this is putting to be the 'Stecher is a weak link' notion. He's actually playing Myers' minutes better than Myers did ... but the problem is that the 3rd pairing is just a catastrophe without Stecher or Myers on it. And Edler has been a monster in this series.

Ending the Pettersson-Eriksson fiasco and putting an actual player there in Toffoli is massive.

17 hugely sheltered minutes for Hughes last night. As great as he can play at times, this is why I was trying to pump the brakes on the rush to anoint him a #1 defender in this league. There is still a ton of work to do on his ES defending, and he'll have to make adjustments as teams center their gameplans around him. The 2nd season through the league isn't as easy as the first.

We have major problems on defense. One pairing is killing it and the other two are struggling badly. I thought Deboer was actually out-done by Green in terms of the line/defense matchups last night - as bad as Benn/Fantenberg were, Green did a good job of getting them out there mostly against Vegas' bottom-6 despite not having last change.

So basically... PLEASE SAVE US TYLER MYERS!

Lets hope he's back tomorrow... anyone have any news?

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

How did the sharks beat them in last year's playoff? I'm reading the wiki now as I didn't pay much attention to that series. Looking at the wiki, the sharks apparently came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series. The scores of the 3 Vegas winning games seem very decisive too. What strategies did the sharks employ to come back in such monumental manner? Canucks need to study that closely.

 

[Grub]

Vegas is going to come strong here... I think Markstrom is going to get peppered hard the first period. Markstrom needs to hold the fort and our forwards need to capitalize on the counter attacks.