Had the pleasure of going to this game with a friend. Some thoughts:
-Lol, Markstrom. Basically the biggest nightmare start possible. The Canucks responded pretty incredibly after the pulling, but the hole was too big. Credit the Sedins for doing what they do game in and game out....that second Henrik goal was just magic. It was so heartbreaking to later see Henrik hauled down and having San Jose score as a direct result. The energy in the building was electric and so were the Twins, and then a penalty goes uncalled and the game gets all but put away.
-The resultant makeup call was pretty transparent. Can't believe how close they came on that 5 on 3 too...If that was Salo instead of Weber I feel it wouldn't have just gone over his stick and down the ice. Huge opportunity for Weber to be clutch and finish that silver-platter dish from a white-hot Henrik.
-This team is hurting for just one D-man back in there. Corrado had a really rough game, as did Weber and Clendening. Sbisa really has turned a corner from earlier in the year, he's confident with the puck, his errors aren't just panic-mode turnovers that end up in the net. That being said, it's him and Hamhuis carrying the defensive load, as the rest have been struggling with increased minutes.
-Linden Vey needs to get it together. It's pretty easy to run out of patience as a fan but as a coach you just have to wonder what Willie's waiting to see. He's been getting exposed out there. Can't check John god damn Scott. He's Charmin soft out there. He can't handle the big minutes yet and is just getting fed them anyways. Why not give Baertschi a look...
-I thought McMillan had a great game and was hunting down pucks better than many tonight. Contrast that with games in which he was an utter non-factor. Maybe he's got something left in him yet.
-Good idea for Dorsett to fight down 3-0, sucks that the only guy he could get to go was Scott, who knocked his face around, but any time you can get an opponent to go when your team's down by 3 that early in the game, you get the crowd going a bit and suddenly the Canucks stole the energy back from the game. Dorsett does a lot of little things like that, even if his hands aren't as good as most he still has a really good head for the game.
-Horvat's been getting lots of good looks at the net. I am just so stoked on him right now. He's gonna be a go-to guy, if he isn't one already.