You want to be a 500 team? Try going down 4-2 in the 1st. That'll work.
Coming into this game, Nucks have been beaten by the Devils 11 quadrillion times. Straight.
Worse... the Nucks came back in the 3rd, down 5-2 and pushed hard. So hard that with a few minutes remaining the Nucks tie it after the heroic efforts of Hoagie and Millsie. And then throw the game away. Again.
Mission accomplished. Devils score an open net tally thanks to the poor defensive coverage - as witnessed earlier.
Almost seemed like once the Nucks tied the game with 3:30 left on the clock, they'd automatically be given the loser point. Apparently playing the full 60 includes that last few minutes.
Bad night for Ronnie. Bad night for Cole. Bad night for Zav. Bad night for Myers - or a normal night.
As bad as the Nucking D - who on at least 5 of the Jersey goals - forgot about leaving guys open in front of Demko. The new Nucks Taco system is to not allow opposing forwards having time/space in front of the net. Who knew there were that many backdoors in ROG? At least this season.
Pre-game, Kent and Westy and most of NM already called the Nucking loss.
In the 1st, the naysayers and the Devils had their way with the Nucks.
mysie playing hot potato
copey
hronie playing where's my guy again?
Nucks manage get a couple goals back - getting an unheard of PP goal! 4-2 after 1.
at least Vanacek is a rebound machine, so there's hope
gotta feel sorry for demmers though, wow, just left to the wolves there after the 5 foot pizza from Myers, the missed pinch from Hronek, the failed coverage from Bleuger, and I dunno, bad rebound luck on the last one
I will say this, though, the Devils are seriously quick and opportunistic, and that is biting the nux in the ass
and petey, stop trying to hit things; just freaking score
copey
In the 2nd the Nucks don't give up 4 goals. So that's a huge improvement. Except they allow a Devils PP goal late in the 2nd. The Devils have the best road PP in the league. The Nucks don't have the best home PK. Or road PK. Or whatever.
Can they comeback? Gamethread is certain.
well i'm out.
Twitch
The scene is set for the big comeback... it was comeback night across the league, why not the Nucks?
Why not, indeed, as the Nucks outscored Jersey 3-1. Nucks won the period... pretty much.
Oh, well
Atty
We won the period
Fun game to watch - if you're not into the Nucks stringing together consecutive wins like they once did. Watching all the Hughes brothers get on the scoreboard was great for the game. Except, we need more Hughes brothers. Let's trade Myers and Gnarly for Luke.
If not for the typical Nucking letdown when the loser point was nearly there, it was a good game. No, it wasn't. The once famous Tough Taco structure was tossed in the concession bin too early in the game. We hadn't even had a bite of Kuzi hotdog hockey. Snakebit Kuz is not appetizing.
DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS
Details - the basics of well structured hockey, seemed well understood to start the season. Who knew that Soucy and Suter were the glue that held the structure together. Except we knew they were the key to having an average PK.
So much blown coverage in their own zone, that I don't have enough words to blow on it. Remember when the Nucks had a couple touches and the puck was out of their zone? Me neither.
Kuzi (a minus 3) is snakebit. Missed the net. Tried to pass when he should have shot. Played fewer minutes in the 3rd. So few, one might have thought he was benched as he had 3 shorter and shorter shifts. On the 4th line.
Nucks didn't lose the game because of Kuzi not playing Tough Taco hockey. They lost because both D and F lost their man - blew their coverage and Demmers was left to make far too many higher saves. And he did. But can't stop 'em all.
Hockey is a game of details. And mistakes. Nucks had less attention to detail, but made up for that with a bucket load of mistakes.
1st time this season the Nucks have given up 6 goals. That's a memorable stat. To forget.
The Dimly Lit Bright Side
ROG REELING NIGHT
Shortie and Ray Ferrari have got the calls. So many high danger calls.
GAME STATS
TACO TALK
Hooo boy... Taco is steamed. Pissed. Angry with his players and the media.
"That's details. Details and details. That's what we keep hammering these guys" - Cranky Coach Taco.
That inevitable roller coaster loss is out of the way, we can refocus our hangovers on the next home loss, Thursday. The Wild are on a wildly unexpected win streak. They or we can expect them to extend their 4 game win streak. Remember when the Nucks had one of those? Me neither.
On the bright side, home games continue without any mini-road trips to interrupt this string of hopefully, 500 hockey. Something to dream about for our holiday revelry.
You want a 1 game win streak? This is how you get it.
Exciting tilt. Jilted and traded player plays his 1st game on his new team against his old team. Records his 1st goal - the GWG - on his new team against his old team. Too happy a narrative? NHL High Command assigns the goal to Pete on an unseen tip. Welcome to the Nucks, Zav!
The Zadorov trade made Vancouver all a titter the past few days. A tall titter it was. As ever, NM gamethread weighed in on the beefed up Nucking D.
Fess says the best feeling on joining a new team was beating the old team that traded you away
Hopefully Zadorov beats his former team on the scoreboard and beats them into boards
Flames fans hate Zadorov
Instant Zadorov luv from me
82wino
Fortunately for us, Huggie is still our best Nucking D in Nucking history. 2 minutes into the 1st, Quinn skates in on Marky puts a laser over Marky's infamous shoulder.
Looky, looky....there was space over the left shoulder of Marky
Westy
1-0 Nucks.
Just 5 mins later, new top line forward, Lafferty cleans up the garbage in front of Marky.
2-0 Nucks after 1. Pretty good road start. Or would have been if Demmers hadn't let in a goal from Backlund on the cowboy power play.
Fine. The Nucks PK sucks. We know that. No need to demonstrate so early in the game.
2-1 Nucks after 1. Almost decent road start. Just stay out of the box.
In the 2nd, the game was a bit scrappy. Not fire drill scrappy, but neither team was looking like a top team in division that owns the middle period.
Nucks had their chance to close it out. Got almost a minute of 5-on-3 time. Didn't score. Didn't score on the 5-on-4 time, And, because in-game consistency requirements, didn't score on their PP late in the period.
However, Miki did score in the last minute, a weak shot from the point causes chaos - the good kind - chaos in front of Marky. Pete, Laff and Miki follow the bouncing puck and Miki swipes it home.
Nucks lead 3-1 after 2. That's a commanding lead.
In the 3rd, HNIC pumps up the cowtown stat line - lead the league in 3rd period comebacks. However, the Nucks are playing for Taco - who's mantra is meet pressure with pressure.
And through most of the period looked like the Tough Taco method was more effective than HNIC narratives.
Until about 4 mins left in the game... Nucks get hemmed in their end and something we rarely see...
Not often someone makes Hughes look like a pylon.
Twitch
Worse, Demmers is way out of position and Lingerholme pots a goal. 3-2 Nucks with 3 nail-biting minutes to go.
No worries. Our new 6 foot 6 D-tower is cleaning up behind the net when Cowtown is pressing 6-on-5. He launches a clearing shot - allegedly tipped by Pete - right into the empty net. Nucks lead 4-2.
And just when we thought the game was won, some Canucklehead puts the puck over the glass. Now it's 6-on-4 with a minute to go. And worse, a totally homer bounce off the back boards bounces out front and despite the best efforts of Alternate Goalie, Myers, to stop the puck, only stops Demmers from stopping the puck.
It's 4-3 Nucks on a fluke goal. We're not worried.
I will not allow a loss
82wino
And thanks to stickless Demko making a save at the buzzer, the Nucks win, 4-3!
Wooooooooo!!! Beating Cowtown in the Cattledome is as good as winning a 4 point game against a division rival.
ROAD SIGHTS
Karlsson was on the ice late in the 3rd. Taco has confidence in him? Or JR/Alvin shopping him? We don't know.
With the new tall D on the ice, Taco could reduce Huggie's and Ronnie's ice time to 22 mins or less. Foote won't require the forehead bulging vein surgery after all. However, Chaos Myers also logged 22 mins of time... and despite our warnings/tantrums and stuff, Taco and his D coaches don't seem to mind.
Weird fancy stat: Juuls was the best Nucking D. Huggie was the worst. Sometimes fancy is too fancy.
Nucks PP was totally and utterly ineffective. Zero for 4. And wasted the 5-on-3. Not liking the 2D 1st unit. Not as unpredictable as 4 forwards + Huggie. But Kuz is still on the Taco bench of stapled horrors. Worse, having Myers on the 2nd unit is a recipe for shorthanded breakaways and no goals for.
Nucks road PK hit the benchmark 60% figure of merit that we know so well from last year's stellar PK stats.
Still... overall a decent road game. Beautiful low event (mostly) road game that results in a win and another 2 points.
The Bright Side from the Gamethread:
Zav/Zaz gwg !
4 pts game won !
Add +1 to our Diff
16 wins ties for 1st in the league
Back into 4th in the league standings
82wino
REEL HNIC HIGHLIGHTS?
As is our preference watch with sound muted.
STATS
PLAYER STATS
| GOALS | ASSISTS | +/- | |
| BOESER | 1 | +1 | |
| LAFFERTY | 1 | 1 | +1 |
| PETERSSON | 1 | 1 | +3 |
| HUGHES | 1 | 0 | |
| HRONEK | 2 | +2 | |
| MIKHEYEV | 1 | 1 | +2 |
| MYERS | 1 | +1 | |
| ZADOROV | 1 | +2 | |
| EV | PP | SV% | |
| DEMKO | 14/15 | 6/8 | .870 |
TACO TALK
Short talk because Taco doesn't want to hang around the Cattledome.
Good road win. Any win on the road against a division opponent is a very good win.
Back home to continue the Nucks uninterrupted homestand. Tuesday is Hughes day in the ROG. Jersey and the younger Hughes boys visit their older, wiser, better brother. Also expect the Nucks to play like a 1 game win streak is not a big deal. Nor is a 2 game W-streak. But that's the next streak that counts.
Enjoy your weekend away from HNIC.
Want to know how to end your 1 game win streak? This is how.
Tonight Vegas gave the Nucks an object lesson on how Taco wants the Nucks to play. Relentless on every shift. On every line. Always moving forward. Always disrupting, playing heavy. Never stop skating. Never stop pushing. Maybe Taco secretly wants to coach Vegas. Maybe he already is.
Doesn't matter.
Despite the Knighties coming into the ROG on a 3 game losing skid, as is Nucking tradition, the Nucks let skidding visiting teams dictate the tempo of the game. Why? Only the the gamethread knows for sure.
Canucks doing that thing where they just try to survive the first half of the first... Kinda not a fan of that.
Twitch
First period Canucks is frustrating to watch
Westy
That explains it. Plus the Nucks are overmatched and outworked. And outshot. And outscored. And pretty much outed. 2-zip Vegas after 1.
The Golden Knight players always keep skating. Not caught flat-footed very often.
Westy
But... Nucks get better in the 2nd, right? Sure.
Vegas only scores a single PP goal, their 1st of the game... because Myers was in his cottage studying hockey official arguing after taking a lazy penalty after skating lazy to defend.
3-0 Vegas after 2.
Early in the 3rd, the Nucks are pressing. The bad puck luck button. Follow the bouncing puck past Demko...
Bad bounce goal
Twitch
Down 4-zip against the always hustling, the always skating, the always disrupting Vegal Nights.
At least, there was a morale boost for Kuzi. Scored his first goal since November 3rd. Yay!
Nucks only down 4-1. Fortunately, Taco didn't pull Demmers in the final couple minutes, so the Nucks didn't lose 5-1. Not there that was a good chance to pull Demko, as Vegas kept pushing. Didn't they realize they'd already won? In the first period.
Oh well... speed kills - the Nucks. As we saw against the Avs, the Nucks aren't quite at the elite level yet. We're still getting accustomed to the 'good team' moniker, so no rush. 53 Cupless years is but a blink of several, long suffering generations of Nucks fans.
WTH PETE?!
Something is not right with Pete. He is skating slow. Falling down. A lot. Yet, Taco - as he must - says Pete is physically just fine. So it must be the heavy burden of contract negotiations that is making his big payday seem farther and farther away.
Shout out to Cole for enduring 17:50 of overplaying. While consistently getting mugged by Carrier and making bad plays. Nice combo. His partner, Myers played 18:15, only about 10-15 mins more than he's comfortable with.
Millsie, PDG, Bess line couldn't forecheck like they did early in the season. Not saying they peaked in October, but their 5-on-5 play isn't what it once was. With Miller's 5 giveaway night, the shutdown line was shutdown from shutdown service by Taco.
Nucks allowed too many shots, 44. Remember back in October when they allowed a max of 24 a game? Nucks don't either.
ROG REEL OF DOOM
John 'n Dave can't save the game.
GAME STATS
TACO TALK
Taco talks about double driving and drawing boards. And other stuff... didn't rip the guys the way the gamethread wanted.
What he meant was who is the trailer... the 4th guy, the 5th guy, Demko?
Well... that's over with. Nucks don't face the Champs until 2024. Probably in the Western Conference Final in the spring.
Nucks take their extended homestand on the road. Play in Cowtown on Saturday. With the new big ex-flame D-man taking some of load off the Cole/Myers partnership, which we hope will be dissolved soon.
It's a fresh chance at the lofty 1 game win streak. Exciting!
Want to get above 500? This plus some consecutive wins at home is how you do it.
Whew! That was closer than we expected wanted. Playing the bottom of the Pacific is a dirty, stinky business. Who knew?
To that end, New Bo was scratched. Scratch that. Bealivia was traded to the Fawks for a 5th. And $4 mill of cap relief. Nucks need to spend that princely sum on the backend.
OMG we traded the new bo! For a draft pick. Fifth round. Cap space sqweeee!
Twitch
Meanwhile, with new Bo already becoming the 2nd old Bo, PDG who was scratched pre-game, was back on the Millsie line. And that was a good thing.
Being back with JT and Bess led to the league's scoring leader scoring another goal - to lead the league in goals even more.
1-0 Nucks after 1, despite getting outshot 12-6 from the bottom feeding Ducks. Doesn't matter.
Because Demko!
In the 2nd... oh that period the Nucks owned, operated and controlled at will... has become the 2nd period that we have seen before...
Canucks doing the old second period swoon again...
Twitch
Myers treating McTavish like a horsie ride. To the cottage.
Not even Demmmers could prevent this Ducking PP goal. Dammit.
The Nucks continued to be outplayed all through the extra long 2nd period. Why so long?
I feel like this period we could call the team the casualnucks. Doesn't seem to be a lot of fire.
Twitch
Taco said later that the Nucks played the wrong system against the Ducks - Anahammies are a man-on-man team and he wanted the Nucks to employ more scissor plays.
As did we. Or Rock plays. Or smart plays. Doesn't matter.
What matters is the Nucks start the 3rd in a tie game. What could go wrong? So, so much.
Not this time.
Barely 30 seconds into the 3rd, while Canucks nemesis, Gibson, was batting at Kuzi, Pete whipped around the net and whipped the wrap-around GWG past Gibson. 2-1 Nucks.
Nucks are playing much better than the previous 40 minutes. Must be the scissors as they sliced through Ducks and put 15 shots on net. Of course, Myers had to put a hot shot on Miki's knee. Miki hobbled to the dressing room and didn't return to the game. Rumoured he is ok - xray was negative, so that's good.
Late in the 3rd the Nucks make a bad change and take a bad change penalty. Ducks are pressing, but the Nucks PK are pressing back. And even better, get their own PP. But the Ducks confused us - pulled Gibson so it's a Nucks 5-on-5 PP.
With the Empty Net beckoning, we all wished to see Huggie extend his point streak. He didn't. Instead the league's goal scoring leader scored - at distance - on possibly Brock's longest PP goal. His 17th of the season. In just 23 games! Had 18 all season last year.
Wooo! Pretty much. Nucks tussle Ducks 3-1.
ok, good job.
Atty
But don't do this again.
MILLER, HUGHES, PETERSSON, BOESER - The 1st quartet in NHL history with 25 points (or more) through the first 23 games of a season.
This stat may not mean much if the Nucks can't keep on beating the bottom of the division. And the top. But still... impressive, especially since Brock is the leading goal scorer in the NHL. Want to trade him now?
ROG REELING HIGHLIGHTS
The single John and Dave are back home and feeling it.
STATS
SHOTS
| DUCKS | Period | CANUCKS |
| 12 | 1st | 6 |
| 15 | 2nd | 6 |
| 4 | 3rd | 15 |
| 31 | TOTAL | 27 |
PLAYER STATS
| GOALS | ASSISTS | +/- | |
| BOESER | 2 | +1 | |
| MILLER | 2 | +1 | |
| PETERSSON | 1 | +1 | |
| HRONEK | 1 | +1 | |
| MIKHEYEV | 1 | +1 | |
| MYERS | 1 | +2 | |
| EV | PP | SV% | |
| DEMKO | 21/21 | 6/7 | .968 |
3 STARS
TACO TALK
He's all about the rock scissors game. Not so much about the paper plays...
Good honest win... for the last 20 minutes. Much better to get the lead early in the 3rd rather than chase. Who knew?
Now that the Nucks have feasted on fowl (for 20 minutes), will need to up their appetite for a full 60 minutes of Nighties in the ROG on Thursday. Let's hope hungry Nucks get a lead early and stay fast, hot and hungry for win against the defending cup dippers.
You Love 500 Hockey? This is how you get it!
A MUST WIN GAME, WON!
Sweet payback from last week's loss to Seatown which put the Nucks into this terrible 500 loop-dee-loop.
Nucks started well in the Climate Sledge Arena. But as ever, refs had to tilt the ice to even the ice.
Nucks rhythm broken by 8 minutes of consecutive PKisting. Unfortunately the Krak'n scored on one of their power plays. Or did they? Nope, it was deemed offside.
Instead, Blueger scooted up the ice and deked Daccord for his 1st shortie as a Nuck - 1st goal too. D'accord!
But still in the interests of fair and balanced reffing...
Refs have completely overlooked the muggings on Garland and Petey.
copey
Normality.
1-0 Nucks after 1. Good road start.
In the 2nd... moar Tough Taco goals. Josh wins the final stroke of the net front kerfuffle. Some in the gamethread considered it beneath their fanny dignity... calling it a 'garbage goal' and a 'greasy goal' - however now we can call it the Game Winning Goal. No, really.
Sure the Krakun'd managed to score on Demmers... for zone-clearing reasons...
That goal is on Petey...should have had it at the blue line
Westy
Didn't matter. Demmers kept the rest of the penultimate SO going - ending the 2nd with the Nucks up 2-1.
In the 3rd. Oh, in that beautiful 3rd, the Nucks played their best period in a long time.
Unlike last week's 3rd period versus the Kraklin, Nucks locked down the D-zone. Seatac only got their 1st shot 15minutes into the period. Before that tho... Nucks seal the seafawks mid period after Pete won 3 consecutive faceoffs. 3rd time lucky for Huggie, Ronnie and Laff. And us. 3-1 Nucks.
Minutes later, Hoggie breaks in with a 2-on-1, confuses Daccord on the pass/shoot dilemma - chooses to shoot a laser past the whiplashed goalie. 4-1 Nucks.
Just as the 2nd Nucks PP of the game expired, Gnarly and Myers setup Miki for goal mouth goal.
Wooo! Big 5-1 Nucking win in the (other) rainy city.
I know, if the capricious numeric hockey lotto had stuck to their improbable pattern it would have ended with... but it didn't.
DIVERSITY ON OFENCE
The bottom 6 getting it done. Hogz is on a hot streak. Unlike Bess and Pete who haven't scored in 5 games. Good thing the lower lines are picking up the slack.
Gnarly pots 2 points. Laff gets a tipped goal. Hoggie gets 2 points. Fresh callup, Aman, netted a couple points too.
That's a Tough Taco full line game.
CLIMATIZED ARENA REEL
It's Shortie and Ferrari with the winning call.
GAME STATS
SHOTS
| KRAKEN | Period | CANUCKS |
| 10 | 1st | 8 |
| 12 | 2nd | 7 |
| 2 | 3rd | 12 |
| 24 | TOTAL | 27 |
PLAYER STATS
| GOALS | ASSISTS | |
| GNARLAND | 2 | |
| HUGHES | 1 | |
| HOGLANDER | 1 | 1 |
| BLUEGER | 1 | |
| HRONEK | 1 | |
| MIKHEYEV | 1 | |
| MYERS | 1 | |
| JOSHUA | 1 | |
| AMAN | 2 |
TACO TALK
Aman was great - really balanced the lines for us tonight
Demmer was awesome.
Teddy was great - Dakota has been playing better every game.
I really liked our 3rd. One of our best periods... of game management of the puck. It was a professional 3rd period. All 4 lines contributed.Everyone is waiting for us to fall apart. These are nice wins.
Coach Taco
Those are the kind of statement games... if we play the right way, and we use everybody, we can win those games.
That was a good solid pro level win. A must win, but who is counting. Except all the accountants at NM.
As much as we'd like to enjoy this win for another day, we can't. Nucks are on the way to San Jose. Play a Friday night game in the tank - on a Saturday on HNIC. Try to keep up.
I can't. 5 games in 7 days. But like Taco says, gotta to learn to play tired. And we have to learn to fan tired, happy, hungover or wasted, this could be a long season with a happy bonus season to test our fanbilities. Yay!
We had high hopes. But they came up short. Damn metric hopes.
Looked like a high speed tussle of the conference titans to start. Or maybe that was just the pregame hype.
What was familiar was being tied 2-2 after 2. And not bringing it in the 3rd. Seems like we just saw that recently...
Canucks played well in the 1st, got the 1st goal. Hogz scores after some hard board work by him, Beau and Laff. Things were looking good.
Except that it was the Nucks 1st and last lead of the game. Avs came back and scored twice to lead 2-1 after 1. Dammit.
Canucks might want to spend some time in the Avs end
Westy
In the 2nd, it was the big battle of the special refs teams. Avs took a big bundle of penalties. Unfortunately, the zero percent in last 8 10 chances Nucks PP went for more zeroes, despite their brief 5-on-3.
Keystone cops power plays.
Twitch
The refs, however, had to make up some make up calls and Nucks lost the sinbin lotto, for... reasons.
Refs really struggling with catching things correctly this game, fans really struggling with reality
Twitch
Yet, 4-on-4 Millise scores an amazing power forward goal. Late in the 2nd and it's a tie game. Yay!
Millsey
You beauty
82wino
In the 3rd tho... while pressing for the Nucks 3rd goal, Miffler got Makar'd at the blueline... as did Demko on Makar's breakaway goal. Nucks down 4-2.
I don't know that I want to watch this..
Chicky
But wait! There's more. Because of probable mathematical improbabilities, Nucks give up an EN for the 5-2 loss. How many times will the Nucks lose 5-2 this season? 52? 5.2 times? We don't know.
A GAME OF MISTAKES
Nucks made too many mistakes and Avs made fewer. The Avs capitalized on the Nucks mistakes. Nucks didn't/couldn't pounce on the Avs mistakes or stop making their own.
The GWG for the Avs was the most Taco'd egregious mistake for the Nucks. Taco said it was a gift. And Kuz and Ronnie were likely the most giving. Compounded by Cole getting pushed in to Demmers, rather than clearing the crease. Fugly goal and the Nucks recent record of catch-up hockey in the 3rd needs more ketchup. And salsa. And spicy plays.
D--OUCHIES
Nucks lost another another member of the D-pleted defense corp in the 2nd. Friedman was cut above the eye and didn't return. Then in the 3rd, Myers took a shot in the hand/forearm and had to leave the game.
At time of doomscrolling, don't have a status update on either.
OBSERVATIONS
The Nucks kept up with one the best teams in the league - pretty much. They pushed the Avs to elevate their game. Dammit.
However, Petey is not playing like Petey, for lower body issues or something something. Against the Avs, the top line needed to be at their best. They weren't. Kuz wasn't playing harder in the D-zone as Taco requested and worse, is snakebitten, altho Miki had a glorious chance in the 1st that was only a minor snake bite. Pete lost his battles with Makar. And worse, Huggie didn't impose his will on the game as Makar did. Dammit.
Without the full complement on the back end, the Tough Taco Footey defense isn't as sharp and tough as it was last month.
On the road, the PP must deliver at a rate of slightly higher than 0%. Ok, much more than slightly.
Oh well... it's not like Westy and Kent didn't say they'd be ok with the Nucks playing 500 hockey all the way to May. Fine. It's arrived. Dammit.
HIGH END REEL
Shortie sitting high in the booth with Ray.
STATS
TACO TALK
Brief road presser.
We had lots of shots - just couldn't get a handle on a couple and then...
And then on the 3rd goal - gotta stop in the slot there - and they score that goal - that's the one you gotta play good defense... and uh... we gave 'em that one.
On the road again...
The Nucks are going downhill - no, really. Nucks seem be on a course correction - their 108.8 PDO of last month has dropped below .98.
And now the Nucks are dropping low into Seatown on Friday. And the road Nucks have to deliver a winning response to getting Krak'd last week in the ROG. It's a big swing game. Win and the Nucks have a cushion. Lose and the I-fivalry is back on.
Time for the Nucks to 'meet pressure with pressure' - one of Taco's Tough axioms.
Princes are back in the building!
Good teams don't lose 3 in a row. Especially to a historically bad team. But still... it wasn't an easy win to begin.
Not only did the Nucks have the pressure of breaking a losing streak. And the pressure of NM auditors checking every play for Taco Toughness. The Nucks had to perform at an upper class level under the gaze of the Royals. Or ex-Royals... but still media celebs.
To start the 1st, the pressure seemed too much. Nucks received an early PP, but their entries created some scary flashbacks.
20222/23 canucks special.
Twitch
The game remained 0-0 after 10 mins... with the shots favouring the Sharks 12-3. However, the NHL re-telling of the count later favours the Nucks, so who knows?
Like early in the last game, Nucks weren't as sharp as we've seen.
Remember those crisp on the tape passes in the early season?
Me neither
jimmi
Then ever so slowly the Nucks crept back into the game and got out of the 1st with a quite regal not quite lead. Still nutin' nutin' after one.
In the 2nd, that period the Canucks owned for most of the past month, but for the last few games. That period the Nucks made another payment on their season subscription.
The royal box was all aflutter when Huggie scored with a laser - skating down the promenade confusing everyone including the Sharks goalie. 1-0 Nucks for the 1st lead of the game.
Sharks thought they had the 1st lead earlier in the period, but pushing Demmers out of position to get it - a certain foul in NM parlance - was confirmed by CoTU after Taco's challenge.
Late in the 2nd Hogz - who had an assist on Huggie's goal - got tangled up on the boards and took down LeBank. Refs immediately called a 5 min major. Confirmed as a slew foot by CoTU. Hogz got a match penalty. The Royals - fine, the former Royals understood the severity of the call and will likely be calling the exchecker of SJ to protest.
Not only did the Nucks kill off a minute of the penalty, Josh got the puck out of the danger zone. Laff and new Beau went up ice. Laff won a board battle, passed to Beau and Laff tucked the dribbling puck past Blackwood for the GWG. But we didn't know that yet.
The gamethread duo noted the play of the Sharkies PP.
Man how much does it suck to be the sharks right now? Gifted a maybe questionable major and get scored on short handed...eesh, it must be like being a canucks fan down there right now. No sympathy... fuck em.
Twitch
2-0 Nucks after 2.
In the 3rd, the Sharks were allowed to continue another 3 minutes of their power play. That's not cricket! And worse, scored on a rebound from a shot that appeared to strike Sir Chaos in the nether regions. 2-1 Nucks with most of the period to go.
To be fair, Myers was getting compliments from the NM duo of Chaos on ice followers earlier in the game.
Meyers looking like a super tall quinn hughes there.
Twitch
Instead of sitting back and letting the Sharklets back into the game, the Nucks played Tough Taco style. More O-zone pressure and soon the dynamic duo - not the gamethread one - the Nucks Dynamic D-Duo went to work. Made time and space where there was none. Huggie put a shot on net and JT put the rebound in the net.
Good win. A near Tough Taco win. It's a one game win streak. Yay!
LONG LIVE THE NEW KING!
With his 2 points Quinn is the 1st NHL player this season to reach 30 points. 30 points in 19 games... who does that sound like... oh right that 70s phenom, Bobby Orr who was the 1st to 30 points in '74-'75. Only other D to achieve that was Al MacInnes in '90-'91.
Huggie is elevating his game to a place we have never seen from a Nucks D. With his partner Ronnie they are the best in the league on the opposition blueline.
Millsie noted their feet feats:
“They’re playing on another level right now and I’m just trying to stay out of their way... When we're out there with them, they're doing all this stuff and we don't know where to go half the time. But they're unbelievable. They create havoc. They beat one guy and then somebody else tries to do somebody else's job on defence, and then holes open up everywhere. They make us all look good. They create so much with their movement.
“They're just starting to feed off each other. They're only going to get better, which is scary.”
JT
ROYAL ROG REEL
It's the interesting combo of Shortie and Ray. Still better that most on-air teams in hockey.
GAME STATS
| SHARKS | Period | CANUCKS |
| 6 | 1st | 11 |
| 10 | 2nd | 13 |
| 12 | 3rd | 13 |
| 28 | TOTAL | 37 |
Gamethread stats:
Twitch: 102(ish)
jimmi: 101(ish)
82wino: 2 at time of posting (his counting team will claim 4)
Some might say we're padding the stats... but we get bonus points for multi-gifs. It's a rule. Or a guideline. Or a cheat. Or whatever.
TACO TALK
I thought there were some really good parts of the game...
We worked on some stuff yesterday, didn't like how we were without the puck last game... thought we were better tonight.
Felt the guys had a good effort tonight.
Got a fist bump from him [Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry] Don't know if you're allowed to... but pretty cool to get a fist bump, right.
Good redemption win. A prince of a game one might say in hushed whispers.
Now the 2 game homestand is over and Nucks are back on the road. The road to the top of the mountain. Rocky mountain time in Colorado on Wednesday.
Can our Tough Taco players can elevate their game higher still? We'll find out soon enough.
At least it wasn't a 5-2 loss.
But is was a sloppy loss - a tired loss, perhaps. And now it's a sloppy 2 game L-streak.
That's just great. We know where that can go... and we don't want to return.
Nucks scored the 1st goal of the game. In the 1st period. That's good. Held the commanding 1 goal lead into the 1st intermission.
However, in the 2nd, the former Canucks owned and operated period, Nucks sloppy changes cost the lead... Pete was tired at the end of his extended shift, just wants to get off the ice - his guy just wants to score. And does.
Canucks score one in the 2nd, but the Krak score 2. That makes it ummm... math.... oh... it's a 2-2 tie. That's not so bad. Nucks could win this game in the 3rd.
If they played the Tough Taco Tactics early in the 3rd or at least the full panic-press of the last 2 mins for at least 10 minutes might have worked.
Instead the Nucks let the Kraks exert all the pressure and get the goals as a result of Nucks sloppy play. The GWG was easily preventable, but Nucks sloppy play made Demmers pay.
Either the Nucks are a good team and good teams don't lose two three games in a row. Or the alternative is the great start was Taco's Bruce Bump.
To be fair, which is really hard, because we've heard all the the tired excuses about being tired, it's not just this stupid schedule with more road than home, it's also BC Ferries sailing away with Soucy and Suter.
At least now we know it wasn't so much Gnarly driving the 3rd line bus, it was Suter keeping the rubber on the road - the road to the net.
Neither Quinn nor Ronnie had a good game. Quinn got a great goal... but post game he sounded tired - mentally emotionally and physically.
Oh well... at NM we're tough. We can take the Nucks giving away game after game to division rivals. That's our jam. Fermented Nucks fans expiative jam.
ROG SLOPPY REALITY REEL
HNIC(ish) game, but at least Shortie tried to keep our spirits bright.
GAME STATS
TACO TALK
First up, Cole talks about being tired.
Finally Taco Talks Tough about his players. Calling them all out and no mercy for Kuz, neither.
Until tonight, the Nucks had only lost 2 consecutive games in the early season. Now they've done it twice.
On Monday, the Sharks are in the ROG tank. Couple weeks ago, we might have been gleefully anticipating another 10 goal outburst. Now, we'd be happy if the Nucks could win 3-2. Although... 5-2 would help the DIFF chart and make us call the numerology hotline more often that we have in the past week.
But after Monday, Nucks are back on the road, first to mile high hockey and the back to Seatown and a dip in the Shark Tank next Saturday.
Time to put on our NM big boys drinking jerseys. Try not to spill.
If you're gonna lose, you wanna lose by 5-2.
BC Ferries have stranded some key players at the dock. And it's 5 games in 7 nights - this stinker on the road in another foreign time zone.
Game started well for the thrill seeking gamethread.
Lafferty has kind of been an adventure so far this game.
Twitch
Started better for the Nucks PP. Miller setup Pete for a wicked shot past Marky. 1-0 Nucks mid 1st.
By the end of the 1st it's 1-1, because tired Nucks get out-rushed.
The 2nd period, the former period the Nucks owned with the best DIFF in the biz - they're not even renting it this game. Nucks got outshot 17-5 and outscored 2-0. Ouch!
DeSmith got doobed by Dubay as he lost track of where the puck trickled thru him. On the 2nd Flames goal in the 2nd, Pete was pawned by Handafin and DeSmith allowed another little trickle.
Game thread aren't bothered by the red lighting.
Jeez those flashing red lights on the ice are really annoying... that's so calgary, I guess.
Twitch
Nucks down 3-1 after 2. That's not so bad. Other than the Nucks are out of gas and the Nucks D-corp is sponsored by BC Ferries and exploited by the opposition.
In the 3rd then Nucks score another goal, because you can't lose 5-2 by only scoring one. Hogz got the goal from the slot on the type of play that Taco likes.
Refs do their part by missing a 4 bleeding minute high stick on Gnarly. Won't mention Gnarly taking the Nucks off their 2 min PP. Or why he was on the PP at that point. Only Taco knows for sure.
Also.. can't lose 5-2 if you don't let the Flames score another 2. And they do.
The Exhausting
Huggie played 30 mins last night and had to grind out 23 tonight. Quinn ended the tired game with a minus -3. Pete, our league scoring leader, finished with an unPetey minus-4.
The Millsie line wasn't much better 5-on-5, much like the other cobbled together lines. Lines that will be descrambled for Saturday as Kuz is scheduled to return. And Karlsson will be bounced. And Taco willing, Gnarly will return to the 3rd line since his elevation to the top line was not a top choice.
A stinker game. The 2nd stinker within a week. Is that concerning? Maybe. Maybe not. Someone should ask Westy. If he's concerned, then we may have a problem.
Losing Soucy for 6-8 weeks is definitely a problem. But the Nucks management and coaches love solving problems, so... no worries.
Flaming Homer Reel
It's bad enough to lose any game in Cowtown, but when the game is covered by Homer Simpson Ball and Homer Hrudey, the loss is the more excruciating.
STATS (the fugly)
TACO TALK
Have to learn to play tired - we coulda hung round there when it was 2-1... but a couple mistakes...
Coach Taco
With this weirdo home and road Back-To-Back out of the way, Nucks start another grindy-grindy 5 games in 7 nights on Saturday. To start the grind they host semi-local, semi-rival from Seatown in the ROG.
This could be fun... if Alvin & the Chipmonks can find a temporary, highly skilled and paid, low cost D to cover for Soucy while he's on the BC Ferries extended cruise. Or... the top players could outscore their defensive problems. Or the remaining roster could return to playing the Tough Taco method.
Bo is back in town! Great homecoming for Bo. Even better for us.
Wasn't expecting this to be an easy game now that BC Ferries are ferrying our D-corp. And sure enough it wasn't easy. Especially to start.
This Canucks defense needs a couple quick goals to make the night easier
Westy
Except... Cole was trying to set records while the Nucks were trying to catch up to eastern jet lag.
Ian Cole now has 2 penalties...
an Cole is 2 for 2 ..
2-0 Isles
Shades of '82
Westy
That's not the 2 goals we were hoping for. However, it was the only 2 PP goals for the Isles. Not just in the 1st, but all periods. 2-0 Old Bo's team after one. Bo was getting teared up during his tribute. He was a stalwart during the dark times of the dark general sorcerer, JB.
However, the refs decided this would be a special night. For special teams. Nucks get an early PP in the 2nd and JT pots his 10th of the season. 2-1 Isles. Nucks are coming back.
However, old Bo is getting his moment of momentary GWGness. Back 'n forth play with Barzell and Bo beats Demmers. 3-1 Isles. Who love to take penalties.
This time on the Nucks PP, it's a pass from Miller to Brock who launched his shot to make it 3-2 Isles after 2.
In the 3rd the refs slipped into a tad into homers - Kuz was slashed and a tripped - on the same play.
It's a 5-on-3. Unfortunately, Kuz was rewarded with his good penalty drawing with a hot shot in the face from Miller.
Anyhow, word is Kuz is doing better than expected. Taco says he was walking with his own legs and most of his face. Update tomorrow.
Anyhow while the Nucks wasted most of the 5-on-3, until Ronnie joined Huggie in the final 20 seconds, because Kuz was busy walking it off. Quinn setup Ronnie for the 108mph game tieing goal. His 1st goal as a Canuck.
As awesome as that shot was, Capt'n Huggie's GWG in OT was a thing of precision puck placing poetry. Great setup from Miller. Quinn's 2nd GWG this season and 5th of his career.
REDEEMED
Cole bailed out Demmers - better alternate goalie than Myers. 5th time this year Cole has saved a goal when the puck was on the goal line. Some redemption from the 1st period extended stay in Myer's summer cottage.
Also Demmers bailed out Demmers when he misunderestimated the puck trajectory when clearing it behind his net. Clearing attempt went clear an Isle who saw the gaping open net and shot. Demmers scrambled back to make the sit back save. His .909 SV% isn't his best, but good enough for the win.
ASTOUNDING
The Tough Taco Canucks are now #1 in the division! I'm not making it up! Here's the photographic evidence.
Here's a league-wide stat:
Pete with 26 points, is tied as the NHL point leader.
With Miller and Huggie!
The top 3 point leaders in the entire NHL are all Canucks! No, really.
The Canucks are now 12-3-1 after 16 games! Best start ever? Feels like it.
ROG REEL
Shortie and Dave are back in the ROG and we're listening.
GAME STATS
| ISLANDERS | Period | CANUCKS |
| 13 | 1st | 14 |
| 9 | 2nd | 14 |
| 11 | 3rd | 12 |
| 0 | OT | 3 |
| 33 | TOTAL | 43 |
PLAYER POINTS
| GOALS | ASSISTS | |
| BESSER | 1 | 2 |
| HUGHES | 1 | 2 |
| MILLER | 1 | 2 |
| HRONEK | 1 | |
| PETERSSON | 1 | |
| KUZMENKO | 1 |
TACO TALK
Nice win - take 'em
Philly's got a great shot - don't think any goalie could have stopped that goal.
We were a little sloppy in the 1st, but mood was good - we're 2 down and there's plenty of time left
We do have to manage his (Quinn - 29+ minutes) minutes tho. This a marathon, not a sprint. But tonight, you can't take the guy off the ice - 12 mins of power play time.You gotta put him on the powerplay.
Wonderful homecoming for Bo, great comeback for the Tough Taco Nucks.
Can it get any better?
Sure. Nucks are off on a crazy single game road trip to Cowtown tomorrow, where they can extend their division leading lead.
Would it be greedy to expect ask for 4 more wins by the end of game 20? Maybe, but after the doldrums of nearly a decade, we're fine with more juicy wins. Let's go!
