ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT IN SMASHVILLE - ANOTHER WIN!
It worked again! Extended Saturday hockey hours is the secret to Nucking success. And JR's Buffalo-bound threats.
3rd consecutive win! That's a THREE GAME WIN STREAK for those trying again to keep up at home using only a single digit.
The last 3 game regulation W-streak was in early November during the SoCal streak.
Not saying the JR motivational talk motivated the Nucks to start on time - but they did, even at dinner time.
1ST
And start they did. Led the Preds 8-2 on shots early.
And even more vital on the road, Nucks get the 1st goal. Off a pretty play setup from Pete and Huggie...
Pretty passing, pretty goal from Hoagy!!
Atty
Nucks lead 1-0. For a little while. As a Nucks scoring play goes the other way after a silly Saros save. As per usual Nucking luck, Soup loses the puck at the home blueline - Preds get a 2-on-1. Demmers stops the 1st shot, not the rebound.
Tie game.
I like the way we are playing.
Atty
Not so much the score. But that should follow.
It's a 1-1 tie after 1.
2ND
Early in the 2nd, while some might be content to take the tie to the end, Huggie isn't one of them.
Barely a minute in and Nucks are in the Pred-zone... All the preds are up high. Watching Quinn? Then they watch Quinn pass the puck to Myers. All the Preds are now watching Myers. The stealth giraffe has time and space to put a shot towards the net. Linus is on the goal mouth and redirects the puck past Saros!
KARLSSON! Congratulations on your first NHL goal, buddy!
Thursday
That's the GWG. Again the Nucks win the game while playing a little over 20 minutes of hockey.
O'Really, Stamkos and Sissons are beating every Nucks center on near every FO and outshooting Nucks 8-3 through the period.
However, the Nucks have locked it down. What to do in Tennessee? Call the Homer Ref line and ask for help.
Soucy eats a stick, no call, soucy to the room. Net positive?
Twitch
Soup and his bleeding face are invisible to the refs. Maybe they'll make some makeup calls. Some time. Just not in this game. Instead...
Well...so much for the make up penalty idea... joshua to the box for hooking. Dunno what I was thinking, expecting NHL refs to do whats expected of NHL refs.
Twitch
Somehow, Gnarly gets Stamkos stick in his mouth, which must be caused by Gnarland's lack of altitude. Refs are certain it's not a penalty, even after Gnarly's and Taco's shock and outrage.
Score so far: Preds high sticks - 2, refs being competent - 0
Twitch
Doesn't matter. Nucks lead, almost safest lead in hockey, up 2-1 after 2.
3RD
However... the sky could be falling...
#Canucks is struggling since the 2nd period.3rd period is not looking great. - #Preds are pressing hard while the #Canucks is failing to sustain any O zone presence - #Preds are outshooting the #Canucks 31-10 with 3:40 left - The faceoff struggle continues Hold on to your butts
— Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM
[image or embed]
And yet, Nucks are keeping the surprisingly stout 1 goal lead through the early period.
Refs have to get back to work. Suter (one of the Nucks best penalty killers) is called for tripping. Nucks PK dinna care. Kill the penalty.
Refs need to change it up. Make a rare call on the Preds. Catches the Nucks off guard. And 2 minutes passes without the Preds tying the game with a shortie.
As the Nucks are resorting to their famously successful hang around their own zone until bad things happen, Preds + Refs go for the full smash 'n stick strategy.
Ronnie gets speared in the ribs. No call. Forbort gets high sticked. No call. Are the Zebras getting paid by the Predators?
WTF... Hronek speared, no call, Forbert high sticked, no call, and suter gets a penalty for....sissons falling over his feet? Canucks need to lodge a formal complaint about this.
Twitch
And then Nucks get caught on an inexplicably bad line change.
Wow...that was the stupidest too many men ever... like not even jump onto the ice and someone else doesn't see it and plays it before the other guys on the bench... just 6 skaters floating around the defensive zone, having a tea or something. Brutal.
Twitch
The ever sharp-eyed refs, don't miss it - Nucks are back on the PK. Against one of the hottest power plays in the league at the moment. That again went ice cold at the hands of the Nucks disruptive and quite annoying PK.
As the minutes ticked off and our game thread nerves frayed down to molecular goo, Preds emptied their net. Great! More pressure. However, with Demmers and company, the stout 1 Nucking goal lead withstands the pressure.
Even better, Forsberg is sent to the box, for severely interfering with Demmers.
Forsberg tackles Demko, gets called, shakes his head in disbelief. "I paid good money for these refs, goddammit!"
Twitch
Guess he found the credit limit of the refs.
Even better, while on the PP with the Nucks absorbing the insane 5-on-5 pressure in their own zone, Suter the shooter scores the EN. 2nd goal in as many games!
Nucks WIN 3RD CONSECUTIVE GAME! WOOOOO!!!
#Canucks
— CrankyCanucksFan (@crankycanucksfan.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 8:34 PM
[image or embed]
Lost in the excitement of a 3 game win streak: Demko almost looked like Demko tonight!
Twitch
OBSERVATIONS
Good team effort. Start to finish - other than the wobbly bits. This team looked last last season's game's team. Yay!
Demmers is back, baby!
Demko had a great performance and was present during some defensive breakdowns. Hopefully this will be a turning point to bring his confidence back up. — GA: 1 — SA: 32 — SV: 31 — SV%: 96 #Canucks #GoCanucksGo #NHL
— Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 9:06 PM
[image or embed]
While JR's motivational speech to NucksNation seemed to have an effect on Pete - his Tre Kronor line scored both Nucks 5-on-5 goals - seemed not to push JT into beast mode. He and his linemates were close to the bottom of the stat charts.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Vancouver Canucks on 2025-01-29 #Canucks
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) January 29, 2025 at 8:35 PM
[image or embed]
We're Quinning again!
🚨Quinn Hughes is the ⭐️⭐️ of the game🚨 — Assists: 2 — PTS: 2 — SOG: 2 — TOI: 24:36 — 101 Multi-Point career game The captain always brings it babe. #Canucks #GoCanucksGo #NHL
— Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) January 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
[image or embed]
Just another record setting season for Huggie. The 1st D to produce 20 multi-point games in 50 games since Paul Coffey (Oilers) & Larry Robinson (Canadiens) in 1985-86.
Are they back in the hunt? Yes they are!
#Canucks Tuesday game against the Avs could be a doozy
— Simon Little (@simonplittle.ca) January 29, 2025 at 9:11 PM
[image or embed]
Anything else? Yes!
A nice intermission from the main stage drama.
Video Replay
Back at home on the road, it's Shortie and Dave wondering about unbiased NHL officiating.
GAME STATS
SHOTS
| PERIOD | VAN | NSH |
| 1st | 13 | 13 |
| 2nd | 3 | 8 |
| 3rd | 6 | 11 |
| TOTAL | 22 | 32 |
PLAYERS 'N TACO TALK
Demmers back on the winning side, of the game and the presser.
Hoagie feeling pretty good about a pretty good game.
Taco Talks about the grinding away, while still praising Myers.
Was this the pushback the Nucks needed after getting called out by JR. Maybe.
One last Saturday game to go in a couple days in winter-wonderful Texas. Sure be good to lower the media dramatics with a theatrical win over the Stars - if only our 'stars' could align to play like teammates.
