TWO GAME L-STREAK ON THE BOOKS. Morning games put us in mourning.
The Nucks get behind early, win the 2nd period - including killing 7 consecutive mins of BS penalties - take a 2 goal lead into the 3rd and lose in OT. Sound familiar?
So familiar. Especially after the last game's flashbacks.
Still... Nucks have learned their brutal lesson and will definitely be better to start this time for sure.
HOT TAKES
Wow...complete lack of forecheck and shit defensive play leads to an early detroit goal.
Twitch
Just caught up with the opening goal replay. Gross.
I haven't seen a Canuck defender walked like a pylon like that since Olli Juolevi tried playing in the bigs.
Myers made Raymond look like McJesus.
copey
As bad as Myers' fire hydrant defense play was, it started up ice, when Bess casually went for a change while the play was quickly going the other way.
Nucks trail by 1 after 1. That's twice as good as trailing by 2.
Taco Line Masher Pays Off
Hoagie ties it up early - assists from Ronnie and Pete a minute into the 2nd.
Then the Nucks get into penalty trouble (hell?).
Great 5 minute kill and then we get an unlucky AF call against.
Twitch
And then the luck changes, Ronnie comes out of the box, gets on his big horse and scores. 2-1 Nucks.
And then, without any comment from fans, Pete scores his 1st 5-on-5 goal in 11 games!
WOOOO and now Petey with a 5 on 5 goal!
Twitch
He heard me.
copey
3 Point Pete and 3 Point Ronnie. All 5-on-5 points!
Nucks lead 3-1 and lock down the rest of the game and win!
Or not. That's the January Nucks. The post-break Nucks are a more fragile team, a more mistake-prone team.
And like the seasons of yore, Nucks blow coverage at critical times and we're going to OT.
Worse... in OT, Pete makes a bad decision, loses a puck battle which helps Huggie play chase-the-breakaway-guy, takes a cross-checking penalty and DeSmitty can't stop the penalty shot.
Nucks lose 4-3 in OT.
Good news! The Nucks PP didn't give up any shorties on 3 chances. Didn't get any goals either, but babysteps. Unfortunately, the Nucks heroic PK of the 2nd period gave up a goal early in the 3rd.
Surprisingly Unsurprising
It almost appeared the latest Taco line juggling feat would pay off. Yet, after the 52nd game, there's still no #1 or #2 line that play together for more than a few games. This wasn't a problem early on, when scoring was easier and the bottom 6 players were sniping.
At least the world's best 3rd line is still intact - unfortunate they haven't had a single point in 5 games to paper over the paper thin margins of the 'top' 2 lines.
I'm uncertain where the new Swede fits in long term. Worse, neither does Taco.
Enigma Petterssen - had a goal and 2 assists at even strength. Yay! And yet... with the win on the line OT made a weak play that results in Huggie making a weak play that resulted in a weak loss.
To be fair, my comrades in words, Kent 'n Westy, said early on when the Nucks were winning games by the Big DIFF, the Nucks could play 500 hockey through the spring and still get into the dance. It's not spring yet and worse... the Nucks might have peaked early - the burden of being NUMBER ONE IN THE NHL might be a load this team wasn't mentally ready to carry.
First time this season, the Nucks have given up 4 goals in consecutive losses. Not a big deal. Unless it becomes a big trend.
The Taco Tough Bump is over. It's up to the players and Trader JR/Alvin to make keep the Nucks above 500 through spring.
MOTOR CITY REEL
Saturday morning in the (pretend) Joe Lois arena with Shortie and the other guy.
STATS
SHOTS
| CANUCKS | Period | WINGS |
| 8 | 1st | 10 |
| 12 | 2nd | 8 |
| 11 | 3rd | 8 |
| 0 | OT | 2 |
| 31 | TOTAL | 28 |
TACO LOCKDOWN TALK
“With the pressure going to start hitting us more, you got to lock these games down." - Coach Taco
We... not we... but Taco called out the team for casual play in early December. And is calling on the Nucks to get with the details, the hard-on-the-puck, make the simple play stuff.
Casual Saturday follows Casual Thursday. Possibly followed by Casual Sunday morning in DC. At least there's no more big games coming up in the next 6 weeks. Nucks can just cruise to their first first round knockout since 2015.
Not getting cynical and bitter after a 2 game L-streak on the road, even if it's my default Nucking mood watching Nucking road games. However, the Nucks need to break Ovi's little goal streak tomorrow morning and beat - by a wide margin - one of the lowest scoring teams in the league.
Is this loss so bad? Let's find out.
