This is the way the year ends
This is the way the year ends
This is the way the year ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
With apologies to T.S. Eliot, the Vancouver Canucks certainly looked like on New Year’s Eve.
Sure, they showed the semblance of emotional engagement against the Calgary Flames, as three Canucks dropped the gloves for some bare-knuckle fisticuffs in the second period, but it felt like shape without form and gesture without motion: hollow.
Because what’s the point of being emotionally engaged if that supposed emotion doesn’t actually drive the team to perform better?
When the Flames took a 1-0 lead 14:31 into the first period, it took the Canucks over 11 minutes to muster up a shot on goal in response.
After the Canucks were finally able to tie the game on the power play 6:15 into the third period, they were entirely unable to build on that momentum. Instead, they got pinned into the defensive zone, giving up the game-winning goal three minutes later after icing the puck three times.
Then, down 2-1 with 10:42 remaining in the third period, the Canucks managed to muster up just two shots on goal.
That’s when the Canucks needed to be engaged, whether emotionally, physically, or spiritually. Instead, when the Canucks dug deep, they found there was nothing there.
In their defence, that’s what happens when you’re missing your two leading scorers, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson. Obviously, Hughes was missed the most, as he’s the engine of the Canucks’ offence, but they certainly could have used Pettersson, who is one of the few Canucks’ forwards who has produced without Hughes on the ice. At 5-on-5, Pettersson has 3 goals and 7 assists without Hughes, while only 1 goal and 3 assists with Hughes.
But this is the reality of the Canucks’ current situation. While Pettersson should return soon, the Canucks will likely be without Hughes for a while. The Canucks have to learn how to win without Hughes, not just for this stretch of the season but so that Hughes doesn’t have to do everything when he returns.
The Canucks’ underlying numbers at 5-on-5 without Hughes on the ice are literally the worst in the NHL. That’s not sustainable if the Canucks want to have any sort of success this season.
Perhaps the Canucks have been too dependent on Hughes and have grown in their reliance on him. Maybe this injury will prove to be a good thing, forcing the rest of the team to wake up and figure out how to create offence without him.
Or maybe it will be the season’s undoing, as they dig themselves a hole too deep to climb out of. Hopefully not.
On the plus side, the past couple of games are making a strong case for Quinn Hughes winning the Hart Trophy.
I sincerely regret that I watched this game.
- If I was a tad acidic in the introduction, let me neutralize the acid a little by noting that the top line of J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Jake DeBrusk was generally pretty good. Miller and Boeser led the Canucks with five shots on goal each and the two combined for the team’s lone goal on the power play.
- The Canucks had an okay first period, as they attacked the Flames with speed and created some decent chances, but couldn’t capitalize. It almost looked like the defence could actually move the puck for a moment but then the Flames seemed to realize that if they put any pressure on the defence whatsoever, they’d throw the puck away.
- The Flames opened the scoring on an absolutely brutal play by Noah Juulsen. It started with Juulsen losing track of Jakob Pelletier behind him, allowing MacKenzie Weegar to spring him on a breakaway. When Kevin Lankinen came up with a big save, Juulsen then chased the puck instead of stopping to protect the front of the net. When Yegor Sharangovich poked the puck in front, Connor Zary had a tap-in.
- Yes, Danton Heinen also could have tied up Zary as he went to the net but Juulsen, , should’ve been there. He’s now been directly at fault for four goals against in the last three games. As much as the Canucks are running low on defencemen, these costly mistakes mean Juulsen is nearing unplayable status.
- “A couple of self-inflicted goals that are preventable,” said Rick Tocchet, “but, for the most part, I thought the guys worked hard. A lot of guys gave effort tonight.”
- Juulsen actually finished second on the Canucks in 5-on-5 ice time in this game but that’s partly because one of his shifts lasted over three minutes. He and Carson Soucy were stuck on the ice for 3:15 on one shift early in the second period, only able to get brief breathers on three icings. The worst moment came nearly three minutes in when Soucy was able to get the puck out of the zone and had an opportunity to dump it deep to get a change but then inexplicably tried a risky pass into the middle for a turnover that forced the two defencemen to stay on the ice.
- The game took a turbulent turn in period two. It started with Erik Brännström dropping the gloves with Ryan Lomberg for just the second fight of his career — his first came — then J.T. Miller fought Kevin Bahl off the ensuing faceoff. Two fights, two seconds apart.
- That second fight seemed ill-advised considering Miller is the Canucks’ only top-six centre right now and a hand or wrist injury from punching a helmet would potentially be disastrous. But even short-term, his five minutes in the box was five minutes he couldn’t be on the ice and he was the Canucks’ best forward in this game. He ended up fourth on the Canucks in ice time when he should have been first.
- “After Branny had that fight, we got into it, and Millsy got that fight, all the boys got going there,” said Boeser. “It was great to see.”
- After the two fights, the Canucks had five shots on goal through the rest of the second period — 12:48 of ice time — and none of them from closer than 25 feet. I’m sure the team was fired up on the bench, but if the fights got the boys going, where did they go?
- The rough stuff continued, as Noah Juulsen got called for tripping and took an extra roughing minor — coincidental with a Weegar roughing minor — in the ensuing scrum, meaning another Canucks forward, Nils Höglander, had to join him in the box. Top that off with a soft crosschecking call on Tyler Myers and there were five Canucks in the penalty box all at once — three defencemen and two forwards.
- “Division rivals. That’s the way it should be,” said Tocchet about the crowded penalty boxes. “You’ve gotta love that sort of stuff.”
- To be honest, I didn’t love that the Canucks gave the Flames over a minute on a 5-on-3 power play with three of their defencemen in the penalty box when the Flames already had a 1-0 lead. But I did love the subsequent penalty kill, which allowed just one shot on goal. It was fantastic work by Pius Suter, Teddy Blueger, Derek Forbort, and Kiefer Sherwood.
- After the first penalty was killed off, Sherwood sprung Höglander on a partial break but Dustin Wolf got his elbow up to stop his shot from distance. “Wouldn’t that have been something?” said John Shorthouse, which summed up much of this game for the Canucks. If something had happened, it sure would have been something.
- Then there was another fight, because why not. Forbort, perhaps tired after killing off the 5-on-3, fought Lomberg after he came out of the box. At first I thought it was a “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size” type of situation after Lomberg had fought Brännström, but Lomberg is 5’9”, even if he’s a far more experienced fighter than Brännström.
- The Canucks finally got on the board in the third period. It was a classic connection between J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser. After a great zone entry by Conor Garland, Miller took a pass from Brännström and loaded up as if to shoot before firing a hard pass into the slot to Boeser, who deftly deflected it just inside the far post.
- Boeser’s sixth goal in his last four games also tied him with Alex Burrows for 10th all-time on the Canucks in goalscoring with 193 goals and tied him with Pavel Bure for 8th all-time in power-play goals with 69. He’s just four goals back of Thomas Gradin for ninth all-time and is once again scoring at a 40-goal pace over 82 games.
- “I wish I’d be scoring in winning hockey games right now,” said Boeser. “I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and try and contribute to help our team win.”
- The Flames immediately pushed back, hemming the Canucks into their own zone. It was all the Canucks could do to either ice the puck or clear it for a quick line change and then immediately end up back on their heels. Dakota Joshua was particularly on his heels, completely flat-footed as his man skated past him to create a 3-on-2 rush. Desharnais defended it horribly, leaving Nazem Kadri with all kinds of space to use him as a screen and pick his spot past Lankinen for the 2-1 lead.
- “Self-inflicted goals,” said Tocchet. “We just can’t give up a 3-on-2 and we don’t play the 3-on-2 right.”
- It seemed right that the game ended with a Canucks defenceman unable to make a simple pass. With Lankinen pulled for the extra attacker, the Canucks couldn’t find a way into the Flames’ zone. Then Soucy sent a dribbling backhand pass onto the stick of Jonathan Huberdeau in the neutral zone and he hit the empty net to seal the game away.
- “6-on-5, we were a little antsy with the puck — we couldn’t get ahold of it,” said Tocchet. “There were a couple moments there where you’re looking for big moments from some people.”
- Here’s the good news: 2024 is over. It’s 2025 now: a new year full of new possibilities. Perhaps the miserable misfortune of the first 36 games of the season will be met with gracious good fortune the rest of the season. Call it the thermodynamics of hockey: for every bad luck there is an equal and opposite good luck. That’s how it works, right? Right?!?! RIGHT?!?!
- Happy New Year, folks. 2025 is the year the Canucks win the Stanley Cup.
