Post-Game Talk: On the back of a Chris Tanev OT goal, Vancouver defeats Minnesota in the play-in

[Hodgy]

Well no, that is obviously not the case at all. Tyler Toffoli was the teams best player in expected goals since coming over, and is out with injury. While Josh Leivo also played well with Bo, was productive and is a terrific defensive presence on that 2nd line. His injury also affects the roster construction.

You also forgot Brandon Sutter was one of the Canucks best forwards in this series, from 3rd line centre. He was instrumental in this series win.

Antoine Roussel also does well with tough matchups from the bottom 6.

The Canucks played the majority of this series with 4 top 9 forwards out with injury. Benning’s overpaid bottom 6 was instrumental in covering for those injuries and not hurting the team. That depth 16-17 deep turned into a positive storyline for the club.

None of this answers my question. You still have tons of money allocated to bottom six players that couldn’t be counted on for tough matchups. Why wasn’t Sutter or Beagle taking the tough matchups? They were signed to ridiculously poor contracts so that they could shelter the young players, but yet, it is Bo Horvst, a young player, sheltering then. It’s a total failure.

And this isn’t to say that Sutter was bad this series. Clearly he played much better than he has. But still, Green didn’t use him as the shutdown centre.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Man, that morning after glow - feels good, man.

Gotta give full marks to some players who have been much maligned during their Canucks tenure - Sutter and Beagle specifically. They were monsters on the PK for us, and they brought the energy and effort every shift and - IMO - played easily their best hockey as Vancouver Canucks. A very, very pleasant surprise. Would also give a hat tip to Loui Eriksson who played some solid defensive hockey, got the puck out of danger multiple times, and actually helped generate some offensive chances. There was some life in his game that was clearly absent for a few years.

Tyler Motte was an absolute beast as well. On both the PK and ES. His hustle and jam caused the Wild fits.

Roussel and Myers, two other guys who have gotten their share of flak, were a bit more uneven - but hopefully they can harness the positive things that they brought to this series and channel them consistently in the next one.

How insane is it that we got Tanner Pearson for Erik freaking Gudbranson? We’ve had some terrible trades to lament, but this one was highway robbery.

It was nice to see our youth was served in this series. Quinn Hughes is putting an exclamation point on his arrival as a budding superstar. What a huge series for him. Horvat getting the huge tying goal to go along with a couple of apples for him was massive as well. I still think he has another gear, but he found ways to contribute vital offense throughout the round. Pettersson and Boeser both brought the noise as well and showed they can persevere through the grind of a aeries. Hell, even Juolevi managed to see the ice for the first time in his career - and I thought he moved the puck really well in those limited minutes. MacEwen played well in his sheltered minutes too, as we expected - Virtanen had some hits and misses, but by and large, our home grown talent was all over this series.

But for all the youth, it was one of the 2 guys we have left from the last time we won a series that iced this. How nice was it to see Chris Tanev get the clincher? The guy lays his body on the line every night, has practically no teeth left, and is just such a warrior. Great to see him propel this team into the next round. Edler had a monster game on the back end as well, and Stecher competed hard in his limited minutes.

It was great to see the team rally to win this one for Markstrom when he had a rough go. He’s single handedly stolen so many games for us this year, it was nice to see the boys go out and return the favour.

Bloody hell, everyone. It feels amazing to be talking about and watching playoff hockey again. What a time to be a fan!

 

[Hodgy]

You mean a third line like Bergeron and Toews play on for their teams? Or Kessler when he was with us?
Yes, Benning is a terrible GM who has signed old guys to terrible contracts, but that doesn’t diminish how well Bo plays as a number two centre in a matchup role.

When Kesler was at his best Malhortra was the shutdown centre. Before Kesler broke out offensive he was the shutdown centre. I can’t speak to Boston’s deployment, but it would surprise me if Bergeron was their shutdown centre.

 

[GetFocht]

Quinn Hughes is the Patrick Kane of defence. Change my mind.

 

[Diversification]

Wow. What a great game! Well worth staying up to 2am.

I know it's early and the actual playoffs haven't started, but there's a lot to like about this team:
1) forward depth: bottom six really elevated their play and we've so far been able to absorb injuries to Toffoli, Ferland Gaudette
2) Team defense: not pretty, but getting the job done so far; Even against one of the best forechecking teams in the league in the Wild, we were able to hold them off 5v5.
3) Young core is not only not wilting, they're actually leading the team.
4) Timely scoring - this is the x-factor that every good playoff team has. Last night was won on finding a way to score that one extra goal, despite falling behind multiple times.

 

[Fatass]

When Kesler was at his best Malhortra was the shutdown centre. Before Kesler broke out offensive he was the shutdown centre. I can’t speak to Boston’s deployment, but it would surprise me if Bergeron was their shutdown centre.

My point is great centres can and do play matchup roles.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Great moments in Canucks’ history:
At the 2018 draft in Dallas, Texas when Quinn Hughes fell to numbed 7.

“The Canucks general manager leaned back in his seat and gave a huge thumbs-up: “That was a home run,” he said with a big grin.

To his right, scouting director Judd Brackett leaned over, smiling. “You can take a deep breath there”.

ps. Thank you Arizona for taking Hayton.

 

[Hodgy]

My point is great centres can and do play matchup roles.

And I’m not debating that. My point is that it’s a failure, given our forward salary structure, that Horvat has to play tough minutes. It sometimes works, but when our top line is shutdown it makes it very difficult to succeed with a second line that is a shutdown line, and a not overly productive bottom six.

 

[Hoghandler]

None of this answers my question. You still have tons of money allocated to bottom six players that couldn’t be counted on for tough matchups. Why wasn’t Sutter or Beagle taking the tough matchups? They were signed to ridiculously poor contracts so that they could shelter the young players, but yet, it is Bo Horvst, a young player, sheltering then. It’s a total failure.

And this isn’t to say that Sutter was bad this series. Clearly he played much better than he has. But still, Green didn’t use him as the shutdown centre.

If you don’t think Sutter and co. in the bottom 6 earned their money in this series, I’m not going to convince you otherwise. The bottom 6 came up huge for this club, scored big, clutch goals, while providing tremendous penalty killing. They also had a very tough matchup, against a team with a great bottom 6.

Brandon Sutter was a complete horse in this series. Describing his play as ‘he wasn’t bad’ is an awful summation of his contributions.

Agree to disagree. Again.

 

[kcunac]

Of course we can't afford Myers taking multiple penalties each game but you gotta think the refs will stop calling everything soon. When they do, what Myers is doing is perfect.

 

[Hodgy]

If you don’t think Sutter and co. in the bottom 6 earned their money in this series, I’m not going to convince you otherwise. The bottom 6 came up huge for this club, scored big, clutch goals, while providing tremendous penalty killing. They also had a very tough matchup, against a team with a great bottom 6.

Brandon Sutter was a complete horse in this series. Describing his play as ‘he wasn’t bad’ is an awful summation of his contributions.

Agree to disagree. Again.

You just continually fail to address the point I am making.

To put it another way: do you think Green would play Sutter or Beagle, the guys who were signed to take the heavy minutes, to take the heavy minutes instead of Horvat if either of them were capable of that? I think the answer is pretty obviously yes as it would then free up Horvat for a more offensive role.

Its also why Boeser’s production was cratered when he played with Horvat on that line because you quite obviously don’t want to put your offensive guys in defensive positions if you can avoid it.

 

[Fatass]

Great moments in Canucks’ history:
At the 2018 draft in Dallas, Texas when Quinn Hughes fell to numbed 7.

“The Canucks general manager leaned back in his seat and gave a huge thumbs-up: “That was a home run,” he said with a big grin.

To his right, scouting director Judd Brackett leaned over, smiling. “You can take a deep breath there”.

ps. Thank you Arizona for taking Hayton.

Thank you to five of the six teams for not picking Hughes. Only Svechnikov impacts the game anywhere close to Quinn.

 

[sting101]

Play Stecher more until Myers figures it out.

yes play him more until you realize that we are getting worked on the boards and around the net by the oppositions big forwards.And then it will be C'mon Green you idiot we have a 6'8" guy that can handle these guys and he's sitting on the bench. Am i right?

 

[UK Canuck]

Quinn Hughes is a god on skates


that is all.

 

[bandwagonesque]

Is RIP Botchford still active here? We had a playoff bet, but I can't find his account any longer.

 

[strattonius]

Well considering many of us thought our bottom 6 was going to get chewed out this series I have to say I am enjoying eating crow on that. I was passed at Green for dressing Sutter over Virtanen and there's just no denying how good Sutter was all series.
And lastly, we won a game for Marky. He was awful in game 4 and would be the first to admit it but the boys found a way.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Playing it loud and proud this morning!

 

[JanBulisPiggyBack]

That series was very much a playoff round, I don’t care what the semantics say about it, Minnesota played a very aggressive energetic match, they were the hottest team down the stretch and I thought they could have won this game and game 2, we just amounted a wealth of experience and confidence from this series, we are gonna be ready to go !!!!

Keys to next series is Toffoli coming back, Virtanen actually showing up ( wasn’t overall impressed with his series ) OJ or Benn holding it down at 6 and man one could only dream what a Ferlund could have brought if we had him able to play

Our powerplay looks like it can score from any spot on the ice once we get set up, it’s insane how dangerous they are once they have the puck just amazing

Marky had one bad game, Petey is playing deceptively good, they took away his slapper and he changed it up, Fiala on the other hand just kept shooting the puck like a one trick pony ( hell of a good player mind you )

Blues or Stars I don’t care !!!! Bring it on

 

[Killer Orcas]

Great moments in Canucks’ history:
At the 2018 draft in Dallas, Texas when Quinn Hughes fell to numbed 7.

“The Canucks general manager leaned back in his seat and gave a huge thumbs-up: “That was a home run,” he said with a big grin.

To his right, scouting director Judd Brackett leaned over, smiling. “You can take a deep breath there”.

ps. Thank you Arizona for taking Hayton.

Man what were they thinking and I was shocked Detroit passed him over as well. Thank you sooooo much to both those teams !! Hughes is the engine we've been missing on the back end since Ehrhoff and damn he's got another gear !!

 

[UK Canuck]

That series was very much a playoff round, I don’t care what the semantics say about it, Minnesota played a very aggressive energetic match, they were the hottest team down the stretch and I thought they could have won this game and game 2, we just amounted a wealth of experience and confidence from this series, we are gonna be ready to go !!!!

Keys to next series is Toffoli coming back, Virtanen actually showing up ( wasn’t overall impressed with his series ) OJ or Benn holding it down at 6 and man one could only dream what a Ferlund could have brought if we had him able to play

Our powerplay looks like it can score from any spot on the ice once we get set up, it’s insane how dangerous they are once they have the puck just amazing

Marky had one bad game, Petey is playing deceptively good, they took away his slapper and he changed it up, Fiala on the other hand just kept shooting the puck like a one trick pony ( hell of a good player mind you )

Blues or Stars I don’t care !!!! Bring it on

Was a great series, I'm kinda hoping for the Blues tbh, we've always played them well the last 2 years, the Stars would be like playing a much better version of the Wild

 

[Captain Bowie]

Can't believe we pulled it off despite being outcoached so badly through 2 games.

 

[UK Canuck]

Man what were they thinking and I was shocked Detroit passed him over as well. Thank you sooooo much to both those teams !! Hughes is the engine we've been missing on the back end since Ehrhoff and damn he's got another gear !!

you can kind of forgive Detroit tbh, Zadina was seen as a slam dunk top 3 pick, but god knows what Arizona were thinking

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I don’t really care who we play - St. Louis or Dallas, either is going to be a tough matchup. But you’ve gotta beat the best to be the best, so bring it!

 

[Captain Bowie]

you can kind of forgive Detroit tbh, Zadina was seen as a slam dunk top 3 pick, but god knows what Arizona were thinking

If I remember, Zadina is the guy most of us were hoping for.

 

[Hoghandler]

You just continually fail to address the point I am making.

To put it another way: do you think Green would play Sutter or Beagle, the guys who were signed to take the heavy minutes, to take the heavy minutes instead of Horvat if either of them were capable of that? I think the answer is pretty obviously yes as it would then free up Horvat for a more offensive role.

Its also why Boeser’s production was cratered when he played with Horvat on that line because you quite obviously don’t want to put your offensive guys in defensive positions if you can avoid it.

You’re saying none of Bennings bottom 6 can handle tough matchups, and I don’t agree with it. Sutter, Roussel, Motte, Beagle, Eriksson all can play tough minutes. And they played a ton of tough minutes in this series, and were instrumental in getting the win. The P.K. work alone could have been the difference.

Benning’s ‘overpaid crap’ came up huge for this club when it mattered most. Who would have thought a relatively healthy Brandon Sutter could actually contribute? You know the answer.