Thought Edmonton dominated in terms of possession and offensive zone time. Canucks often had a dreadful time getting the puck out, especially up the wings. Also gave up the slot all game and Demko had to be huge. Maybe the Canucks need to move the puck up thru middle more, like the Oilers were doing, rather than banging up to the winger along the boards. Tons of work to be done here.
Good
Demko - lucky a bit on all the posts and near misses but the game could easily have gotten away if he hadn't been so good. Must get better support than this moving ahead.
Hughes - talent was evident. Could see the creativeness in his play and the way he can change gears to create space. Fun to watch on the PP. Have to have some concern about his physical ability to stand up to the heavy hitting ahead, but he is a real high level player
Beiga - showed good speed in gaining the o-zone and hard nosed around his net. Had to cover up for a lot of poor work by forwards along the wing. To me, Biega is clearly on the team.
OK
Sutter - shows his class on the goals and on the 2 man advantage against. But coasted thru much of the game. At this point Sutter >>>>>>>>>Gaudette.
Chatfield - showed more speed than I thought he had in this game and pushed the play in the o-zone. Again gets caught in transition and needs to read some situations better. But you'd rather see plays of commission than omission (if that makes sense) b/c that gives you something to work on. Overall an encouraging game.
Edler - half speed but at least steady.
Myers - some things to like but also some things not to like. Noticed he really slides over to his partner's side when his partner is picking up puck carrier and leaves lots of room on his side of the ice. Also there was tendency to pass into traffic. At other times showed excellent speed in bring up the puck from the back and looks to have a bullet of a shot.
Pettersson - nice touch on his goal but one of his weakest efforts as a Canuck.
Virtanen - lot of zzzzs for most of the game but there were times when he showed better positioning on the back check and forecheck - hopefully an indication he is getting to better understand the game.
Boucher better when moved away from Pettersson. At times hard to move off the puck and started getting chances. But this is not the Boucher you see in Utica who just nails his chances. Had very tough time early getting the puck out of the zone.
Ferland - showed a bit here and there. Mostly seemed to have it in neutral.
Not Good
Gaudette - puck was largely tied up in his end when he was out there. Also continues to mess up his passes and seems to panic with the puck when he gets it. Needs to get some calmness with the puck and show a better ability to size up the play before just flinging it in some teammates direction. Had big time problems covering the slot in his end. Almost like he is trying too hard and just beating the puck to death.
Sautner - whole lot of meh. Skating, his strong suit, was not present in this affair. Zone of coverage in his end was miniscule.
Goldobin - I'm about done. Fumbled with the puck, telegraphed his plays and had puck repeatedly picked off, and again created next to no offense. Made the odd decent defensive play but he will never make it as low scoring checker.
MacEwen - got better late but for most of the game was always making the extra stick handle or the giving it the extra look and messing up plays. Same as in Utica he tends to make bad turnovers in critical areas that lead to very good scoring chances against - thus the real bad +/- stats
Ferraro - hard for a player to make a good impression when he simply trying to figure out where he should be and get familiar with others. Effort was there but ultimately got nothing done and was weak along the boards in his end. Played a very individualistic type of game.
One thing the Canucks need to do better, based on this game, is win faceoffs.