Post-Game Talk: Vancouver 2, Vanderhoff 1 (SO): You're worthy, you're worthy!

[PG Canuck]

With Malhotra, dumping the puck in, and getting off the ice without ****ing up is the best that you can really expect. Arguably the worst Canuck in the past 2 seasons.

Malhotra was invisible, can't even remember his name being called once. Then again, him being invisible is probably what is best for us in the end. Sucks his injury has screwed his game up this much.

 

[Outside99*]

I watched Malhotra quite a bit this game and his play ranges from serviceable to useless, literally a passenger. Will cost us a game at some point. If not for Lapierre, that 4th line would have been a complete disaster tonight.

 

[Scottrockztheworld*]

It was definitely nice to secure the two points, but I don't feel very good about the victory. I was hoping for a statement game from the Canucks, and this was definitely not the case. In fact, tonight just reiterated that a lot of the problems from the past few years remain.

1) Keith Situation - The Canucks had a chance here to send a message to the rest of the league and they failed miserably. I can't believe there weren't even any scrums involving Keith. Outside of a couple guys on the 4th line failing to bodycheck Keith early in the game, it almost seemed like someone told the team to forget about Keith. If I had to guess, I would say AV and the rest of the coaching staff are to blame for the Canucks looking incredibly soft.

2) Defend Any Lead At All Costs - I guess the Canucks thought that they could hold a 1-0 lead against an explosive Chicago team for 40 minutes. This ridiculous strategy is like a bad movie that's been on repeat for the past couple of years, but even more so this season. It's incredibly boring to watch and not very effective. We all know AV isn't going to change though, so we will be stuck with this garbage until he is inevitably fired.

Overall, happy for the victory, but it's obvious that the same glaring problems remain. Unless something changes, I'm going to find it hard to be optimistic about our chances in the playoffs.

I kind of think they would have done something if it weren't such a close game. I also think with the Bertuzzi incident that retribution wasn't the main focus & that we'll see it eventually.... just not tonight.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I watched Malhotra quite a bit this game and his play ranges from serviceable to useless, literally a passenger. Will cost us a game at some point. If not for Lapierre, that 4th line would have been a complete disaster tonight.

Aye. We also need to address Weise on the second line. He finally has reached a point where the game has risen above his talent level. I advocate Higgins or Burrows moving up to provide some secondary offense.

 

[BrandonL]

Canucks 1 for their last 21 PP opportunities.

Honestly, I can't believe Newell Brown still has a job here.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

2-1 Good Guys. w00t!

Little miffed about the people so down on the Sedins and the Ballard/Tanev pairing after this. It *is* the Blackhawks after all. Sure we all hate their guts, but they've got lights-out good players up front there. Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, Sharp (although he did nothing tonight)...players like that are going to get their chances. They're damn good at what they do. Sometimes, they'll make something out of nothing. Personally, I thought the team played the best game it's played this season. The Avs just aren't in the same category as the Hawks, certainly not when they're missing their entire top line.

I thought this was a great game. Not just a great game for us, but a great game period. Skill vs skill, rapid turnovers, quick ups, lots of twists and turns, Bolland left in a huff, what's not to like?

--Sedin line: cool beans. It's hilarious to see Kassian rubbing off on the Sedins like that. Actually saw them throw the body down low a few times. Thought they owned the puck in the O zone as well as they have in any game so far this year. Got owned several times in their own zone as per depressingly usual, but still, we're progressing. Kassian, another point. That kid's gonna be something really special, mark my words.

--Higgins--Burr--Hansen line: Best game from Higgsy by far this year. Hansen was buzzing and doing his Honey Badger thing, but you can tell he just doesn't have the hands to be a regular scoring threat. Burr was goodish. Props for scoring after the whistle blew to piss the Hawks off.

--Raymond--Schroeder--Weise: Okay, I'm glad Weise got a nice self esteem boost from playing Gretzky in the Dutch after-work-before-dinner-on-weekdays league during the lockout, but can we please get a 3rd skill guy out there on this line? MayRay looked easily the best out of this group tonight. Mad props to Shredder for scoring in the shootout.

--Volpatti--Manny--Lappy: Were they there? Noticed Manny starting to beast it on faceoffs, but Volpatti was barely noticeable, and I couldn't believe Lappy was out there in the SO. I was so sure we were going to lose as soon as OT ended. Happy to be proven wrong of course, but c'mon, there's no way Lappy should be in the SO unless the number of shooters is in double digits. WTF, AV...

--Ballard/Tanev: shaky sometimes, but let's not forget who the opponent was. Still light-years ahead of last season for these two. We're actually picking out little errors with these two, not constantly trying to ignore the colossal ****ups. Evolution.

--Edler/Hamhuis: Hamhuis' best game this season by a huge longshot. Actually remembering how to play hockey, which is nice. Edler, another goal. Still not comfortable on the right side. Being turnstiled by Eberle is one thing, but Saad...?

--Special Kev/Garrison: Well...we won. Garrison still shaky, but finding his game slowly.

--Lu: God. Flopping like a salmon swimming upstream to spawn on Kane's goal, but rock solid otherwise. Amazed that he stopped everything in the SO. Loved him hanging with Kane's every move. Someone should've got him a twitter account two years ago. All that "Tim Thomas the nice, likable guy" ********* would've died on the editor's desk.

w00t!

 

[StringerBell]

Canucks 1 for their last 21 PP opportunities.

Honestly, I can't believe Newell Brown still has a job here.

It is hard to believe. Have we even seen a 1 timer on the PP yet this season?

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Malhotra is useless, it really is sad to see because before he was down to one eye he was a great checker for us who could also put up 30 points.

 

[deadinthewater]

It is hard to believe. Have we even seen a 1 timer on the PP yet this season?

Garrison just had one on the last PP this game.

 

[BrandonL]

It is hard to believe. Have we even seen a 1 timer on the PP yet this season?

It's been going on far too long, it feels like our PP has scored 3 goals in the last year.

I really just can't comprehend what Brown does, there seem to be almost no adjustments to the PP structure in the opposing zone.

 

[CCF23]

1) Keith Situation - The Canucks had a chance here to send a message to the rest of the league and they failed miserably. I can't believe there weren't even any scrums involving Keith. Outside of a couple guys on the 4th line failing to bodycheck Keith early in the game, it almost seemed like someone told the team to forget about Keith. If I had to guess, I would say AV and the rest of the coaching staff are to blame for the Canucks looking incredibly soft.

Winning the game takes absolute precedence over any sort of "retribution". We were in a one goal, or tie game, why are we going to take liberties and put ourselves in a position to lose the game?

I feel like if Schroeder keeps playing as well as he has at both ends of the ice he should stick when everyone is healthy. Something like:

Sedin - Sedin - Kassian
Booth - Kesler - Burrows
Raymond - Schroeder - Higgins
Weise/Manny - Lapierre - Hansen

 

[YouCantYandleThis*]

Might have been one of the most physical games I've seen Henrik play. Certainly a nifty dimension to add to his game.

I've never seen Henrik and Daniel play like that. It's like the Hawks defence just had no idea how to deal with them laying the body. There was one shift where Henrik had 3 hits, the third of which knocking down one of their defenders.

Cannot properly describe how impressed I was with the Sedins tonight. They physically dominated out there, and I think got all the retribution they needed.

 

[Outside99*]

Aye. We also need to address Weise on the second line. He finally has reached a point where the game has risen above his talent level. I advocate Higgins or Burrows moving up to provide some secondary offense.

Unfortunately. The NHL is like a game of Tetris right now, the play is getting faster and faster. I think once Kes is back, it will have a domino effect and Wiese will go back to the 4th line.

 

[Canucks LB]

We are 4-2-2 with no 2nd line and average depth near the bottom lines.

Goaltending is saving our ass so hard this season, it's not even funny.

Two more weeks, kesler and booth are back, my god.

 

[Jyrki]

Keith got dropped hard by Daniel himself and we got the W. That's enough.

 

[BrandonL]

I would like to at least see Booth get an opportunity with Schroeder and Raymond when he returns. They would probably be one of the fastest lines in the NHL.

 

[serge2k]

I'd wait and see how the return of Kesler & Booth shakes out the rest of the lineup before declaring this season a mirror of last season.

True, but so far too many similarities.

 

[Canucks LB]

I think gillis is going to go HAM on trade deadline.

 

[deadinthewater]

Keith got dropped hard by Daniel himself and we got the W. That's enough.

Wasn't that Henrik?

 

[Intoewsables]

Malhotra is useless, it really is sad to see because before he was down to one eye he was a great checker for us who could also put up 30 points.

Heck, after the Sedins, Burrows and Kesler, he was probably our 5th most valuable forward before the eye injury. Sad to see how much damage it's done to his game.

 

[LightningBurrows]

Man, I hate Blake Price. Such a self-righteous *****. Always playing devils advocate and contradicting his own points.

 

[StringerBell]

I would like to at least see Booth get an opportunity with Schroeder and Raymond when he returns. They would probably be one of the fastest lines in the NHL.

Would rather see Schroeder with Kesler and Booth, which would also be one of the fastest lines in the NHL. He can make cross ice passes tape to tape at high speed. Kesler and Booth will love him.

 

[BrandonL]

Would rather see Schroeder with Kesler and Booth, which would also be one of the fastest lines in the NHL. He can make cross ice passes tape to tape at high speed. Kesler and Booth will love him.

Yea, that's an intriguing option as well. I was just assuming that Booth will probably return before Kesler.

 

[luongo321]

Would rather see Schroeder with Kesler and Booth, which would also be one of the fastest lines in the NHL. He can make cross ice passes tape to tape at high speed. Kesler and Booth will love him.

That saucer pass to Raymond this game was unreal. I think it was even nicer than his pass against the Ducks.

 

[Zombotron]

Winning the game takes absolute precedence over any sort of "retribution". We were in a one goal, or tie game, why are we going to take liberties and put ourselves in a position to lose the game?

I feel like if Schroeder keeps playing as well as he has at both ends of the ice he should stick when everyone is healthy. Something like:

Sedin - Sedin - Kassian
Booth - Kesler - Burrows
Raymond - Schroeder - Higgins
Weise/Manny - Lapierre - Hansen

It's great that this is an option to us because Schroeder is defensively-responsible enough.