Post-Game Talk: WCQF: Blues def. Canucks - 3-2 (OT) (Miller, Pettersson)

[Svencouver]

O’Reilly is such a beast

Best player tonight 100%. His presence forced the Canucks to really get brutalized trying to avoid/neutralize him and when he was on the ice he dominated

 

[BB06]

Best player tonight 100%. His presence forced the Canucks to really get brutalized trying to avoid/neutralize him and when he was on the ice he dominated

I felt like Pettersson was the best forward tonight.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

zero goals from our bottom 6 this series. 1 point among the six of them.

Our bottom 6 is useless. Motte hustles, Roussel yaps but does nothing, Virtanen does absolutely nothing. Beagle & Sutter are good at killing penalties but their lines are continuously hemmed in 5-on-5; they provide zero offence with no possession time or sustained pressure. They just tax our D and then they change.

 

[orcatown]

Couple of missed penalties against the Blues. Blues starting to play heavy and are neutralizing the superior skill of the Canucks. Let’s get the win tomorrow!

Excellent:
Pettersson
Hughes
Markstrom
Miller

Good:
Tanev
Pearson
Horvat
Fantenberg
Motte

Average:
Sutter
Edler
Beagle
Eriksson
Benn

Bad:
Boeser
Roussel
Mackewen
Stecher
Virtanen

Pretty much. Think a good analysis.

Maybe liked McEwen a little better (especially in the first) than you did but he did make coverage errors. Hopefully more experience can correct this.

Agree Boeser was no good. Biggest disappointment in the playoffs to date. Loss of Toffoli is proving critical. Boeser is a terrible skater and I can't see what changes that. Play around the net was sloppy as well and he continues to miss sitters.

Would fault Green for continuing to play Stecher. He was done by the end of the first and a true disaster after that. Blues have taken him out and are showing Stecher, in the crunch, can't play. Fantenburg is IMO the better player over the long haul. Stecher up against the side boards watching the play and leaving the middle of the ice absolutely open on the winning goal was an example of how he was mentally done. Just a brain dead effort and, based on Stecher's general play, you could see it coming. Playoffs have illustrated some real weaknesses in his play.

This team is dead in the water without Hughes and Pettersson. Just got to build around them and stop with the multi year contracts to player on the decline. Looks like Roussel has joined others in heading in this direction

Thought Sutter was again useful although clearly not as good as previously. Horvat, at least prior to OT, saw some slippage as well. But you can only ask so much.

Virtanen is hopeless. Lack of character is clearly evident. And, at this point, lack of ability to play in traffic is also manifest. I see no future for him here or maybe anywhere else. Should have been traded when he had some value. Fact he wasn't likely b/c Benning didn't want to fess up he had made a mistake

At this point you have to do whatever you can to move Stecher and Virtanen. If you can't then they should be just let them go to help with salary cap. You are never going to win with these players.

Too bad Levio isn't available to replace Virtanen. Would make a big difference IMO.

One thing this playoff is doing is revealing is who to keep and who to jettison. In many cases, it is a case of suspicion confirmed.

 

[UK Canuck]

Only effective bottom 6 forward so far has been Motte, the rest are useless. Beagle & Sutter are good at killing penalties but their lines are continuously hemmed in 5-on-5; they provide zero offence with no possession time or sustained pressure. They just tax our D and then they change.

Motte? I admire his work ethic and the fact he chases everything, but there's the thing, he's ALWAYS chasing, its like blocking shots all the time, its good, but if you're doing it all the time it suggests there's a problem, the bottom 6, particularly the 4th line just cannot control possession at all, he played 20 minutes tonight at 5 v 5 which is insane, absolutely insane

 

[Diamonddog01]

Roussel is underrated but got no ice-time. We need better bottom six centres, unfortunately we are stuck with Beagle and that horrific contract for another 2 seasons. The organization must prioritize a third line C as well as a better bottom pairing RD this offseason.

 

[Brock Boeser Laser Show]

Best player tonight 100%. His presence forced the Canucks to really get brutalized trying to avoid/neutralize him and when he was on the ice he dominated

Too bad the Canucks don’t have anyone to take liberties on him or make his life difficult. We need a Kesler or Bieksa type to really get in his grill. I don’t think the Canucks have been hard enough on him and just let him control the play without any harassment.

Canucks haven’t been nearly physical enough on the blues top line.

 

[I am toxic]

We let Brad Richardson go.

For nothing.

Zero.

Zilch.

Nada.

Nil.

But it's not like he could score in OT, right? Right?

 

[PG Canuck]

Roussel is underrated but got no ice-time. We need better bottom six centres, unfortunately we are stuck with Beagle and that horrific contract for another 2 seasons. The organization must prioritize a third line C as well as a better bottom pairing RD this offseason.

We need a 3C that has some offensive ability. Right now, we have two 4C's in our bottom six. Sutter and Beagle are near the same player. Frustrating.

 

[Ace of Hades]

Too bad the Canucks don’t have anyone to take liberties on him or make his life difficult. We need a Kesler or Bieksa type to really get in his grill. I don’t think the Canucks have been hard enough on him and just let him control the play without any harassment.

Canucks haven’t been nearly physical enough on the blues top line.

They have not been nearly physical enough on the Blues D either.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Anyone think Gaudette slots in next game? Our bottom 9 needs to chip in...

Roussel-Gaudette-Virtanen
Motte-Beagle-Sutter
*If Toffoli is ready swap him with Virtanen

If the Canucks have the lead Swap Sutter and Gaudette, gives the Coach more options, still has his best penalty killers. Bottom 6 needs to start doing more than flipping it out and going for a change.

 

[UK Canuck]

Virtanen was pathetic tonight as well, that should probably be his last game in a Canucks jersey barring injury to anyone

 

[Bleach Clean]

Stecher is mostly getting the attention here because he was visibly the guy the Blues were zeroing on for some of their goals/chances, especially the second one. It really isn't an either-or, our forwards were hemmed in way too much but as far as the eye-test goes, that pairing was probably the most obvious "weak link" to point at

Stecher was being targeted, yes, but nothing prevented others from breaking the cycle or getting the puck out.

When the team collapses like this, when the forwards don't do their part, the defense and goaltending tend get singled out. Luckily, Markstrom was all world. But it's clear to me the forwards are a real problem for this team. Even before the defense is scrutinized.

Im not singling him out, he has been solid so far in the post-season, but he is clearly a bottom pairing D, who should not be logging that many minutes normally.

Bottom 6 is also a very weak link, just because I said the top 4 RD hole is the weakest link doesnt excuse everything else. Also I said the Top 4 RD hole is the weakest link, not just for this game only but before the playoffs even started and I will stick to it.

He played it poorly regardless.

Stecher played it the only way possible. He had to skate across the ice to catch a forward on a break away.

I don't think the top4 RHD role is weaker than the bottom6 lines. To me, they are quite clearly the weakest part of this team. When they give way, the entire D corps suffers. The entire team suffers.

Stecher is a #4/#5 dman. Same as he's always been. Perhaps Myers was/is more of a solid #4 Dman, but that should be a manageable drop in play. The reason it was not was because the forwards decided to take a vacation tonight.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

My reasonable expectation was not to have the game end during the shift of where Stecher didnt make a bone-head mistake in not covering for his man. He is clearly gassed because he is not able to play that many minutes. Not sure why you are not getting the clue here.

No doubt the bottom 6 forwards were part of the problem in the DS caving in, but so was the second pairing. Edler looked off as well.

It is as simple as that.

I have said it before the play offs, the weakest link rn is not having a capable top 4 RD.

What exactly was the mistake Stecher made?



Stecher crosses center ice and Schenn jumps off the bench behind him about 1.5 seconds before receiving O'Reilly's insane pass. There was nothing for him to do at that point.

Stecher didn't have a great game but is 5th or 6th biggest problem the Canucks had tonight.

 

[Ace of Hades]

What exactly was the mistake Stecher made?



Stecher crosses center ice and Schenn jumps off the bench behind him about 1.5 seconds before receiving O'Reilly's insane pass. There was nothing for him to do at that point.

Stecher didn't have a great game but is 5th or 6th biggest problem the Canucks had tonight.

The mistake of looking the wrong way and not being on guard enough. Horvat was also at mistake as well. Infact Id put more of the blame on Horvat there, but that was not my main point when I was debating with Bleach Clean here.

One of the biggest problem were the tough gut Blues team simply handling Stecher out physically and targetting him as he is not able to handle these many minutes. The other biggest problem was the bottom 6 not helping out the D. The two are mutual.

Stecher played it the only way possible. He had to skate across the ice to catch a forward on a break away.

I don't think the top4 RHD role is weaker than the bottom6 lines. To me, they are quite clearly the weakest part of this team. When they give way, the entire D corps suffers. The entire team suffers.

Stecher is a #4/#5 dman. Same as he's always been. Perhaps Myers was/is more of a solid #4 Dman, but that should be a manageable drop in play. The reason it was not was because the forwards decided to take a vacation tonight.

I disagree, but that is a fair point.

Id give Sutter a pass because he has been solid in the first two games.

At this point, I would take out one of Virtanen, Roussell, Beagle in favor of Gaudette. Hopefully Toffoli gets healthy soon.

Would keep MacEwen, I like some of what he can bring.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Would fault Green for continuing to play Stecher. He was done by the end of the first and a true disaster after that. Blues have taken him out and are showing Stecher, in the crunch, can't play. Fantenburg is IMO the better player over the long haul. Stecher up against the side boards watching the play and leaving the middle of the ice absolutely open on the winning goal was an example of how he was mentally done. Just a brain dead effort and, based on Stecher's general play, you could see it coming. Playoffs have illustrated some real weaknesses in his play.

And if Hughes throws a pass back up the boards, who is there? That was clearly Horvat's man and Stecher tried to cover for his error.

The Fantenberg-Benn pairing didn't get the same assignments that Edler-Stecher did. If they had, we would be talking about them now.

 

[MikeK]

Yep. Agree with what is being said about Virtanen. It is looking more and more like there is a lack of motivation and character with this kid. How you can be in a game 3 of the playoffs at his age and not be buzzing is beyond me. He was so lackluster tonight. Starting to think he's the type of player you don't win with. Such a shame but at some point the team has to take it on the chin and admit he was a bad pick.

 

[Phil Brooks]

Full credit to the Blues for the win. Allen was solid and didn't look nervous.

Their 5 on 5 play dominated and looked like a PP every time when they had control in our zone.

Looks like not having our giraffe eating up meaningful minutes is really letting them hone in on Stecher.

 

[Blue and Green]

Blues got an improved goaltending performance. And even though it took them 3.5 periods to score three goals they got a lot more good chances right in front of the net than they did in the first two games when the Canucks walled off the main scoring areas much better.

It's close to a toss-up series at this point. Canucks are ahead 2-1 but the Blues were definitely the better team this season and showed it tonight.

 

[VanJack]

The analytics crowd has weighed in, and the Canucks bottom six were absolutely caved in, five-on-five in this game. Canucks have more money tied up in mediocre third and fourth liners than any team in the league. Of course there's not much Green can do about the guys Benning has saddled him with. But unless the coach finds a way to at least tilt the rink back to even when his third and fourth lines are on the ice, there's just no chance they can win this series.

Tyler Motte with 23 minutes of ice-time tonight. Nothing against Motte. But if he's one of your leading minute crunchers, then it basically means you've been chasing the game the entire night.

The Canucks basically wasted a 10-bell performance by Markstrom tonight, and it's worrisome that he's never as good in back-to-backs. But he's going to have to stand on his head again tomorrow night, otherwise this series is tied.

 

[Peen]

 

[BB06]

Great teams are able to overcome defeat and adversity. This next game will tell us a lot about the Canucks.

 

[Brock Boeser Laser Show]

Someone needs to take a cordless trimmer and shave his beard during a scrum. Steal his voodoo beard power.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

What exactly was the mistake Stecher made?



Stecher crosses center ice and Schenn jumps off the bench behind him about 1.5 seconds before receiving O'Reilly's insane pass. There was nothing for him to do at that point.

Hughes pinches, Stecher covers his point, Horvat instead of covering the other point flys in and O’rielly hits Schenn with the breakaway pass.

 

[CherryToke]

Does Boeser even have a shot yet in this series? Is he injured from skating hard in the Minny series? I don't understand this player. He looked great against Minny but he's back to floating and looking like a slug