Post-Game Talk: WCQF GAME #1: Canucks 5, Blues 2 (Horvat x2, Pettersson, Stecher, Miller)

[Snatcher Demko]

Wasn't that when he was stuck on the ice for almost 2 minutes? He looked gassed. I agree though, we can't afford Miller and Hughes to be injured, we just can't.

They were gunning for Pettersson as well, so many cheap shots behind the play and away from the puck. Perron especially got him a few times with some cheap crosschecks to the lower back, and them shoving his elbow in his face after the play while knocking him to the ice.

The camera zoomed forwards, but during that latter play didn't Edler just annihilate him seconds afterwards? Cuthbert mentioned it but there was no footage...we need more of that. No one can touch Pettersson and Hughes like that. Perron needs to get absolutely blown up by someone in a hit. You can tell Pettersson is playing within himself 5V5, he's staying peripheral and not holding onto the puck as much before making plays, need him to asset himself more and also feel the confidence that we'll have his back so no one cheap shots him.

Hughes was sensational, and then he barely played in the third, so I do hope it was just due to massive fatigue because he was playing a lot before, and not a injury...

 

[Ginger Papa]

haha! Nice..

"Two posts diverged in a wood"

Whose rink this is I think I know.
They aren’t in the Bubble though;
They will not see us play in here
Upon their rink of slushy snow.

Our rival hosts must think it queer
To not be allowed anywhere near
Their dressing room or frozen lake
The greatest time of the year.

Outside, Oilers give the fence a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of the lockers they did vacate.

The Canucks are young, fast and deep,
And still have a schedule to keep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep.

 

[Ozone]

i really liked boeser's heads up play there to hold the zone after horvat disrupted st louis' breakout then one hand it pearson with two blues converging on him. he certainly had his usual quiet game but that was one of his customary 2-3 moments of brilliance a game where you're like, if this guy can put it together...

Boeser and EP, I felt, were somewhat overwhelmed at points tonight. But they didn't run away.

It's a learning process.. Boeser will rebound next game, and EP will be EP...smart, fall down, and score again!

 

[David71]

Boeser and EP, I felt, were somewhat overwhelmed at points tonight. But they didn't run away.

It's a learning process.. Boeser will rebound next game, and EP will be EP...smart, fall down, and score again!

each and every night there will be the usual scorers BUT i want to see a guy like motte/eriksson zack score some goals. that would be great for team morale. hopefully they come out in game 2 and do it for the rest of the series. we can rave about hughes/petey/brock. But playoffs is all about different heroes stepping up everynight. thats how victories will come

 

[Ozone]

Whose rink this is I think I know.
They aren’t in the Bubble though;
They will not see us play in here
Upon their rink of slushy snow.

Our rival hosts must think it queer
To not be allowed anywhere near
Their dressing room or frozen lake
The greatest time of the year.
Outside, Oilers give the fence a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of the lockers they did vacate.
The Canucks are young, fast and deep,
And still have a schedule to keep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep.

alright...let me digest this.. lol but..
Wow!!!
Nice bud! Well done..you rock

second thoughts soon....

 

[Lawzy]

Big win tonight. It's plainly obvious the Blues are employing a similar style that the Wild did to get Pettersson / Hughes off their game. Pettersson passed that test with flying colours and I expect Hughes will do the same. I know we received 6 PP's tonight but even then I felt the reffing left a lot to be desired. Several very soft calls on the Canucks and plenty of missed penalties on both sides. In particular, I'm pretty rattled at the several cheap shots from Perron and Brouwer going completely unpunished. That doesn't belong in the NHL.

I thought the Blues carried the play 5 on 5 and if we want to continue our success in the series we'll need to shift that back. PP was excellent tonight and was a big difference maker. With the exception of a few mishandled pucks and sketchy shots from the corners, I thought Markstrom was excellent. Certainly back to regular form after his disappointing performance in the clincher vs. Minnesota. I've always felt like good teams find a way to win even when they don't perform their best and tonight was definitely an example of that. Apart from Hughes, Horvat, Markstrom, Stecher, and Sutter, there weren't a lot of players I liked tonight but the boys rallied and won anyways. This is the kind of performance that has a lasting impression several seasons down the road on how our team performs. They're growing.

 

[Star Ocean]

Markstrom playing for his deceased dad, could be team of destiny.

 

[Ozone]

Whose rink this is I think I know.
They aren’t in the Bubble though;
They will not see us play in here
Upon their rink of slushy snow.

Our rival hosts must think it queer
To not be allowed anywhere near
Their dressing room or frozen lake
The greatest time of the year.

Outside, Oilers give the fence a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of the lockers they did vacate.

The Canucks are young, fast and deep,
And still have a schedule to keep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep,
And 1 win tonight before I sleep.

WOW... you are equal in impressive surprises this evening sir!!

Well done Sir!

and an extra Woooooooooo to Horvat...

This team, is lovely, dark and deep

Now, let's see how deep they are to win..

 

[Peen]

I seriously think it's time we go to Gaudette here in for Virtanen or Roussel.

 

[elitepete]

its lit

 

[Ozone]

each and every night there will be the usual scorers BUT i want to see a guy like motte/eriksson zack score some goals. that would be great for team morale. hopefully they come out in game 2 and do it for the rest of the series. we can rave about hughes/petey/brock. But playoffs is all about different heroes stepping up everynight. thats how victories will come

Yep. Totally agree.

We see the true heroes, and it would be great to see a point or three up by their names soon.

 

[Ozone]

I seriously think it's time we go to Gaudette here in for Virtanen or Roussel.

Yeah...I think Virtanen is a talking point among the coaching staff tonight..

 

[David71]

Markstrom playing for his deceased dad, could be team of destiny.

you can say that to troy stecher and zack as well. playing for each other is the motto from here on out

 

[vanuck]

Thought the 4th line actually had some good shifts this game, which was surprising considering Motte and Beagle usually get caved in so credit to them. MacEwen didn't play a lot but again was consistently getting the puck into the right end of the rink and shows the most skill amongst those 3 - would like to see him get more opportunity.

Stecher had another solid effort and honestly might've been our best right side defender tonight. Should be playing more minutes but Green won't play him ahead of Myers.

Top line needs to be better at 5v5 however.

Still don't like the 4 lefty set-up for the top PP unit as there are really only 2 one-timer threats: EP from the right circle and Horvat in the bumper position. Having Boeser consistently manning that left circle where Miller now sets up opens up the ice a bit more as it forces opponents to respect his shot, thus creating more room for the other guys. Ideally they put Miller on PP2 and move a righty (like Virtanen) up to the 1st unit where he can also pose a threat as the bumper.

It seemed like we really raised our battle level against STL which was a great sign. It'll be interesting to see whether we can keep that up over a 7 game series against a gritty, hardworking team like the Blues who, while not particularly big, will grind you down along the boards.

 

[mriswith]

I don't expect to win the series but I do expect this experience to be formative for the team. This is why I wanted them to face the blues.

I really want them to understand that what the Blues are doing, all the cheap shots and slashes and BS between whistles and after the play... is how the post-season works and all winners in the post season do this and get away with it.

They get away with it by committing 100 penalties per game knowing they'll get called for a fraction of them and the refs will do make up calls to balance out whatever they do actually call so for your 100 offenses you end up balanced on pp's or barely uneven. Meanwhile you're wearing your opponent down and intimidating them into paradoxically giving your team more space the chippier it gets.

That's why they should be doing it too and it's why it's been frustrating to watch them not stand up for each other during the regular season. Not responding/being "above it"... the reward you get for not playing tough and dirty is more injuries and losses. Playoffs reward bullies and will continue to do so as long as the rulebook continues to be discarded annually as it always has.

We should have learned this a long time ago. Perron's always been a rat, not sure why people are surprised he's like that, every teams got one. We've never dealt with rats or haven't punished all of the abuse Pettersson and Hughes have been getting in spades since they entered the league, not sure why we're surprised it isn't happening now.

 

[Ozone]

I don't expect to win the series but I do expect this experience to be formative for the team. This is why I wanted them to face the blues.

I really want them to understand that what the Blues are doing, all the cheap shots and slashes and BS between whistles and after the play... is how the post-season works and all winners in the post season do this and get away with it.

They get away with it by committing 100 penalties per game knowing they'll get called for a fraction of them and the refs will do make up calls to balance out whatever they do actually call so for your 100 offenses you end up balanced on pp's or barely uneven. Meanwhile you're wearing your opponent down and intimidating them into paradoxically giving your team more space the chippier it gets.

That's why they should be doing it too and it's why it's been frustrating to watch them not stand up for each other during the regular season. Not responding/being "above it"... the reward you get for not playing tough and dirty is more injuries and losses. Playoffs reward bullies and will continue to do so as long as the rulebook continues to be discarded annually as it always has.

We should have learned this a long time ago. Perron's always been a rat, not sure why people are surprised he's like that, every teams got one. We've never dealt with rats or haven't punished all of the abuse Pettersson and Hughes have been getting in spades since they entered the league, not sure why we're surprised it isn't happening now.

Good post. Very good.

 

[alicia]

One of the best games of the season, can't wait to see how they come out in Game 2 which I think will be more important than Game 1.

Team looked great out there, a few gaffs and a bit slow on retrieving pucks but we've seen how they've done with longer breaks before. Unsung player this game for me was Sutter, and I've been enjoying his compete level in the playoffs. Feeling like we have something special in this team.

Also guessed 5-2 Canucks as final score, and that's the first time I've done that! Pretty happy with myself. Think I'll make my way over to Sportsbook and make another bet for our team...

 

[Indiana]

let's hear your thoughts good sir!

..when you get back...

After reading Blues GDT and Flames, Oilers OOT:

 

[YippieKaey]

People don't talk about it much anymore, but I think Pettersson's lack of strength really is a problem. Plenty of star players get the treatment he's getting, and most of them don't go down almost every time they get shoved. MS suggested he needs to take the puck to the middle more. I'm not sure he can. He looks like he's getting mugged constantly because he simply isn't heavy or strong enough to handle contact without losing his balance.

He's 6'3 and like 12 years old. Im sure he'll be up to 200 at least in a year or two.

 

[AzNightmare]

Marky and Horvat the MVPs tonight - they played great.

Lol, at this point, we don't even bother mentioning Hughes anymore. Cause it's a given that he's a MVP every game.

 

[Jimnastic]

Lol, at this point, we don't even bother mentioning Hughes anymore. Cause it's a given that he's a MVP every game.

I thought the MVP was clearly Horvat, so I agree with that. However, Petey was also amazing. Great job of keeping the puck in on the first goal. Was the third assist on the second power play goal, so no recognition. Beautiful goal on rolling puck. And on and on. It was his best effort. Yes, he was -1 on the night. Yes, he only had one shot. But he dinged a beauty off the crossbar. Not sure why his other good one timer wasn't considered a shot.

He is starting to do so much in subtle things when he is being heavily checked.

Damn, we are in good shape moving forward. I give us a better than 50 / 50 chance of winning the series. (It helps to be up 1-0)

 

[Svencouver]

I am mystified by Petterssons emerging style of falling down literally every single time he does anything. He even fell down on his goal today. It's like watching some sort of eccentric lost martial art I cant comprehend, like a drunken master.

 

[Grumbler]

Hope the blues stays asleep. They thought they could just turn it on whenever they want to and could walk over us, but it takes more than 1 game to do that. Hope it takes them exactly 4 games.

 

[Flik]

Hmmm..... the win still feels good this morning.

I dig it.

 

[Josepho]

I am mystified by Petterssons emerging style of falling down literally every single time he does anything. He even fell down on his goal today. It's like watching some sort of eccentric lost martial art I cant comprehend, like a drunken master.

He's gonna get accused of diving by literally every other fanbase but I think this is a product of just how lanky he is.

It's really interesting to watch.