We’re All Tired After a Break
The Coyotes are a team of players that have names, and one of those names is Brad Richardson. He used to play on the Canucks before he played on the Coyotes. One day he was playing hockey and his leg got broken by a Russian named Tryamkin, who now lives in Russia and waves at the Canucks on instagram.
A couple seasons back, it was easy to get riled up over Coyotes games, but now that Hanzal and Smith are gone what animosity was there seems to have faded. Any friendly Domi-Horvat rivalry that existed is gone now, too. Does anyone even care about Boeser vs. Keller?
It’s tough to think of an interesting way to introduce this game, and I’m not alone in thinking that. The Sportsnet “key to the game” in the pre-game show was literally just “score.”
The sluggish lack of excitement among media and fans was a harbinger of the game to come.
Period by Period:
First: Both teams hadn’t played in a while, and boy howdy it showed. This was pre-season hockey in January. The Canucks got their first shot on goal 16 minutes in, and the Coyotes didn’t do much better.
This zone entry was the only nice play from the Canucks in the entire period:
Shots: Arizona 7, Vancouver 5.
Second: The Coyotes opened up scoring on a still-sloppy game by capitalizing on some tough Canucks errors. This seemed to wake both teams up, and the Canucks responded quickly afterward. The play both sped and tightened up by halfway through the period. The Canucks had several chances on the powerplay and Gaudette potted his third of the season with a couple minutes remaining.
The period ended with a bit of rough stuff; by now both teams remembered that they were professional hockey clubs.
Shots: Arizona 6, Vancouver 14.
Third: The third period started sloppy, but neither seemed satisfied to play for the regulation tie. Several opportunities at both ends and plenty of turnovers marked this period. It wasn’t a surprise to see the Coyotes take the lead on some sloppy defence from the Canucks, and it wasn’t a surprise to see the Canucks tie it up again afterward. Credit to both teams for playing for the win despite all the mistakes.
Shots: Arizona 8, Vancouver 14.
Overtime: Lots of waiting for line changes, as is often the case with OT these days.
Boeser made a fancy little move at one point:
I was really cheering for a Baertschi goal here, but it wasn’t meant to be. Panik scored a nice snipe on Markstrom to win the game.
Shots: Arizona 1, Vancouver 3.
Special Teams:
Powerplay: The powerplay actually looked quite effective, with Baerstchi contributing to some very nice passing plays. They failed to capitalize, however.
Penalty Kill: The Canucks held off a languid Coyotes offense in a powerplay that overlapped the first and second periods, and another in the third.
Arizona Goals
Goal 1: Gudbranson’s clearing attempt becomes a turnover in the neutral zone. Granlund has an easy check here but instead falls over. The puck finds its way back to Gudbranson again. He throws it around to Tanev who fumbles the puck and Arizona capitalizes. Tanev clearly blames himself for this, but really this entire sequence is an insane comedy of errors.
Goal 2: Cousins planted himself in front of the net and the puck totally legally connected with his moving foot that absolutely did not deliberately direct it into the net.
Nope, no kicking here:
Goal 3: Another comedy of errors. Gaudette fails to clear, Hutton gets danced, and Gudbranson gets his stick on the pass only to tip the puck to the goalscorer.
Goldobin:
Tonight was an important game for 77. His challenge has been proving to Green that he can play with someone other than Pettersson. Aside from the nice zone entry above, Gudbranson sprung him for the breakaway in the second.
No call on that play.
Baertschi:
Baerstchi scored on a slick deke following a redemptive interception by Tanev. If you aren’t familiar, Baertschi is one of those strange players that has maintained a shooting percentage above 15% his whole career. This kind of deceptive play is the reason why:
He had a decent chance off a Boeser feed in the second, shooting for the deflection off a net-front Horvat. In general, he was visible and dangerous on every shift.
My favourite moment of his tonight was on the man advantage in the second. He sets up Goldobin twice with a couple of beautiful passes:
A little while later, the Canucks are down 3 – 2 with 4 minutes remaining. And then bada-bing, bada-boom – goal number 2. He was the most dynamic player on the ice tonight and it’s great to have him back in full stride.
What’s visible on this play is not just his goal, but also the tough work he was putting in along the boards all game. Crazy to imagine that this was once a supposed perimeter player with work ethic issues in Calgary.
Green:
Green lost the coach’s challenge on Cousin’s goal, and to be honest I really thought he should have had this one. Looks like it wasn’t just the players who were a little rusty tonight.
Gaudette:
Ohhh baby! I like the feed from Roussel to Sutter to start this whole sequence off, but man it’s great to see Gaudette score in his first game back with the big club. Have to love that celebration, too.
He had no shortage of chances earlier this season, but if he starts scoring now, you better believe his stint in Utica will get some credit for it.
Wrap-up:
The Canucks outshot the Coyotes 36 to 22 tonight, maintaining loose control over the game from the second period onward. It was a tired, sloppy hockey game – the kind you inevitably get when you’ve finally convinced your non-hockey-fan buddy to sit down and watch a game with you.
The Canucks come away with a point, and the Coyotes picked up two. I’m not sure either team deserved any. This felt like a pre-season effort, and I’m looking forward to this Vancouver squad getting back to where they should be.
Next game: January 13th, Florida @ Vancouver. The Matheson grudge match.
Pacific Hockey 