The Go-To Guy: Brock Boeser is a 30 goal-scorer!

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What the hell happened last night?

I was so prepared to write a rant-piece, yet I am about to gush about one of the zaniest hockey games I have ever seen, on the back of a three-goal comeback win from the Vancouver Canucks.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are one of the worst team’s in the Eastern Conference… again, while the Canucks have been one of the league’s top teams throughout the duration of this season. But it wasn’t long ago when the Canucks had a five-game winning streak snatched away from them by the hands of said manteau bleu’s. 

Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t some sort of “revenge game” from the Canucks’ perspective, but going in, many thought this was the perfect opportunity to go into the All-Star break on a high note.

It was far from perfect, but it sure was a high note!

This game had everything (as I say that in a Stefon voice), and you came to the right guy to break it down for you.

Buckle up, this is going to be a fun one.

1st Period: “Is this PDO regression?”

First of all, what’s PDO?

PDO is a metric that combines shooting percentage (SH%) and save percentage (SV%). Team’s with a PDO below 100 tend to be unlucky, whilst team’s with a PDO above 100 are usually touted as “lucky” and due for regression.

The Canucks fanbase has become familiar with the term due to different members of the analytics community constantly preaching about the regression the team was set to face.

As for the Canucks themselves? They’ve never heard of this “PDO” but they send their regards.

That first period felt like an omen. I was seriously considering the possibility that this game was the start of the regression during the first period. I mean, the Canucks couldn’t get a bounce no matter what they tried.

Who was I kidding? These are the Vancouver Canucks. “Regression” doesn’t apply to this bunch.

The Joshua-Blueger-Garland line were humming along as usual, and I really think that Rick Tocchet might have found something Suter-Miller-Boeser. Sure, they’ve only gotten reps together vs St. Louis & Columbus, but that unit was dominant again, tonight. Jackets’ goalie Elvis Merzlikins made some key saves, and both team’s left the first frame without a goal.

Ugh. Give me some fireworks, already.

2nd Period: Why is it ALWAYS the 2nd Period???

I DIDN’T MEAN IT! GO BACK! GO BACK!!!

The hockey gods figured “hey, the Canucks haven’t had enough misfortune tonight”, so then they proceeded to give the Blue Jackets four goals in the 2nd period.

Yuck. Blegh. Glarb.

Denis Voronkov high sticks Elias Pettersson, and instead of scoring on the power play, Pettersson decided to grab an assist!

It’s just too bad it happened to be for the opposition. Alexandre Texier takes advantage of the turnover and scores shorthanded. 1-0 CBJ.

Oh, cool, Sean Kuraly takes a shot that hits the stick of Teddy Blueger and finds its way into the net. 2-0 CBJ.

This is fun!

Having two goals against in rather short order is obviously not an ideal way to begin a period, but man the Canucks looked sloppy, especially their top guys. Pettersson, Hughes, and Miller all had notable turnovers in the second frame, but the latter decided, “what if I passed it to our leading goal-scorer instead?”

Brock Boeser finally breaks the six-game goalless drought to bring the game within one off of a sick, sick pass from J.T. Miller. 2-1 CBJ.

This is… slightly more fun!

And Miller wasn’t done there. For his second act, J.T. Miller is going to attempt a breakout pass directly up the middle of the ice-

Yeah I think you know how this ends.

Jake Bean cruises through the offensive zone and buries a wrist shot past Thatcher Demko. It’s now 3-1 CBJ.

What? You want to see more blatantly stupid decision making? How about a knee-on-knee hit by Nikita Zadorov to take Columbus to the power play? Does that sound better?

No, it doesn’t. 4-1 CBJ.

This was the first time all-season where I seriously debated turning the TV off mid-game, but I just couldn’t. This team is different, last night wasn’t the norm anymore. Something was brewing during the 2nd intermission. I could sense it.

3rd Period: …He did it

Vancouver started the 3rd period on the power play after a penalty taken in the winding moments of the 2nd. And with just 18 seconds remaining on the man advantage, Elias Pettersson had Elvis Merzlikins flopping around like prime Luis Suarez, and ripped it.

4-2 CBJ.

Denis Voronkov figured one penalty wasn’t enough, so he came out for an encore, hooking J.T. Miller.

Chance, after chance, after chance, but nothing to show for it. Then, Quinn Hughes does what he does best, destroying Sean Kuraly’s ankles while walking the blueline, ripping a wrist shot towards the goal, and both Pius Suter and Brock Boeser get their sticks on it. Boeser got the last touch, two on the night for him.

4-3 CBJ.

Boone Jenner then takes a penalty shortly thereafter and ohhhh baby, Canucks to the power play… again!

One thing to note about the prior goal was that it was Brock Boeser’s 29th of the season. It’s worth noting because, well, he’s one away from 30; but he’s also never reached that plateau in his career thus far.

I mean, who else was going to get the game-tying goal?

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

“The Flow”, “Brockstar”, whatever nickname you choose, it doesn’t matter. Finally, in his seventh season as a Canuck, Brock Boeser hit the 30 goal mark. It’s a day that all of Canucks Nation has been waiting for. No one is more deserving of the season they’re having than Brock Boeser.

4-4 tie.

With just over eight minutes to play, Ian Cole takes a penalty that is reviewed for a major. Tyler Myers actually elbows Sean Kuraly on that same sequence, and he ends up getting the major penalty…

Which technically isn’t allowed.

Breaking the rules to make the right call is the most NHL thing I’ve ever seen.

Hilarious.

The good news is that the Canucks killed off the entire major, and did so near-flawlessly. They might have actually generated more offence than the Jackets did, with Pettersson, Ilya Mikheyev, and Nils Aman all getting chances.

I also want to give a shoutout to Pius Suter, as I thought he was the catalyst of this PK. Unreal stuff from him.

The Garland line had some more chances near the end of 3rd, and that just about does it for regulation. Off to overtime, again.

Overtime: *insert really popular song by Smash Mouth*

There was never any doubt that Vancouver would take this, right? Columbus weren’t generating much of anything and the Canucks dominated puck possession in OT.

J.T. Miller had a great chance, cutting to the inside and firing a wrist shot that was gloved by Merzlikins.

While I was hoping for another four-goal-game from Boeser, I guess I’ll just have to live with him getting an assist on the winner, courtesy of Elias Pettersson.

Elias Pettersson ends January with his 14th goal and 21st point of the month (13 games). Boeser notched his fourth point of the night, with Pettersson, Hughes, and Miller all finishing with 3. The stars were noticeably off in the first two periods, yet they were the ones that would eventually be the difference.

The Canucks end an incredible January with a 10-1-2 record, and now lead the league in wins, points, and point-percentage.

These guys are a wagon. Full stop.

Will we see a trade during the break? Who knows. But what we do know is that with even more firepower, the Vancouver Canucks could increase their chances at winning the Stanley Cup.

It feels crazy that this is even being talked about, but it’s reality. Finally.

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