Game recap: Canucks lay the boot down in Nashville

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The Vancouver Canucks made their first of two appearances in Music City this past Tuesday, and fans were already in a good mood well before the puck was dropped.

Fans of the team know just how important the start of this season is. Why? Let’s just say that in seasons prior it’s what has killed them time and time again.

Whether it was the disastrous shortened season in 2021, or just last season when the team immediately stumbled out of the gate with an 0-5-2 record through their first seven games.

The team came into that year with high hopes, but they were quickly squandered after choking a 3-0 lead against the Edmonton Oilers in game one of the season. Once that happened, it was all over. 6 more losses followed immediately after, meaning the Canucks didn’t get a single win until their eighth game, a road victory in Seattle.

Fans weren’t forced to be as patient this year.

The Canucks absolutely mopped the floor with the Edmonton Oilers. It was a complete disasterclass from Edmonton, but the Canucks deserve a fair shake. The Canucks just ‘kept piling on the Oilers, it was a full on swarm in the Edmonton zone all game.

Oh, and Brock Boeser scored four goals.

Fun!

So… what’s happened since?

It’s been spotty, but going into their match against Nashville, Vancouver had completed five games, the latter four being on the road, with an overall record of 3-2-0. Overall, that’s not too bad! But there was aspects of their performance that were both encouraging and alarming.

The main concern for many (including myself) was controlling play at 5v5. Most of the game is played at even strength anyways, and the Canucks weren’t showing enough in that aspect of the game.

Well, good thing that changed on Tuesday.

The Canucks defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2, closing their road trip with a 3-2-0 record, and a 4-2-0 record over the course of the season. It was an encouraging performance from the team, and in a weird way felt more encouraging than their 8-1 power trip against Edmonton at the start of the season.

Let’s get into why Tuesday was such an encouraging night in Canuck land.

The penalty kill is killing it

I think I’m funny, sorry.

The Canucks had to kill off three penalties in their Tuesday night spout vs Nashville, where they successfully killed off all three.

The penalty kill has been a genuine asset for the Canucks so far this season, which is quite the change of pace considering how their PK has been historically bad over the last couple of seasons.

It really seems as if the new additions are gelling on the penalty kill, which is extremely encouraging. Ian Cole, Pius Suter, and Filip Hronek have been crucial pieces for the penalty kill, and they’re still missing maybe their best penalty killer, Teddy Blueger.

Let’s just hope this trend continues. If the Canucks PK can maintain solid form throughout the course of a full season, it will end up paying huge dividends by season’s end.

The Goals Were Absolute Laughers (minus one)

The Canucks opened the scoring with what was probably the weakest goal they’ve scored since Brock Boeser’s hat trick goal in the season opener.

Andrei Kuzmenko fed a pass to the absolute speed demon that is Ilya Mikheyev, who cut to the inside, fired a weak wrist shot on net, and…

Juuse. Dude. You barely waved at the thing.

Juuse Saros, who is typically a top five caliber goalie in the NHL, lets in an absolute laugher to start the game. Good thing he’s not on my team, which is something I don’t typically say about a star caliber player on an opposing team (for real though, I am a massive fan of Juuse’s game.)

Anyways, Mikheyev gets his first of the season, and just like that Vancouver has a 1-0 lead.

Nashville would eventually convert late in the first to bring the game back to square, but at the start of the second period, the Canucks found themselves with the lead again.

It was even funnier than the first one.

One thing that has remained consistent throughout the Canucks’ first six games is that the team’s second line of Phil Di Giuseppe, J.T. Miller, and Brock Boeser, has been absolutely stellar. They have played great, reliable two-way hockey. That trend continued in this game, and they were rewarded once again.

A bouncing puck finds its way to Brock Boeser who is entering the offensive zone. Boeser then swats the puck in front of Phil Di Giuseppe, and the end result is hilarious.

You just can’t blame Saros for that one. That’s an absolute howler.

Sometimes a team can create their own luck. The Canucks were dominant up until this point. They deserved the two goals, but were very fortunate to have them happen in that fashion. 2-1 Vancouver.

Nils Höglander was a healthy scratch in the previous game for… reasons?

Regardless, he deflected a Quinn Hughes wrister from the point to make it 3-1. Höglander is now up to 4 points through 5 games, and I think it’s safe to say that he is fully embracing a bottom six role at this stage in his young career.

Tocchet, from the bottom of my heart, please keep playing him. Maybe even give him a bigger role? Maybe?

Kiefer Sherwood would eventually cut the lead to 3-2 later in the second period, but that was all the Preds were able to do, as the Canucks held on for the remainder of the game to win 3-2.

They Actually Controlled the Game at 5v5

Like I mentioned in the intro, many Canucks fans wanted the team to show that they had the ability to dictate the pace of play.

It’s just one game, but the Canucks delivered on Tuesday night.

Going into Tuesday’s match, the Predators were in the top five for shots on goal in the entire NHL, and had consistently outshot their opponents. On the contrary, the Canucks were, and still are in the bottom half of the NHL in shots on goal at 5v5.

So it was rather refreshing to see the Canucks not only outshoot their opponent, but absolutely dominate at even-strength. Every single line the Canucks rolled out came out on top in their matchups, controlling play by pretty much every metric and every stat.

But it wasn’t just the forwards. Filip Hronek in particular had his best game since joining the Canucks, and his defensive partner, Quinn Hughes, continued his form of excellent play.

To understand just how good Hronek was, though, take a look at this.

I’ll explain this as simply as I can to you if you don’t quite understand hockey analytics.

These numbers are bonkers.

Now, do I love the fact that Hronek, Hughes, and Cole are playing the vast majority of Vancouver’s minutes on the back end? No, of course not. I’m a big believer in load management.

With that said, Hughes has proven to be capable of playing huge minutes while putting up great results. So if his pair with Hronek can maintain anything even close to their current form, I don’t mind this at all.

The Canucks face-off against the St. Louis Blues on Friday at Rogers Arena, and it’s another game that the Canucks need to win, as St. Louis is a team that they absolutely need to finish ahead of if they want a shot at the playoffs.

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