Out of all the preseason games the Canucks have played, this was certainly one of them.
The Seattle Kraken didn’t need to do much in their 3-1 win over their rivals from up the I-5. Vancouver’s few stars in the lineup looked disinterested, the AHL role guys looked the part, and the names on the bubble didn’t make Rick Tocchet’s final lineup decisions any harder to decide. Perhaps that’s all to be expected on your third exhibition game in four nights, but for the lesser-known players it also seems like an easy way to make sure you don’t play in any more of them.
The Kraken put their foot on the gas from puck drop, built a lead, and then put the car in neutral the rest of the way. This game was such a slog that someone attempted to save everybody’s night by geoblocking the game from view in BC. But I was one of the fortunate(?) few currently visiting a different side of the border with zero Friday night plans.
Time to jump to conclusions.
Forget 82-0, it’s time to blow it up and start from scratch
To call this effort “sluggish” would be a bit of an understatement. The Canucks truly looked lost for big chunks of this game, and it showed in how few shots they managed in the first 20 minutes: just four to the Kraken’s 11.
Seattle’s first goal was the result of a missed assignment from Derek Forbort, and a well-timed deflection in front of the net by Eeli Tolvanen.
Forbort would find himself on the wrong side of another bounce late in the first, when a Brandon Montour shot deflected off his back and behind a surprised Kevin Lankinen.
But the real breakdown came in the second period, when a centre ice giveaway by Nate Smith was turned right back into the Canucks zone in the middle of a line change. Sammy Blais lets his check Lleyton Roed go by the blue line, the defence leaves two streaking Kraken with too much room in front of the net, and Ryan Winterton gets positioning to whack the puck past Lankinen on the doorstep.
The Canucks tightened things up in the second half of the game, but that disasterous start soured their chances the rest of the night. Is this at all a reason to hit the panic button? Of course not, the roster was largely made up of Abbotsford players and there’s three more preseason games to go.
But it was certainly a “burn the gametape” type of effort, and now is certainly the time to get those out of the way.
Tyler Myers SHOULD BE A FORWARD
I’ve said this a million times. You’ve heard it a million times. But it bears repeating that Tyler Myers would make a perfect depth forward.
Look at this wraparound, scored against his apparent least favourite team in the NHL.
It ain’t the prettiest, the fastest, or the most impressive wrap you’ll see. But nobody asks how you score, they just how many, and Tyler Myers would score fifty a year on the wing.
Some day a coach will be brave enough to try it, and when they do you’ll remember this post and nod your head in agreement.
Lankinen is the new Dany Sabourin
Kevin Lankinen definitely seemed a bit rusty in the early going. Rebounds were flying out into danger, and he looked a slight step behind the play at points.
But once the Kraken had peppered him with about 20 shots through 40 minutes, he seemed to settle down and find his groove again, Lankinen kept the Canucks within striking distance throughout the third period, including a couple key stops on Eeli Tolvanen that prevented a two-goal lead from getting any larger.
As far as Thatcher Demko replacements go, we’ll have to see some more periods like the third from him over the next couple weeks. But there’s a lot of faith that the newcomer will get up to speed before the real games begin.
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