Canucks Dumb, Blow the Game, Avalanche Win 4-2

Final Score: Colorado Avalanche 4, Vancouver Canucks 2

Since it started the way it did, with the Vancouver Canucks in a trance, I figured it might be a long night and decided to just jot down my takeaways semi-chronologically. I decided to treat it as if I was sitting with you on the couch watching the game. Without the expletives.

The Vancouver Canucks have now lost five games in a row. The Avalanche power play went 3-for-5, the Canucks went 0-for-3.

The game progression …

Free Clinic

:08 The Vancouver Canucks iced the puck eight seconds in. Never a great sign.

1:55 Travis Hamonic turned the puck over in his own end with a dangerous clearing pass.

3:03 Conor Garland errant pass led to icing. Long shift.

5:56 Hooking penalty. Necessary to stop a 2-on-1. Vasily Podkolzin to the box.

7:17 – Avalanche 1-0: Power play goal. Mikko Rantanen (6), Cale Makar, Nazem Kadri

Avalanche power play 1-for-1. Hmm.

11:30 You may have heard the phrase, sometimes hyperbolic, “they spent the whole time in the BLANK zone.” For the first eleven-and-a-half minutes of the first period, the Avalanche really did spent pretty much the entire time in the Canucks zone.

The Canucks then had their first offensive chances and reeled off three shots after being outshot 9-1 in the first half of the period. It happened with the Garland, Jason Dickinson, Podkolzin line. Vancouver seemed to be in some state of collective paralysis until this point, when they suddenly woke up.

14:12 Canucks earned a power play and did nothing with it.

Shots in the first period, 11-11. The Avalanche in the first period, just below where I was sitting, had three legitimate tap-in goals on feeds in front, but the puck hopped over sticks.

The Teeter Completely Tottered

The Canucks dominated zone time in the opening minutes of the period and earned a power play at 2:05. Colorado’s Tyson Jost for tripping in his O-zone as the Canucks started to break out.

Darcy Kuemper robbed Garland with a glove save that deflected out of play with time running out on the power play. Now 0-for-2.

JT MIller had a great chance on a tip in front about the 7 minutes into the period.

The opportunities piled up as the Canucks outshot the Avalanche 16-8 in the second period.

The Reckoning

The hard work continued for Vancouver out of the blocks and hard work creates luck. A harmless shot from Tucker Poolman near the right point hit traffic in front and Kuemper accidentally back-booted and then pushed it into his own goal.

Moments later a penalty at 1:39. The Canucks Alex Chiasson for elbowing. Can’t happen. It did. From a guy playing 8:05 of ice time.

A goal for Colorado, oh jeepers, on the power play, at 2:19. Now 2-for-4.

Just after the goal, Kadri got drilled into the net by Miller. (see photo) Tempers flared. Finally. Penalties evened out.

Then Quinn Hughes decided to take a cross-checking penalty at 3:02 in retaliation for a hit at the other end of the ice by Sam Girard.

Guess what? The Avalanche scored on the power play. Makar, a one-timer from the left wing circle, just 10-seconds after the power play started.

Canucks playing from behind again. This time with almost 17-minutes remaining in the third period. Would they stay with it, or would this fragile team fold?

They didn’t fold, but they didn’t win either. The Avalanche added an empty-netter.

The Vancouver Canucks just lost a hockey game at home they should have won.

They Said it:

Quinn Hughes on his third period penalty: “Yeah, I don’t know. I got hit and I don’t think I was planning on doing anything and then he showed up and I saw him and I just cross checked him. Not a good penalty for me to take there at that time. I can’t do anything about that now.”

Head Coach Travis Green on the pressure in the market and getting a “vote of confidence” from ownership on Tuesday: “When you’re playing in a Canadian market, the outside noise, when you’re winning and things are going great it’s awesome, there’s a lot of passionate people in this city want the team to win. As far as ownership, I said it yesterday, talking and meeting with (GM) Jim (Benning) it doesn’t surprise me. And you want their support and my job is to continue to work with group and push them to play the best they can.

“Coming off the road trip, man, we did a lot of good things tonight, the penalty kill is definitely shooting us in the foot.”

Simmer’s Vancouver Canucks 3-Stars:

3) – Tucker Poolman – By virtue of his goal and his assist. Still an adventure at times, he fancies himself an offensive defenceman in a way. Somehow it paid off with two points.

2) – Jason Dickinson – Fully engaged for all 11:33 of ice time. Picked up an assist, had three hits, three blocked shots, was in on puck battles.

1) – Conor Garland – Rewarded for his hard work with a goal. Five shots, three takeaways. Competed everywhere.