IWTG: Canucks can't crack the Wild's defensive shell in Game 1

Canucks fans have been waiting a long time for this.

I’m not just talking about the four and a half months that the NHL season was on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though that was certainly a long time to go without Canucks hockey. Even a normal off-season is punctuated by various hockey ephemera, like the draft, prospect camp, and free agency.

But Canucks fans have been waiting particularly long to get back to the playoffs. While this technically isn’t the playoffs — it notably doesn’t count for trade conditions like the one attached to the first-round pick in the J.T. Miller trade — this play-in qualification round still counts as the postseason.

That’s something Canucks fans haven’t seen since 2015, when they faced the Calgary Flames in the first round in the first year of Jim Benning’s tenure as general manager. The Canucks haven’t made it to the playoffs since — technically, they still haven’t.

It's been even longer since the Canucks won a playoff round. For that, you have to go all the way back to the powerhouse 2011 Canucks, who of course went to the Stanley Cup Final.

In other words, such as those sung by Aaron Lewis, it’s been awhile.

That made it a doubly-painful gut punch when the Canucks played one of their worst games of the year. There was an inescapable “I waited that long for this?” feeling to the game. It was like waiting 16 years for the next Star Wars movie after Return of the Jedi and camping out for tickets to opening night, only to see Jar Jar Binks traipse about the screen, the mystical force reduced to what a scanner says about his power level, and the terrifying villain Darth Vader turned into a catch phrase-spewing ten-year-old.

That wasn’t podracing. And neither was this game, which, like the Phantom Menace on opening night, I watched.

• First things first: I don’t think Micheal Ferland should have fought. That’s for a couple reasons: one is that I no longer see a purpose in fighting in hockey, where once it was one of the things I loved about the game. Second, I really don’t like staged fights that happen off of a faceoff, sparked by nothing more than two guys deciding to fight. Third, Ferland is coming off a long recovery from a concussion and should probably avoid things unnecessarily colliding with his head.

• That said, Ferland iis a grown man and can make his own decisions. I’m willing to bet that Ferland felt a need to prove something, not to anyone else necessarily, but to himself, that he could still play hockey the way he believes he has to in order to be effective. That means throwing big hits, getting under the skin of his opponents, and potentially dropping the gloves. I don’t have to like it, but I can see why he felt the need to do it. I just hope he’s okay and doesn’t suffer from a recurrence of post-concussion syndrome. 

• The Canucks came out flying in the opening minute, but their momentum came to a screeching halt with the first shift from the fourth line of Tyler Motte, Jay Beagle, and Brandon Sutter. They immediately got hemmed in by the Wild’s fourth line centred by Mikko Koivu, which should tell you something about the Wild’s centre depth compared to the Canucks’. On their fourth line, the Wild have one of their most popular players of all time, who has served as their captain since 2009, and is one of the most underrated defensive forwards of his era. The Canucks have Jay Beagle.

• The Wild created two great chances on that shift and drew a penalty. Just three seconds into the power play, Kevin Fiala drilled a one-timer that went through Jacob Markstrom like it was Kitty Pryde. It wasn’t the most auspicious start to Markstrom’s first ever NHL postseason game.

• Shortly after that initial soft goal, however, Markstrom made some fantastic saves, first robbing Eric Staal on a 2-on-1, then getting his toe on a Zach Parise rebound chance. I haven’t seen someone make a toe save like that since Dolly Parton’s mom.

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• Markstrom was definitely off his game. He looked more like the Markstrom of a couple years ago, before Ian Clark got ahold of him and helped him calm his game down. One of his biggest issues is how overactive he was, making big movements with his body instead of small adjustments, which opened up large holes in his stance. Whether it was nerves or something else, that old habit popped up again, particularly on the second Wild goal. It was evident all game, with him even sliding all the way out of his net unnecessarily on shots going well wide. Hopefully that’s something he can arrest and get back to the steady, calm Markstrom that was such a force all season.

• Elias Pettersson, at least, had a strong game. His work down low along the boards to win puck battles was impressive, showing that he’s more than ready for the more physical side of playoff hockey. Shot attempts were 21-13 for the Canucks when Pettersson was on the ice at 5-on-5, as he created a ton of offensive zone pressure. The only problem was that he didn’t have a lot of help.

• You so often hear about the importance of players with Stanley Cup experience for young teams. On the other hand, Tyler Toffoli has a Cup ring and was arguably the worst Canucks forward on the ice. The Canucks struggled to string together any passes, but that was particularly true for Toffoli, who completed fewer passes than Ryan Leaf.

• Seriously, the Canucks’ passing troubles were stunning. Not to pick on Tyler Myers — truly, everyone struggled in this game — but look at this pass to nowhere from the third period. It’s not even close to J.T. Miller. If Miller had COVID-19, that puck would be in no danger of catching it from him. 

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• Whether it was a conscious choice by the coaching staff to try to evade the Wild’s stifling defence or a reaction to their inability to pass the puck, the Canucks played a frustrating dump and chase game on Sunday, lofting aerial assaults instead of breaking into the Wild zone with speed and possession. If it was by design, it’s back to the blueprints for the Canucks’ coaching staff, because it plain didn’t work.

• The Wild are less boring than their Jacques Lemaire days, but they are still disciplined defensively and kept the Canucks completely to the outside all game, with few shots from in tight. The Canucks best chances came from the top of the faceoff circles, where Alex Stalock was able to come out, challenge, and flash around-the-world glove saves for all the fans that weren’t in attendance. If the Canucks want a chance in this series, they need to make like Bard the Bowman and find the missing scale in the Wild’s armour. 

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• The Wild’s second goal also came on the power play off the stick of Jared Spurgeon. Alex Edler went down to block the puck, but didn’t get down quickly enough, with Spurgeon’s shot sliding low between his legs. Markstrom, seeming to think Edler had the bottom of the net covered, anticipated a high shot, leaving a massive gap below his left pad. In that situation, Edler’s got to make the block, but at the same time, Markstrom has to make a better read of Spurgeon’s shot and drop down into a full butterfly. 

• Ferland might be in some trouble. Midway through the third period, during a tussle along the boards in front of the Wild bench, Luke Kunin grabbed Ferland’s stick for a moment from the bench. In retaliation, Ferrland, who evidently didn’t see who grabbed his stick, speared Ryan Hartman in the gut. It was an ugly moment that could earn him a suspension, which would clear a path for Jake Virtanen to get back in the lineup.

Ferland tried to poke a hole in Hartman pic.twitter.com/rHHQIWTKKG

— Vanessa Jang (@vanessajang) August 3, 2020

• Honestly, a suspension might not be necessary. Ferrland wasn’t very effective in his return to the lineup, which isn’t entirely surprising given how much time he missed. The third line was completely ineffective overall, with Gaudette looking overwhelmed and Antoine Roussel trying to create a ruckus without any willing combatants. The Canucks needed that line to be an x-factor, but they were instead a non-factor, and you know what you have to use when a line doesn’t factor: the quadratic formula.

• On the plus side, this dreadful game did give us one incredible moment: Emo Chris Tanev. After taking a big hit from Hartman, Tanev’s helmet was askew, so he jammed it back onto his head, inadvertently pushing his flow over his eyes, making him look like he was about to sing about how he’s not okay, he doesn’t want to feel this way forever, and how all of this was all your fault.