Vancouver Canucks Dismantled 7-2 by the New York Rangers

The New York Rangers avenged a home loss by running up a 7-2 score on the Vancouver Canucks, who have lost 11 of their last 13 games.

The Vancouver Canucks were tempting fate when they completed their fourth comeback win of the season.

It turns out fate was paying attention. So were the New York Rangers.

Just seven days ago, the Canucks beat these Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Henrik Lundqvist, who was forced into the game and surrendered two goals on six shots, was not pleased.

This time, “the King” got to start and finish the game. For the first 18 minutes, he was the best player on the ice. Vancouver had jump to start the game but — stop me if you’ve heard this before — couldn’t finish their chances to score.

J.T. Miller opened the scoring for the Rangers late in the first. After that, New York’s offense took over and filled the Vancouver net.

Final Score:

Markstrom Takes the Fall

In his postgame interview, goaltender Jacob Markstrom knew exactly where to file his performance. That would be under N for “not good”:

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Back when the Canucks were shut out four times in six games, all the stories were about the lack of offense. Vancouver paid little attention to how good their goalies were, or how much worse the team could look whenever their puckstopper had an off night.

Well, now we know.

Markstrom is, unfortunately, dead right in his self-criticism. He did have some moments of brilliance, but they were too quickly overshadowed by some miscues.

And like the team in front of him, he got worse as the night went on.

The first goal was just unfortunate:

This second one was tough, but in Markstrom’s defense, it was a well-placed shot by Kevin Hayes. Additionally, Markstrom was forced to stay deep because Hayes had so many passing options. Without being able to cut down the angle, the puck squeaked through:

On the next third goal he made a nice pad save, but lost his net in the process:

And the last goal? Well…

Jacob Markstrom has kept his team close in plenty of games that had no business being close. Tonight he couldn’t carry the load.

Then again, he wasn’t the only one.

Tryamkin and Stecher start strong, finish poorly

Both of Vancouver’s rookie defensemen have have carried themselves well on the ice so far.

Nikita Tryamkin and Troy Stecher both came out flying to start this one. They both drove the early offensive zone chances for the Canucks.

Tryamkin walked the blueline effortlessly and kept several plays alive at the blueline; he even rang a shot off the post early.

Stecher shot the puck as well, and also carried the puck in deep and attacked the net himself.

Related Story: Stecher's First NHL Goal

Later on though, their inexperience overcame them.

Tryamkin froze at the offensive blueline when the Rangers stole the puck. Hayes blew past him en route to a breakaway goal to make it 4-1.

Soon after, Stecher turned the puck over in his own corner, then didn’t recover to the front of the net quickly enough. The Rangers quickly set up J.T. Miller for a goal:

Both young defensemen are being baptized by fire this season. Once in a while, they will get burned.

Sutter and Granlund Score

Willie Desjardins can’t help but put Brandon Sutter with Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

Tonight didn’t exactly give him a reason to stop, either. Sutter scored the Canucks’ first goal, helped out by a Henrik Sedin screen:

With Sutter on the top line Markus Granlund took over as second-line center. He also scored on a lacrosse play:

As long as the revamped top-six keep putting up points, Willie might just keep them.

Then again, after this ugly loss who knows? Perhaps the lines will revert to normal. Or maybe Desjardins has more tricks up his sleeve.

Next: 5 Players to Watch at the 2017 Draft

The Canucks could use all the tricks they can get.

The Vancouver Canucks are back in action on Thursday night at Rogers Arena, against the Arizona Coyotes.