Vancouver Canucks Lose to Nashville: 5 Thoughts and More

The Vancouver Canucks battled hard but came up empty-handed against the Nashville Predators.

The Vancouver Canucks are playing arguably the best hockey they have played all year. The speed is there, the goaltending is there, the physicality is there and also the line chemistry — just about everything but the points in the standings.

It was a good game. The Nashville Predators had their moments and the Canucks had theirs, too. Ryan Miller was very good when the occasion arose to make a big stop, and Preds netminder Pekka Rinne was a force to be reckoned with. Ask Sven Baertschi.

And as the Canucks take some time off thanks to the All-Star Break, here are my five thoughts and some more from the Canucks’ 2-1 loss against Nashville.

Thought #1: Brandon Sutter a boost for Vancouver

Centre Brandon Sutter got involved early in the game, scoring the only Vancouver goal of the night. There was much debate before the game whether Sutter should dress or not. After all, what is the point of playing him coming off a major surgery when you can just wait for one more game and let him recover for ten more days?

In fact, it was Sutter himself who wanted to get into the action tonight. Here is Sutter after the game.

Sutter showed chemistry with Daniel Sedin. By “chemistry”, I mean Sedin-to-Sedin level chemistry. That passing play leading to the goal was a Sedin thing of beauty. I wonder if Sutter could play the right wing for the Sedins in case Jannik Hansen is needed elsewhere.

One of the things Sutter was missed for was his faceoff prowess. Last night being his first game back, his 43.8 percent faceoff win percentage should be noted as a positive. His draw ability improved as the night went on.

Sutter also blocked two shots — tied with Bo Horvat for the team lead among forwards. Sutter recorded three shots on net in just under 17 minutes of ice time. Here are some other stats of note.

• Sutter’s 12.8 percent shooting average is fourth-best on the team after Hansen, Baertschi, and Henrik Sedin.
• Sutter leads all Canucks forwards in average time-on-ice this season, averaging 18:45 a game.
• Even after tonight, Sutter’s 53 percent faceoff win percentage is the team’s highest.
• With his fifth goal of the season, Sutter has nine points in 17 games. That is .53 points per game, which is fourth on the team only to Hansen and the Sedins.

Next: Thought #2: A Defence of Two Tales

Thought #2: A defence of two tales

The defence had its moments, to say the least. You can’t blame the defence much for either one of the goals that it allowed (read on, I am not leaving them off the hook). On a night Alex Edler played over 25 minutes, the Canucks defence only allowed 19 shots on net and blocked eight shots. Half of those blocks were off of rookie Ben Hutton‘s body.

That being said, it was not the rookie’s night. In fact, it was not any rookies’ night.

Jake Virtanen took a puck to his face in yesterday’s morning practice after Hansen’s shot clanked off the post. Scary moments after what happened to Dan Hamhuis. But a post to the head? I was secretly hoping that he would pull a Hansen — coming back to play overtime hero.

Back to the defence, Hutton and Matt Bartkowski had a rough outing. They were exposed in their own defensive end and each took a minor penalty. The Predators were strong skaters, but Hutton was beaten on multiple occasions. He is lucky that the NHL tallied only one giveaway against him.

Hutton’s worst moment came on the opening Predators goal. He was on the wrong side of Craig Smith. He should have been in front of him and to the right of Miller so that he could tie up Smith’s stick. He sure looked rookie tonight — not too many days have we said that for Hutton.

Bartkowski’s night was even worse.

The sequence leading to his tripping minor was ridiculous. He let Filip Forsberg close in on him to the side of Ryan Miller’s net. He simply stopped working. He gave the puck to Forsberg. Then he put his stick on Forsberg’s skates. He gave the Predators a power play, the second of the night. The first looked dangerous, and Bartkowski should have known better.

But there was good. Enter Luca Sbisa.

Luca Sbisa? Good? Yes. I kid you not. Sbisa recorded two hits, one being this solid check on Eric Nystrom.

See. The good thing about Sbisa is that because he doesn’t play with the puck and he knows himself, he plays the body. Simple. Same outcome at the end of the day. His teammate will fly by and take the puck to Sbisa’s relief.

Sbisa also recorded two shots. He might be the only Canuck defenceman who does a full wind-up for his slappers these days.

Next: Thought #3: Penalties and Referees

Thought #4: Pekka Rinne can still play

Baertschi and Horvat will tell you this better than I can.

The Canucks had a good power play thanks to the creativity of the PP2 unit. Once, the PP2 featured one of the youngest on-ice Canuck crew ever. Linden Vey was playing with Baertschi, Horvat, Hutton, and Tanev.

Baertschi could have had a couple more shots that hit the net. But when his one-timers did hit the net? Pekka Rinne was there to make the most casual-looking save ever.

I am not saying that Miller had a bad game compared to Rinne. I am suggesting that the people who believed that Rinne was undeservingly made All-Star have tricked me into thinking that Rinne would be a pushover. The Canucks got 29 shots on net compared to Nashville’s 19. Rinne stopped 28 of the 29. That is good. That is first-star worthy, at least for last night.

Good times for the Predators…

Next: Thought #5: Watching the Standings

Thought #5: Watching the Standings

I said that this game was a “four-pointer” for the Canucks and the Preds. Hopefully, you now understand.

Read: Week #17 Outlook: Four-Point Game against Nashville

With the regulation loss, the Canucks are behind the Anaheim Ducks. The points don’t look so bad for the Canucks. But it is the games played column that looks bad. The Canucks have played more games than everyone else in the running for the wildcard spot. With a game in hand on the Canucks, the Preds are now three points above Vancouver. The same goes for the Arizona Coyotes who have two more points with one less game played compared to the Canucks.

Should Anaheim go 1-1-1 with their three games in hand over the Canucks, they would be at 54 points — where the Coyotes would also be. The scariest thing on that table might be the fact that Anaheim is 7-3-0 in their last 10 games.

And the Canucks enter the break on a losing streak, with this gif forever engraved in their minds.

Vancouver looked forward to getting Sutter back. Now the city can only wait for its captain to be back after the break. And Hamhuis, too. That, again, raises more questions. This All-Star Break is not a good time to be a Canucks fan, if you ask me.

Next: Three Reasons #TankNation does not belong in Vancouver

Have your say below about the game and the loss against the Predators! What are your takeaways going into the All-Star Break? Feel free to comment right below or tweet us @FSTheCanuckWay!