Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from shutout loss to New York Islanders
Big games for Sautner and Goldobin
Two players who have been afforded more starts and ice time thanks to all the injuries that have plagued the Canucks as of late are Ashton Sautner and Nikolay Goldobin.
Goldobin was on Horvat’s line and played relatively well. He saw time with the second power play unit and was creating offence nearly all night — but it was his play away from the puck that everyone was keeping a close eye on — especially head coach Travis Green, who had this to say about Goldobin’s play last night:
Travis Green: "I thought Goldy had one of his better games this season. He plays like that every night and he's a good player. He was strong, he went after the puck, he won some puck battles. It was obvious. I think a lot of people noticed it, our guys on the bench noticed it."
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) February 24, 2019
From what I personally saw of Goldobin, he looked to have a pretty solid game defensively. He was stripped of the puck a few times, but he doesn’t deserve to be singled out, because he was far from the only one to lose the puck last night.
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A play from Goldobin that really caught my eye was when he outmuscled Cal Clutterbuck in the corner of the Canucks end of the ice early in the third period. Maybe Goldobin is slowly starting to get what coach Green has been trying so hard to help him understand — the tenacity he needs to play with in order to remain in the lineup.
Another player who likely wouldn’t be seeing much ice-time without the current injuries is Sautner, who played in his second game of the season for the Canucks last night. Sautner has been a pleasant surprise. He has been responsible defensively and showed that he is comfortable with the puck on his stick.
In his first game, I noticed Sautner made a few bad pinches but looked to be getting more and more comfortable as the game progressed. The same could be said of his game last night. As he continues to rock the full face shield “fishbowl” helmet due to his facial injury suffered earlier this season, Sautner has been one of the Canucks more reliable defenceman in his first two games this season.
Sautner and Goldobin will both look to continue to make good impressions and try and make management to have to make a few difficult decisions once everyone gets healthy.