Vancouver Canucks: 3 takeaways from loss to Nashville Predators

In game 81 of the 82 game regular season, the Vancouver Canucks took on the Nashville Predators, losing by a score of 3-2.

The Vancouver Canucks came into this game and looked good right out of the gate. In the final two periods, however, the Canucks didn’t play their best and saw their two-goal lead disappear. Here are my three takeaways from last night’s game.

One more #ShotgunJake this year?

Although not much of a drinker myself, the movement on Twitter of #ShotgunJake has been something worth seeing. It’s simple, really — Canucks fans have come together and shotgunned a beer whenever Jake Virtanen scores a goal. He didn’t score last night, but it was still good to see Virtanen get a chance on the Canucks’ top line.

Some people out there consider Virtanen to be a bust. I don’t think that’s necessarily fair, because he has shown flashes of greatness and in my opinion, is extremely close to putting it all together and turning into a complete player.

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His speed is undeniable, and having a player who isn’t afraid to throw his weight around or drop the gloves with an opposing player is always a good thing for a young team to have. That speed and grit is the exact reason that head coach Travis Green decided to start Virtanen on the Canucks’ top line alongside Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser last night.

Virtanen’s season has been intriguing but hasn’t gone the way he likely would have hoped for. He started the year hot and looked as though he would reach 20 goals with relative ease. Since then, he has slowed down and battled a rib injury that held him out of the lineup for over a month.

Coach Green said of the decision to put Virtanen on the first line, “I like the bigger body and the speed on the forecheck that he provides.” Virtanen’s time on that line was short-lived, however, as Green made the decision in the second period and throughout the rest of the game to take Virtanen off the top line, reuniting him with Adam Gaudette.

Ryan Spooner was also given a shot on the top line as the game progressed, as Green did what he normally does when his team isn’t playing the way he wants them to — shake up the lines. Jake likely won’t get another opportunity on the first line in game 82 on Saturday, but hopefully, we are in for at least one more #ShotgunJake before the final horn of the season sounds.

The Debut of Brogan Rafferty

Brogan Rafferty was signed just a couple of days ago and was — in the words of Coach Green — thrown into the fire last night. He didn’t have much time to get himself situated before being told that he’d be in the lineup last night.

After being signed out of Quinnipiac University, Rafferty was ready to make his NHL debut last night. Coach Green said at the morning skate that we may see Rafferty play alongside Ben Hutton or Alex Edler, but he played almost the entire game alongside Hutton. Green also added that he’s watched video of Rafferty and is excited to have him, saying Rafferty is a great signing by the Canucks’ management group.

Wearing Kevin Bieksa‘s old number three, Rafferty can now be added to the growing list of players who have had successful Canucks debuts this season. Although his debut wasn’t as highly anticipated as Pettersson’s was back in October — fans were excited to see another young and talented right-handed defenceman in a Canucks’ uniform.

Rafferty tried not to do too much, and finished the night with one shot on goal, and just over twelve minutes of ice time. Unfortunately for Rafferty, he was on the ice for the Predators bizarre tying goal — but more on that later.

Green talked about Rafferty’s skating ability, hands, and abilities offensively, but watch him lay out this Nashville player who tried to line him up for a hit:

Not bad, kid; not bad at all. Rafferty will likely get into his second game of the season this Saturday in the Canucks’ final game of the season. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so him making his debut before getting much practice in makes sense — the team wants to get as much of a look at him as possible before making the decision whether or not to re-sign him.

Rafferty was pleased with his debut to an extent, but wasn’t pleased that his team didn’t come out victorious. After the game, Rafferty said, “Amazing experience. It was everything I dreamed of, except for the final score. They’re a really good team, they had a great 3rd-period push” Another solid young player who hates losing? I’ll take it.