Markstrom stands taller than ever in Canucks’ win over Hurricanes
The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime by a score of 1-0 last night. Jacob Markstrom turned in an amazing start.
The Vancouver Canucks are 3-2 so far in the month of December. Jacob Markstrom did everything in his power to keep his team from being below .500 on the month, and was outstanding in what turned out to be a 43 save shutout.
The Demko and DiPietro dilemna
In case you didn’t notice, Michael DiPietro was backing up Markstrom last night. Regular back up Thatcher Demko is in concussion protocol after colliding with Loui Eriksson in Wednesday’s morning skate.
Here’s where the dilemna comes in. Markstrom played absolutely lights out last night. He faced 43 shots and made countless highlight-reels saves after his team turned in a rather lacklustre performance in front of him.
The Canucks would be wise to keep Markstrom as fresh as possible, and with a back-to-back on the road coming this weekend, it wouldn’t come as a shock if the team elects to give DiPietro his second career start.
After the way Markstrom played last night, it would make sense for the Canucks to give him the nod on Saturday, and depending how that game goes, DiPietro could receive the start on Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see what route the Canucks go, as they play four games in eight nights during their homestand.
They’ll certainly want Markstrom fresh for that homestand, but it’s also no secret that the Canucks have a better chance at winning with Markstrom in goal over DiPietro.
Markstrom dialled in
Jacob Markstrom looked like one of the best goaltenders in the league early in the season. He was quickly making a habit of bailing the Canucks out and stealing games for his team. All that changed in November, however, when Markstrom managed to win just three of his nine starts.
To be fair, the Canucks as a whole had a brutal month of November, and many of those losses weren’t the fault of Markstrom — but he definitely wasn’t playing at the level that the Canucks were used to seeing from him.
Markstrom faced some serious adversity with the tragic loss of his father to cancer, but being the competitor he is, all Markstrom wanted to do was play once he returned to the Canucks.
There was no goaltender in the NHL who played as well as Markstrom did last night.
The Canucks looked like they were eager to see just how many times their goaltender could bail them out, because they continued to turn the puck over and failed to keep possession of the puck for most of the night.
Although the team in front of him turned in one of their weakest performances of the season, this was certainly Markstrom’s strongest game of the season. In fact, it may have been the strongest performance of Markstrom’s entire career.
The Canucks can’t play like this night in and night out, but the goaltender is a part of the team, and when a goaltender turns in a performance like Markstrom’s last night, teams tend to rally off that. I fully expect the Canucks to come out firing when they face the San Jose Sharks tomorrow.
Pettersson’s backhand, Boeser’s hustle
Aside from Markstrom, the highlight of the night was certainly Elias Pettersson‘s sweet backhand to win it in overtime. This was a goal where Brock Boeser showed an insane amount of will to outwork his opponent that the Canucks seemed to have been lacking for parts of the game.
What a perfect time to hit 💯 @NHL points! @_EPettersson dazzles scoring the OT game-winner. @EASportsNHL #NHL20 pic.twitter.com/9yh2yiRQcv
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 13, 2019
Boeser not only keeps the play alive, but fights off two Hurricanes while he waits for Pettersson to make a mad dash from the Canucks’ bench. Boeser does a quick glance over his shoulder and sees Pettersson streaking to the net, and throws a backhand pass to where he knows Pettersson will be.
Had that stick not been there, Boeser’s pass may not have actually reached Pettersson in the first place; but the poise on Pettersson to take the puck off the errant stick and roof a backhand over Petr Mrazek’s shoulder in the blink of an eye was truly remarkable to watch.
The Canucks are a team that are dangerous in overtime, and they proved that once again with last night’s win.
On commercials
I’m finished talking about last night’s game, so feel free to click away. This is now a rant that I could have saved for the podcast, and probably will still elaborate on during the recording of episode five of The Canuck Way Podcast.
What happened to commercials? If you’ve ever watched an American television feed, you know that the commercials that come from south of the border are typically better than the ones that are played for Canadian audiences.
This is especially apparent during the Super Bowl, where it becomes important to make sure you’re getting the American commercials, not the Canadian ones. We’ve got some elite commericals, don’t get me wrong, but if you’re watching three periods of hockey with approximately two commercial breaks per period, you’re going to get tired of seeing the exact same advertisements in the exact same order.
Over, and over, and over again.
I’ve memorized so much information that I didn’t know I needed. For example, if you asked me why Dan Murphy and his family choose Papa John’s, I would immediately respond “better ingredients make better pizza.”
Or maybe you come to me for advice on how to get out of debt. While I would advise heavily against asking me for financial advice, I’ve heard that Sands and Associates are great. Need winter tires? John Shorthouse recommends Budget Auto Centres; they are, in fact, the guys who know cars.
Feeling hungry? John Hamm’s SkipTheDishes ads play every night during the broadcasts and are among some of the only ones that are somewhat enjoyable or clever. But these aren’t the bad ones. The bad ones, boy, you know what they are.
The law group ones. Look, I respect lawyers, and I certainly respect the law, but hearing Ray Ferraro and a lawyer tell you that you should call them before your spouse does more than 10 times a night is enough to start subconsciously convince you that your spouse really does hate you.
The Superstore ad, which hardly makes any sense, tells us to “shop like a mother”. I just don’t get this one, and neither does my mother, who, by definition, shops like a mother anytime she shops.
My point is, the commercials that Canucks fans are being subject to during broadcasts are repetitive and mostly not entertaining. That being said, they’ve clearly done what they were intended to do, as I will almost certainly have every slogan and jingle from every company that pays for that advertising engrained in my mind forever.