EDMONTON, ALBERTA - AUGUST 02: Alex Stalock #32 of the Minnesota Wild stops a shot from Brandon Sutter #20 of the Vancouver Canucks in Game One of the Western Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 02, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
For the first time since 2015, the Vancouver Canucks are finally in the playoffs. Here are 3 positives and 3 negatives from Game 1 of their series.
The Vancouver Canucks dropped Game 1 of their best-of-five series against the Minnesota Wild by a score of 3-0. Their star players did not step up and they ended up getting shut out by Alex Stalock. Here are 3 positives and 3 negatives from last night’s game.
Negatives
1. Penalties were momentum killers
They had a bad start but for the first half of the game, the Canucks looked really good, dominating the Wild and getting really good scoring opportunities. However, the game completely shifted momentum when Tanner Pearson took the team’s third penalty and the Wild capitalized on it. After that, the team was unable to find their feet again and looked lost in the third period. The Canucks got 14 shots on goal in the first period but in the third, they managed to get just four.
2. Stars were silent
Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Jacob Markstrom all had forgettable games and while I don’t think that the struggles will last, the fact that the Canucks’ stars were unable to perform is the biggest reason for their loss. Markstrom made two mistakes and received no scoring support from the rest of his team. If Vancouver wants to beat the Wild, they need their stars to step up and take control of the game sooner rather than later.
3. No veteran support
Going into this series, we knew that the Canucks had a lot of young stars that were going to be experiencing postseason NHL hockey for the first time ever.
It is situations like these where players lean on their veterans to act as a guide for them through the wild emotions of a playoff game. Well, the players that were supposed to do that like Tanner Pearson and J.T. Miller did not have good games and the team looked quite lost many times. Pearson took two poor penalties and Miller had just 2 shots all night. The Canucks’ veterans need to be better if they want to win Game 2.
Eric Staal takes a shot on Jacob Markstrom of the Vancouver Canucks. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images) /
Positives
1. Quinn Hughes looked great
For his first-ever playoff game, Calder-nominee Quinn Hughes looked very comfortable and confident. Hughes led all skaters with 23:47 minutes of ice time which is way more than the 21:53 he averaged in the regular season. He had arguably the best chance that was turned away by Stalock and his pairing with Alex Edler was a bright spot for the Canucks.
2. Micheal Ferland is fearless
Very early into the game, Micheal Ferland dropped the gloves with Marcus Foligno and that fight not only brought energy to the Canucks, but Ferland looked rejuvenated as well. Throughout the entire game, he was an energizer bunny, getting under the skin of the Wild and laying some heavy hits. Against a sandpaper team like Minnesota, players like Ferland will be important to respond physically.
3. Markstrom will get better
Despite letting in two rusty goals, Jacob Markstrom looked pretty good in his first game since February with a .933 save percentage. He made some huge saves against Eric Staal and Zach Parise to keep his team in the game but just didn’t get any offensive support from his team. The Canucks will live and die by their goaltender and considering how he played in Game 1, they should have a good chance in this series.
Next. Ferland proved why he's in the lineup. dark
Game 1 was not a good performance by the Canucks but they shouldn’t be counted out yet. This team is better than what they showed yesterday and now that they know what to expect, they should have a very strong bounceback for Game 2.
