The Vancouver Canucks played the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 of their series and it was a fun one to watch. They got it done in OT and jump to a 2-0 series lead.
It was a hot summer day and the Vancouver Canucks were playing an afternoon playoff game. It is pretty much my ideal afternoon (minus Covid-19 of course). After a big win in game 1, the Canucks were determined to make a statement and take a 2-0 series lead on the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
They did but it wasn’t easy. For most of the game, the Canucks faced the Blues relentless forecheck and the Blues could have put at least four pucks in the net. However, the Canucks came through on the counter-attack and managed to beat Jordan Binnington five times (one was called back on an offside challenge). They were great on special teams as well.
Here are three takeaways from tonight’s massive victory.
Bo Captain, My Captain
Bo Horvat scored two of the biggest goals of the game. The first was in the opening frame shorthanded where he took the puck out of the defensive zone and dangled past two Blues’ players and beat Binnington for a highlight-reel goal. Arguably the best of his career. It sent Canucks and hockey Twitter as a whole into a frenzy. I expect Sportscentre to be playing the clip throughout the week.
He has been working on dekes and toe-drags throughout his career to unsuccessful results and now is a great time for the moves to finally work. Chris Cuthbert compared the play to 1984 Mark Messier and that didn’t make me and other fans happy.
Horvat continued to make plays at even strength and on the power play throughout the game but came big once again. This time, it was in overtime (it sucked that the Canucks gave up a really late goal to send it to overtime).
With the Blues pressuring, Quinn Hughes passes the puck to a streaking Horvat who buries the winner with ease. Talk about being Captain Clutch. He has a 52.94% Corsi for at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick.Com.