Canucks: Three takeaways from appalling 4-1 loss to Penguins
1. Thatcher Demko was strong between the pipes again
Gee, surprise.
By far the best Canuck this season, Thatcher Demko once again made sure his team only lost by three. It would have been much worse without him and his stellar play.
Demko stopped 33 out of 36 Pittsburgh Penguins. His back must be hurt from carrying the team in front of him. You have to feel sorry for the poor guy at this point.
— clarissa! (@quinnsedgework) November 25, 2021
Some of his best saves of the night include stopping Sidney Crosby on a first-period penalty kill and stopping a Jake Guentzel one-timer in the third.
With the way Demko has been playing, he is making a case for the 2022 US Olympic hockey team.
2. Canucks have slow start and give poor effort
As mentioned earlier, the Canucks were outshot double in the first. At the halfway point in the opening frame, they only had two shots on goal.
They started slow and couldn’t recover.
“We got off to a slow start today,” said J.T. Miller. “We were chasing the game…Just not good enough.”
The effort was not there on Wednesday night. It did show up in the later parts of the third period but it was too little and too late.
The Canucks once again were not creating good scoring chances and there were plenty of turnovers.
One glaring example is this brutal one by Quinn Hughes. Not too sure who he intended to pass it to but it went straight to Evan Rodrigues who then scored. It was a rough night for Hughes as he kept turning the puck over.
100 career points and an absolutely perfect shot from Evan Rodrigues 🚨 pic.twitter.com/VmVhFnsI8X
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 25, 2021
Here is another one.
Tucker Poolman joins the rush into the offensive zone and decides to make a drop-pass to Nils Höglander. The Penguins get ahold of the puck and get up the ice on a two-on-one. At this point Poolman and three other Canucks are in too deep and Kyle Burroughs is left alone on the two-on-one.
Zach Aston-Reese makes them pay.
Oh, and Poolman was signed to a four-year contract worth 2.5 million dollars in the offseason. He was on the ice for ten scoring chances against and three scoring chances for as well as five high danger chances against and one high danger chance for.
The accumulation of Tucker Poolman puck handling errors that just absolutely kill the #Canucks is really something.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 25, 2021
Wherein a poorly timed, but relatively straightforward drop pass goes awry, causing 4 #Canucks to get caught up ice as the Penguins ice the game. pic.twitter.com/UBEMgQNZHa
Also, leaving Crosby all alone in the front of the net isn’t the best idea either.
On the goal, Tucker Poolman struggled to handle Bryan Rust on the Penguins entry.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 25, 2021
So Myers cheated over, but the Penguins got the puck up high to Letang.
5 seconds prior to the goal, there were 2 Penguins - including Sidney effing Crosby - alone in front and zero VAN D. pic.twitter.com/FYzioA5ZWL
The defending was woeful with the turnovers and made the Penguins look dangerous on the rush they got easy chances on Demko.
The offence looked lifeless for the most part and did not look threatening at all.
When you reach *this* point, and a group has this type of body language, and the errors are this glaring, and the effort is this inconsistent, it’s a kind of spiral.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 25, 2021
The collective failure has it’s own grim momentum. And it doesn’t just suddenly trend upward on its own. #Canucks
3. Special teams weren’t special again.
It wasn’t as bad as previous games but there hasn’t been much improvement in the special teams department against the Penguins.
The Canucks came into the game with the worst penalty kill in the league and the Penguins came in with the worst power play in the league. It was an easily movable force meeting a very stoppable object.
The penalty kill went three for four and it for sure would have been worse without Demko’s saves.
The Canucks penalty killers were all over the place and Bryan Rust beat Demko with the one-timer.
Power-play goals = big-time smiles pic.twitter.com/D3r4CF9njL
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 25, 2021
They only gave up one Pittsburgh power play goal but once again, there were too many turnovers and too many times where they let the Penguins get an easy scoring chance.
This play kind of sums up the night the Canucks had. On the penalty kill, Tyler Myers’ clearing attempt hits Miller in the back and as a result, Myers and Poolman have scramble back as two Penguins were left alone. Fortunately, they were bailed out by Demko.
This is one of my favourite #Canucks sequences of the season because it's just so instructive.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) November 25, 2021
Club wins the draw shorthanded, Myers' clearing attempt hits J.T. Miller, both D scramble and front the forward in the mid-slot. Pens forward all alone in front for the chance results. pic.twitter.com/UYZMlWwfYt
The Canucks did get one power play attempt but it looked predictable and stale.
Other notes
- Brock Boeser has had a history for scoring against the Penguins but he couldn’t find the scoresheet on Wednesday night. He now has gone eight games without a goal.
- Elias Pettersson was once again invisible and has only two points in his last eight games
- Out of the Canucks other than Demko who gave a decent effort, you could argue that Miller was one of them. He led all Canucks with 68.97% Corsi for. He also gave quite the answer to a question about they team buying in.
Reporter: "Is everyone buying in right now?"
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) November 25, 2021
JT Miller: "I don't know."
What do you think #Canucks fans? pic.twitter.com/qU3okgs2PD
Next. Canucks Report: Could J.T. Miller be heading to Minnesota?. dark
The Canucks road trip continues in Columbus where they take on the Blue Jackets on Friday. Puck drop is at 4:00 PM.