Husso hard to solve as Canucks fall 4-1 to St.Louis Blues

Thoughts on the game

Ville Husso was on his game from when the puck dropped and the Blues had a better start.

The Canucks were firing plenty of shots at the Blues goaltender but it seemed like nothing would get passed him. Husso was also the goalie in the first meeting between these two meetings in a 3-1 St. Louis win on January 23 in Vancouver. He was good in that game and good on Monday night. Canucks fans should miss Jordan Binnington.

Brock Boeser had a couple of chances in front of Husso but the Blues goalie denied him. Tanner Pearson, J.T. Miller and Conor Garland each had five shots on goal but Husso stopped them all. Husso was making good saves with his pads in particular. Vancouver was pressing for a goal in the second period but Husso stood tall stopping all 11 shots.

Brad Hunt denied Husso the shutout in the third as he roofed it on a three-on-one.

The power play didn’t look good either. There were only two attempts but the second one kind of killed the momentum for the Canucks. There was hardly any movement and it looked very sloppy as Jaroslav Halak had two make two good saves to prevent a shorthanded goal. You know the power play needs work when the goalie is doing all the work on it.

Speaking of Halak, he didn’t look bad. He made some key saves to keep the Canucks in it and there was some bad luck on two of the three goals that went past him. Marco Scandella’s opening goal went off Will Lockwood’s stick and off Halak’s shoulder and into the net. Tarasenko’s third period goal was off a rebound that took a strange bounce.

Those two goals give you the same feeling as when you lose a 1-0 FIFA game after you manage over 10 shots on target and your opponent scores a lucky goal with their only shot on target.

The Canucks had some more good looks late in the third and Bruce Boudreau even put the Lotto Line back together but it all proved to be futile.

The Canucks did not have the same energy and intensity as the last three games. They weren’t winning a lot of the puck battles and I just couldn’t see the same spark. There were also some mistakes which included plenty of turnovers from the blue line.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad game from the Canucks but it wasn’t good enough. Vancouver couldn’t match the speed and pace of the Blues and they took advantage of the Canucks mistakes and some luck. This game also would have been different if Husso wasn’t standing on his head.

What was said

Bruce Boudreau has brutally honest with the team’s performance.

“I didn’t think we were very good tonight,” said Boudreau per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650. “We came out really flat in the first period. I just didn’t think we had enough guys playing with the sense of urgency that is needed at this time of the season.”

Boudreau also had criticism for Garland who has no goals in his last 16 games.

“He didn’t play very well, and I need more out of him,” said Boudreau per David Quadrelli of Canucks Army. “You’ve got to use your teammates and I think he could’ve passed the puck, he carried it a little too much, but he was one of the forwards I didn’t think had a very good game.”

Miller spoke about the third Blues goal and took some accountability for the loss.

“I kind of set the tone in the third by a missed assignment (The third goal) and it’s just not good enough,” said Miller per Ben Kuzma of The Province and Vancouver Sun. ” I definitely have to look in the mirror for myself and I don’t think I brought it today. I was kind of not as engaged as I needed to be for some reason.

Advanced stat of the night

The Canucks had 3.38 expected goals on the night per NaturalStatTrick. Unfortunately expected goals don’t count on the scoresheet.

Tweet of the night

I guess this is an accurate representation of the game. Thought it would work better with Husso’s face imposed on Will Smith. Heck, Husso could have even saved Chris Rock from being slapped.

Other notes

• The penalty kill killed off all three Blues’ power plays. The Canucks PK has moved into 31st in the league with 72.8% surpassing the Detroit Red Wings. It ain’t much but it’s honest work.
•  Lockwood was noticeable in his second game of the season. He displayed some good speed and almost got his first NHL goal in the first but the puck hit the outside of the post.

Wrap-up

The Canucks face the Blues once again on Wednesday, this time at Rogers Arena. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM.