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Vancouver Canucks Game Review: Routed by Rangers, Changing the System |
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Saturday December 13 - New York Rangers 5 - Vancouver Canucks 1
The Vancouver Canucks' holiday party at Rogers Arena turned sour in a hurry on Saturday night when the home team allowed three goals on four shots on the way to a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers.
Here are your highlights:
Odd-man rushes were the story of the night. Ryan Stanton was caught up ice when Ryan McDonagh opened the scoring at the 2:36 mark of the first period, then Kevin Bieksa took over from there.
Bieksa and Luca Sbisa were on the ice for all four of New York's additional goals, though you'll be hard-pressed to find "the Gunslinger" in any of the replays.
Bieksa did manage to get himself back to a minus-three on the night because he was on the ice for Nick Bonino's third-period goal. He was playing with Ryan Stanton at that point; Willie used that pairing, along with Weber/Sbisa, for a few shifts near the end of the game.
It's probably no coincidence that two the Rangers' goals were scored by one of their team's fastest players, spitfire Mats Zuccarello. Seeing the Canucks exploited so aggressively off the rush brought back memories of the team's early-season losses to Dallas and Colorado.
After the game, Willie Desjardins took responsibility for the loss, saying the issue was about the team's system more than the players on the ice. "We were bad as a team," he summarized.
Compared to Torts' riveting postgame pressers last year, Willie hasn't typically given us much to watch this year, but we can gain a bit more understanding of how he operates in the face of adversity from his comments on Saturday:
"We gotta be better," was Willie's mantra on Saturday night, and he's right.
With just one point in the last four games, the Canucks have dropped from the top of the league all the way down to 10th place. With only three games on the schedule over the next two weeks, there won't be many chances to pick up points. When they do, they'll have to capitalize.
The situation is tightening up in the Pacific Division as well. The San Jose Sharks have weathered their early-season storm. Thanks to a three-game winning streak, they've now caught the Canucks at the 38-point mark, though they have played two more games.
The Calgary Flames are two points back at 36, in the Wild Card, with the Los Angeles Kings one point behind them. It wouldn't take much for the Canucks to suddenly find themselves back outside the playoff picture.
Kevin Bieksa was the main target for criticism from the fans, but Willie insisted that every line and every defense pairing was getting hit by the Rangers' rushes—Bieksa and Sbisa just happened to be the ones getting scored on.
Bieksa was effectively surly after the game:
He's also ready to find a way to get back on the winning track:
Speaking of Ryan Miller's save percentage, it did take a beating with five goals on just 23 shots. Miller got run over by Rick Nash behind the net just over a minute into the game and while it took him a bit of time to shake off the impact, I don't think it ultimately impacted the game's result.
A big stop or two probably couldn't have saved this one.
For their part, the Rangers said they knew about the Canucks' aggressive tendencies, and that taking advantage was part of their game plan:
So—maybe we chalk this one up to Willie getting outcoached by our old coach.
As we saw earlier in the season, the Dallas Stars have the ability to play the same way that the Rangers do. Here's hoping that Desjardins and company can make the necessary adjustments before the Canucks return to game action on Wednesday.
No practice today: it's SuperSkills day at Rogers Arena, as part of minor hockey weekend.
One other quick note: Tom Sestito has been recalled from Utica after his conditioning stint. Sestito was pointless—and penalty-less—with four shots on goal during three Comets games: a win over Rochester and overtime losses against Toronto and Syracuse.
The Comets are now tied with Rockford with 39 points, but their game in hand keeps them at the top of the AHL league standings.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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