Sports

Vancouver Canucks, Straight Up: Tough loss to Stars a reminder of who the Canucks miss the most right now

by Nathan Caddell on November 14th, 2019 at 11:02 PM
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      It’ll look better on Corsi than it did on the ice.

      The Vancouver Canucks found themselves in a 2-0 hole early in the second period, and though they did claw their way back to 2-2, the team didn’t have enough juice to secure a win at Rogers Arena against the visiting Dallas Stars.

      A late second period goal from the previously slumping Tyler Seguin (his second point of the night) put the Stars ahead for good, and an Alex Radulov tally in the third salted the game away.

      Here’s what else we saw in the Vancouver Canucks’ 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

      Check-in of the night

      To answer the question: 10-7-3 and third in the Pacific Division with a game in hand on the Calgary Flames.

      Not bad, to be sure. Everyone knew November was going to be a tough month for the Canucks after a somewhat cakewalk-y October schedule. And it has been.

      It doesn’t get much easier either. After Saturday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, the Canucks go on a six-game road trip, starting with the Stars.

      Stat of the night

      Though the Canucks controlled a majority of the shot attempts (and the actual shots) on five-on-five, the Stars actually had a larger share of the expected goals (63 percent, in fact).

      Dallas was also able to capitalize on their rush chances and Vancouver’s turnovers .

      As coach Travis Green put it: “We turned the puck over a few times, they made us pay for it.”

      Honesty of the night

      “I’m not really worried about the goal right now—sucks after losing.”

      - Jake Virtanen, who scored but was also on the ice for all four Dallas goals against. 

      Wound of the night

      Virtanen again, who was sporting a nasty scar around his eye from a high stick.

      Goal of the night

      It’s Dallas veteran Blake Comeau and it’s not close.

      Tough look for Troy Stecher here, though the Richmond native did garner some goodwill with a goal of his own later in the period.

      Word of the night

      Heavy.

      That’s how the Canucks repeatedly characterized a Stars team that came at them in waves, forced turnovers and won crucial battles on the boards.

      It’s also an adjective that hasn’t been used to describe the Canucks in some time.

      Battle of the night

      That would be the Benn Bowl™.

      It was apparent that older brother Jordie came to play right from puck drop. Early in the first he laid a massive hit on a Star and then dropped the gloves with Denis Gurianov.

      Despite the photo at the top of this article, the decision in that bout goes to Benn.

      He also garnered an assist on Stecher’s goal.

      But Jamie had a nice night, too. He registered an assist and a plus-1 rating in over 17 minutes of ice time.

      With Jordie’s minus-1, we’ll reluctantly give this one to the younger brother.

      Crowd moment of the night

      No, it wasn’t Bill Murray (we’ll get to that in a second).

      It was former Canucks broadcaster Tom Larscheid laughing it up with the Larscheiders.

      Real nice moment.

      Cry for help of the night

      Another Canucks game for Bill Murray and he's wearing the same Chicago Blackhawks shirt. Can someone get this guy some Canucks merch?

      I know the joke you want me to make. I won’t do it. I won’t.

      Ok, fine.

      It’s like Groundhog Day or something.

      There, are you happy???

      Taunt of the night

      Alex Radulov had a good game, hounding the Canucks all night and scoring the insurance marker near the end of the third period.

      He celebrated it in fashion, too, pumping the air and then pointing at the Canucks crowd.

      Missing person of the night

      Man, the Canucks could have used Antoine Roussel in this one.

      You just know that the hard-skating veteran would have some extra juice to lay on against his former team. And the Canucks needed some juice tonight.

      It’s too easy to just say the other team was heavy, and there were too many Canucks disinterested in playing the Stars physically.

      Roussel can light a fire under his team and Vancouver could have used that spark.

      He’s been skating in a non-contact jersey and December has long been the rumoured return month. So we could be getting close.

      It’ll create some logjams at forward, but it’ll be very interesting to see if the Canucks benefit from Roussel’s physical nature and willingness to stir it up at all times.

      We’re betting it’ll be a yes.

      Follow @ncaddell on Twitter

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