Vancouver Canucks, Straight Up: Jake Virtanen, Thatcher Demko have St. Louis singing the Blues

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      Depending on who you ask, the Vancouver Canucks may not have deserved to win Monday night’s contest against the St. Louis Blues. After all, they were outshot 37-25 and spent good chunks of the game chasing the puck. 

      But the folks adding up points at the NHL’s head office don’t care about that. And that’s all anyone in the Canucks dressing room cares about.

      Sure, the Canucks might have snuck one out tonight on the back of two opportunistic plays from their top line and a white-hot backup goalie.

      But hey, the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup last year and remain one of the league’s best teams. That they proved they can beat the Blues might be worth enough.

      Here’s what we saw in the Canucks’ 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.

      Quote of the night

      “Maybe we got hemmed in a little bit, but for the most part we laid it all out there.” – Bo Horvat doing his best to summarize the night.

      Misplay of the night

      Quinn Hughes doesn’t mess up very often, and it didn’t feel like a good sign when he did just that a little over three minutes into the first period.

      That’s the Canucks’ star rookie taking a penalty, losing his stick and finding himself in no man’s land as the Blues easily put it in.

      "We definitely talked to him a little bit after the first 5-10 minutes, but we're going to keep playing him. he's a good hockey player and he's got to learn in these types of games what you can do and what you can't do," said coach Travis Green. 

      Of course, he also had moments of brilliance, like leaving a Blue jockstrap-less at the Canucks’ blueline. Luckily for Hughes, St. Louis wouldn’t score again.

      Highlight (package) of the night

      A Loui Eriksson highlight package during a break? We are clearly in the weirdest timeline. And to make things weirder—and develop a particularly hilarious storyline—the formerly maligned Swede (wow) registered another point tonight on an empty-net goal by Bo Horvat.

      Pass of the night

      Of course, the two Canucks goals that were scored against Blues goalie Jake Allen both came off the stick of J.T. Miller. And both were assisted quite smoothly by Jake Virtanen. Here’s the first:

      Pass of the night II

      And the second, which was probably even nicer. Just a slick display of vision from a player not exactly known for his playmaking.

      “He is making some plays he hasn’t made in the past…he’s got more poise in his game," Green on Virtanen’s play.

      Update of the night

      It sure didn’t sound like Green expects Micheal Ferland to join the Canucks on the team’s upcoming five-game road trip. It still remains to be seen where the winger fits in with the club, but he’s exactly the type of player who’s talked about come playoff time. 

      Tribute of the night

      Rogers Arena and neighbouring BC Place were bedazzled with purple and gold to salute Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant, who died in a tragic helicopter accident last weekend. Anthem singer Karen Lee Batten wore a Kobe jersey, fans chanted his name and the Canucks paid tribute to him on the screen and over the speaker during the first period.

      Warrior of the night

      Sure, he and his line got hemmed in for large swaths of tonight, but Jay Beagle played just over 18 minutes tonight (second-highest forward on the team), blocked three shots and killed off over four minutes of powerplay time.

      For what it’s worth, his goalie was happy with his work.

      Worry of the night

      This feels a bit ridiculous, sure, given the way the team is going and how Virtanen has played on the first line, but… having Brock Boeser on the third line sure doesn’t seem to be doing the winger any favours.

      He has no points in his last five games. And while spreading offensive talent through the lineup is very much ideal, it would be good to see that line of Boeser, Adam Gaudette and Antoine Roussel put some points on the board. The trio had the lowest ice time among forwards tonight.

      Player of the night

      Miller had two goals, Beagle made some heroic defensive plays and the Jakeaissance is in full bloom. But tonight was Thatcher Demko’s finest performance of his 27-game NHL career.

      He was consistently solid, stopping all but one of the Blues’ 37 shots while swallowing up rebounds. Sure, the Canucks blocked a lot of shots too (which is what the goalie wanted to talk about post-game), but Demko was an absolute wall .

      And, of course, there was The Save.   

      The refs had to go to video replay to make sure this didn’t pass the line. And it did not.

      If the Canucks are going to let Jacob Markstrom walk (still unlikely), it’s because they know Thatcher Demko is capable of nights like this. Expect Demko to start two games on this upcoming road trip, both of which will give them more information if they have to make a tough decision down the road. 

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