The Vancouver Canucks fell to 4-3-3 Friday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver earning a 5-5 tie against the high-powered Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin didn't even bother showing up too.
The Canucks gave up 4 straight goals to the Capitals in the late 2nd period and 3rd period to gag a 5-1 lead away.
Jakob Markstrom's numbers going into the night were very good. But most unbiased reporters (like this column) pointed out that they had played a bunch of patsies and some teams that were really sputtering.
Well, they played a good team playing well on Friday night and they got pancaked. Markstrom gave up a few softies but the Capitals tilted the ice for the second half of the game and they were under siege -- much like the Canucks were under seige for 40 minutes against the New York Rangers two games ago but miraculously escaped with a win in regulation time.
Quinton Hughes was a target of the Capitals, as I suggested he would be, going a -4 on the night.
As I've said repeatedly Mr. Hughes will be a good player in the NHL at some point. But learning at the NHL level is not the right place for a rookie defenseman.
Hughes is -1 on the year and has 6 points -- going into the game last night Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson had 21 points. And so you can see there's a tad bit of a difference between the two.
Some people may poo-poo the plus/minus stat - but Bobby Orr was a +132 one year for a reason - he was a very good defenseman. And Hughes is paid money to be a defenseman and he's not at this time. Opposing teams are going right at him without fear. He's not particularly fast in a straight line.
That's not to say young Mr. Hughes won't be a help the Canucks in the future. He's got some dash and flair to his game which is fun to watch. But he makes pretty big mistakes -- as you'd expect. Is the NHL the right place for him to be making those mistakes? Canucks should be on the side of caution here. The New York Islanders have played young D man Noah Dobson (picked 5 spots behind Hughes in the NHL draft) just 3 games. And he's been terrific. Coach of the Year and Stanley Cup coach Barry Trotz knows a thing or two about breaking in D men into the NHL. It would behoove the Canucks to follow his lead. If they are going to play Mr. Hughes at this level - then play him every 3rd game and sit him for 2 games in between to watch. It's a rough league to learn in.
But not to pick on Hughes - the rest of the team also collapsed. They were deer in the old headlights during the game allowing the Capitals to do as they please.
5 on 5 Elias Pettersson continues to look lost. At times Horvat looked confused. Boeser needs help. Michael Ferland challenged Tom Wilson with a hug and kiss ? What was that about? Did nothing to deter the Capitals forward from running roughshod on the Canucks.
Young Jake Virtanen continued to shine but of course Travis Green occurred and he didn't play much.
The top unit PP gave up a SH goal to start the Canucks collapse.
It's a crap show. Same old same old.
One game above .500 though isn't bad. However, bad teams usually start well and then collapse. It's the veteran teams that get going after the 10 game mark that you can start to begin to see trends. A bit earlier yet to write the post-mortem on the Canucks team.
They have another patsy on Monday, so another chance for a win!
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