This is the Canucks Central Post Game Show. Down the near boards to Spence. Right by pass, right circle, center back in front. It's loose, they score. LaSone threw it to the front of the net. It bounced off Trevor Lewis at the top of the crease and in. Cope guitar, top of the right circle, takes a shot, stop by Dismith, rebound, loose. In the crease kick line to the net, they score. Cope guitar, found it in the blue paint, shovels it home on the backhand. And LA goes up three to one with 140 left in the second. With instant reaction from the players and coaches. Use of the line, now to Besser again. Right circle with a slap, pass it to the slot, they score. Besser's slap pass to the middle of the ice went off Anze Cope guitar and pass Cam Talbot. And the Canucks get a goal at 6 on 5 to make it 3 to 2. Have your say on the official home of the Canucks. Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network. The clinching will have to wait another day. Canucks drop a tight one. Three two to the LA Kings. You're on Monday at Rogers Arena. Welcome to the Canucks Central Post Game Show presented by the number five orange. So the game is over, but is your night really done? The number five is open. You can chime in on the feedback channel 650, 650. Our Dunbar Lumber text message inbox. Grab a phone line, 604-280-0650. Bick Nazar, Dan Ritio with Randy Janda. And of course you again chime in via the text inbox or the phone line. On a frustrating night that we've seen before, it was the trilogy for the first two games we've seen in the past 25 days. And it resembled the first one here at Rogers Arena. The back at Rogers Arena tonight. And the things did what the Kings do. They frustrate, they poke, they prod, they annoy. Both the players and crowd alike. And they get their two points, Randy. Styles make fights and this was not Ali Fraser, but it definitely had an element of we've seen this before. And listen, the LA Kings are a team that especially on the road. They're one of the best road teams in hockey. They're comfortable playing these games. And you gotta try to break down the middle of the ice. And that's extremely difficult when you're chasing a game. In a couple of moments, whether it was the Lozat goal, the double deflection off a sushi on the delayed penalty, whether it was losing battles in front of the net on that copotargle where Roanik and Hughes, excuse me, Hughes was trying to make that happen. But they got beat on those plays. A couple of costly plays there where you lose battles and that ends up costing you. They tried it at the end. It was very close. Cam Talbot did his job, but that second period is where he ended up losing that game. Reach was in the case of too little, too late. I mean, obviously with the result. But they go seven minutes into the period till their first shot. And they don't go another nine minutes till their second shot on goal in that third period. - It was sort of the story again. Like too many shots that are going wayward from the net. It's similar to the Washington game. A couple of weeks ago where they lost 2-1. Rick Talkett mentioned it then. We had a lot of shot attempts, but not enough that we got on goal. We're missing the net too often. It felt like they didn't get to the game plan until they went six on five, right? The last five minutes of the period. How many high tips in the slot did we finally see? That's a play that they want to go to every night. We didn't see it once until the end of the game there, Randy. - Well, I think a lot of it had to do with ozone possession time, right? How often did they actually have one in guns in the offensive zone? - Too many. - It's credit to LA for making it difficult, but Vancouver just wasn't able to establish a forecheck. So shots are one thing, but the ability to get the puck in the zone handle, to set up something offensively, and even set up those tips and deflections, that was few and far between, especially in the third period, but that's the MO in LA. Once they have a two-goal lead, they're gonna be extremely difficult, and they'll essentially make it difficult through the neutral zone, and guys, that's exactly what happened until much later in this game. - Well, and one thing I really didn't like, the second period, they're humming along pretty well at 1-1, and then LA scores that goal against the grain, and they deflated for a little bit. They allowed LA to pile on another one, but the Canucks, they had the majority of the territory for most of that period until LA got that one against the run of play. - It's really interesting, 'cause we're talking about a sense of urgency in the third period. - Yeah. - Okay, where was it? Where are you gonna get your opportunities? And yet at the same time, that's kind of their undoing in the second period, where there's maybe too much urgency in a play, that pass to Hoaglander gets away from him there, and you even think about the first goal, where there's a miscommunication of who's coming on, and it just mistakes get made, and whether it's due to the urgency, whether it's just due to sloppiness, whatever you wanna call it, but that stretch in the second really stands out too. - Yeah, this was a game where you start watching, and you're like, okay, this is a game where it's so, going back to that 5-1 game, it was okay, who's gonna make them a first mistake, right? Even that game in LA was another example, right? Very tight checking, who's gonna make that first mistake? And I thought both teams, even though at 1-1, it felt like, all right, the game's starting again, and you talk about that pass, that ends up going, you know, is bobbled in the neutral zone, Ian Cole makes that pass to Hoaglander, goes back the other way, and guys, it had that feel of, all right, puck management and being really, really good on not making mistakes, and that's what LA showed tonight, they didn't make many, right? You look at the giveaway numbers, very low, they weren't giving away the puck until late in this game made mistakes. I think the Vancouver Canucks had a couple of mistakes. You mentioned, through 40 minutes, yeah, they look strong, they have the double, the high danger chances that LA did, but it's about mistakes in your game, and this time of the year, especially in a seven game series, against a team like this, one paper, you look at them and you say, okay, they kind of threaten you, but it's the collective, that is the most dangerous thing about the LA Kings guys, and they play like that, and you make more mistakes than them, it's gonna be costly. - It's the story of a playoff game, right? LA, for whatever reason, Jim Hiller thinks that this is the way that they're going to have success in the playoffs. I think they have more talent than they're willing to show on the ice. - It's weird, yeah. Like, they're a good team, now I know they're on the second coach for the season. They can be like, we were going through the forwards in the pregame show. It's a reasonably exciting group. - One through 12, they're damn good. - Yeah, and to see, like, look, Randy, we've done shows together, you guys know, I love defensive hockey. - Yeah. - This is too extreme, that it gets really tough, and it is a bit of a discredit to some of the players they have, but they full credit to them. They're winning hockey games. - They're committed. - They've got 11 losses on the road, as you mentioned, in regulation for in the extra period as well. So, they can win playing this way, just, it's... - Oh, they're committed to playing a staring contest, right? Like, that's what they did tonight. They had a couple of good shifts that they strung together there in the second, and they scored a couple of goals. And that's the difference in the game. You couldn't even make the argument. The difference is Cam Talbot made a couple more saves than Casey Desmith made tonight, right? Desmith had a couple where he drops them in front of them, and there's rebounds there. There's availability for the puck to be smashed into the back of the net. He gets caught swimming because the Canucks have allowed a couple of seam passes, so he loses his net a little bit on that second goal, which ends up going in off a skate. Look, however you wanna say it, it was a staring contest that the Canucks lost. - You did mention about the Canucks, I thought in the first half of the game, they didn't allow very much, but when L.A. did threaten the blue paint, there were a lot of L.A. bodies there, right? So whether a rebound popped out, so there was that the boxing out to a certain extent, maybe not to the same level as we've seen, but this is another level of competition. This is a team that has lived that experience in the playoffs. They've lost to the Edmonton Oilers last couple of years, but majority of those players have been at that level. They know what it takes, so I think more than anything, this is a great rehearsal for the Canucks. It's one of 82, obviously you wanna win this game, you wanna clinch a playoff spot, but more than anything, guys, this is, they play them one more time as well, so get this rehearsal in, because it gets real pretty soon, and it's gonna be maybe against this team. - Well, I know we had this debate a little bit in the pregame, but is this a team you would like to face in the playoffs, and pick your poison right now with the Western Conference playoffs. If it's not L.A., it could be the Vegas Golden Knights or the Red Hot Nashville Predators, but this L.A. team is just so frustrating to play against, so frustrating. - What I don't get, and maybe it'll get addressed in postgame comments from Hughes and Talkett, we applauded them and they were very proud of their effort in L.A., of problem solving this L.A. Kings team, and in that game, they, in real time, figured out how to play these guys, and that same problem presented itself today, so what was the counter to Vancouver's change? - Well, it felt like they started to find it a little bit in the second before they gave up that second goal, and there's one entry where they put it in off the end boards, and a player is streaking on to it. - It was Bluger launching it, yeah, and it carried on to a very heavy shift for the Canucks. I think it was the shift that led to Mikayev's big chance in the second period where he can't help it, that makes the big save, so they found ways to like, hey, like we got a hammer one in and try to get a guy, find a guy streaking, if we get the icing, we get the icing, but like this is the way that we're gonna have to play through this right now, so they started to find ways, but again, they give up that goal against the grain, and it deflated the entire team for a minute. - Yeah, then what happens after that is when you give up two goals, you have an emboldened L.A. team that's just falling into their structure at that point. They're saying, hey, we've been there, we know how to play this game. This is our game, you know, we're not chasing a game, we're not dictating anything, and that's where they were that much more difficult to break down, but yeah, that sequence in the second period, it felt like that goal was coming for Vancouver, and then Mikayev saved by Talbot, that's probably the turning point of the game right there. You get that goal, you're feeling really good about yourself, L.A. is probably not feeling great, they got to chase the game, which is not their forte, but that save, or you know, he takes an extra second 'cause he's got to turn around to get the shot off, that allows Talbot to set, makes the right pad save, and they built off of that, and after that, the Canucks have firepower to get back into a game, but against this team, tough to break down, it's very, very difficult, and it's one of those, going back to the identity, Bic, when you've got guys that have scored 30 goals in their career, like a Victor Arbins, and when you've got players like Kevin Fiale, and you've got them committed to play a defensive game, that's a powerful thing in the playoffs, like if they're committed to that level, that's why I think they're capable of a shock, just based on the fact that if those skill players that were questioned in other markets, Kevin Fiale specifically, on his commitment to hockey and the defensive side of things, if he's playing that way in LA, you got to watch out for this team. - So on the firepower, clearly they can score goals. Is there enough dynamic style of players to create the firepower? 'Cause that's my disconnect 'cause they clearly have guys who can score goals. - On the Kings. - No, Canucks. - Oh, okay. - All of the firepower to get back in this, like Besser's got 37, Miller, Patterson, the Hoaglander's having a fantastic year, as far as like generating overall chance generation in an environment that looks like this, when you have to push back and get back into it, that's the bit I look at. And I say it at times does look difficult for them to create that wave after wave after wave of pressure, 'cause they went nine minutes without creating a genuine chance. - I thought a telling moment was when Rick Talkett put J.T. Miller with Elias Patterson and Niels Hoaglander, right? You're essentially looking for that spark, but you're also trying to get away maybe from a matchup for Patterson versus Dan O, which started off well, but as this game went on and as they fell into their structure, you're saying, all right, we need to load up here, eventually went to the Lotto line. Yeah, this is the story that Vancouver Canucks, they've done a great job of it this year, but the playoffs, are you able to win or be neutral in your top two lines? Are you able to generate? And that's gonna be the story, really. The successful teams are able to get very consistent play, and if they're not giving up anything, that's ideal, and if you're scoring, you're outscoring the opposition, but that top six, you gotta win those matchups, right? So are you able to generate off both of those lines? And today, that was the challenge, I think, through 40 minutes, 45, 50 minutes, where they weren't able to find that rhythm in that top six, and that's why Talkett had to put his lines in the blender. - It's the story line that we've been talking about for weeks, going back to the trade deadline. They weren't able to add an extra forward. You also have Elias Lindholm out of the lineup tonight, out day to day, however long it's going to be, but he's now nursing an injury, so you're sort of in this mindset that you're never going to get the player that you thought you were going to get when you made the trade in the lead-up to the all-star break, but that's life, you know? And this is the team that, at that point, was still first place in the league, essentially, when they made the trade for Lindholm. Do they create enough? Yeah, they've always been a team, certainly in the first half of the year, where they punched above their weight in terms of the amount of goals they were scoring relative to the amount of chances they were creating, but they've gotten better as the year went on. I just, the first half of the, like, I mentioned how I didn't like how they sort of deflated after giving up that second goal, but even the first half of the third period, it's just, they seem to get more frustrated rather than, you know, finding a solution to the problem as you mentioned, Vic, where you're letting the LA Kings and the way that they play hockey get to you and get you off of your game. That's what the playoffs is, though, right? The mind games are from, you know, one, game one to seven, that's what it is, so, you know, get used to it, get ready for the next game against this team on April 6th, which is not that far away, and that's the, that's the MO. It's essentially teams, when you're playing one of 82, you forget about it. When it's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, that's the real kind of education in hockey and playoff hockey, and that's something that this team has to get used to. Well, and think about the goals that they scored tonight. You have a heroic effort from Sam Lafferty that, I mean, how often are you going to get that? And the second goal is, yeah, you're leaning on them, but it's a shot that goes in off a skate. Other than that, yeah, they forced Cam Talbot into a few great saves. - Honestly, I think Desmith made more critical saves than Talbot. - I know. - And I think some of the Kings best chances they missed the net on, too. - Yeah, well, that three on two, just before the, I guess it was the third goal, was a big chance that they created. And there was the McKayev save that he made, and certainly there's a number of saves there in the final five minutes after they pull the goalie, and I love Tockett's aggression in pulling the goalie with what four and a half minutes remaining, and in the third period, down two goals. But once they got set up, they got the six on five. And you also see the lack of forward depth dynamic forward depth when you're going six on five for as long as they were, you have to take off Besser and Garland and those guys for at least a little bit to give them a breather. - And at one point, it's Adora was playing net front. - Your next step is Zadora with Todd Colson and get the Russians out there. Like, let's figure it out. And to be honest, I don't know if there are any really better options than what they tried in the moment. - Randy, let's actually touch on the forward depth and the Lindholm absence. Because this is one of the teams, the LA Kings, you would look at and say, okay, that's why the value of going Miller, Patterson, Lindholm and having the three centers that you can go up against, Copitar, Danno, and Dubois. And I actually thought Teddy Blueger was fine tonight, but is that absence of Lindholm noticeable at night like tonight? - I think it is on a couple of fronts. Well, we gotta remember, a nice Lindholm when he's right, right? Like, we don't know where he's at. We don't know essentially how long and all of that stuff. But he's still been fine defensively. - Yeah, he doesn't give up much, right? Offensively, we can talk about how the zip's not there, but defensively, he's very responsible. So in a matchup like this, and I would say any Pacific division team that's going to the playoffs, they've essentially got a similar scenario. Vegas gets healthy, guess what? They pose the exact same problem. William Carlson's probably on their third line, and you're gonna have to figure out some things. Edmonton, they've got a lineup if they configure it a certain way. They can have three top centers as well, right? Like if they build it that way. So yeah, in a matchup like this, you miss Lindholm based on the fact that, you know, he's going to be a guy that at the very worst on most nights, he's gonna at least be neutral. And that's the hope where he might win some, and if he gets that offense back, but in a game like this where, you know, you've got peer Luke Dubois versus Blueger, and listen, Blueger can play that matchup role as well. He's had shifts against McDavid and all of that. You want a little bit more offense there. And that's where I think Blueger's ceiling kind of cuts off where he's not necessarily able to give you that offense. So in the playoffs, you want somebody that has got a little bit more pop, right guys? And Lindholm ideally has that. We just don't know where he's at health-wise. - Yeah, it hurts to not have Lindholm, you know, even as an extra layer of defensive presence, we've talked about it. He can be steadying. He's always seemingly in the right spot. As an F3, he's always back. You don't see the odd man rushes three on twos happening when Lindholm's on the ice. So that steadying presence, it was a little bit felt tonight. And, you know, it's something they're gonna have to deal with. Obviously the, whatever the injury is for Lindholm, it's not going away anytime soon given what Rick Talkett mentioned today. - It's 6.50, 6.50, you want to jump into the Texan box with something for you guys? 'Cause there was something we'll obviously, in the pregame we were discussing, the de-pairings. And it's a prevailing thought right now in the inbox, TJ from Surrey Talkett. Is Jack Adams going to no doubt, but question of deployment, Myers with Hughes all night, Susie gets 12 minutes, and Lotto line out there with Hughes and Roanock not Cole and Susie. Just in general, your thoughts on the de-pairings that we saw this evening. - Yeah, I think I wasn't, I wasn't all that, it was in as dynamic, right? This is a situation where when you have Roanock and Hughes together, you're able to control a little bit more. And sure, it wasn't the best game. I felt like there's certain moments where Quinn Hughes, A, he didn't have the wingers that were maybe available in neutral zone. So he's trying to release the puck. And guess what? There's no options really there. And he has to reset, happen in the first period, got caught once or twice doing that. And you just don't have the option of having two guys that can move the puck up dynamically. So you're kind of cutting yourself off at the knees when that doesn't happen because your best weapon back there is those two guys. So when it was Hughes and Myers, I just felt, they were maybe passing up one of the better options to really get the puck up the ice. And overall, that's where it starts with me. That to me is a super weapon. And I understand you want balance. I understand you wanna see if you can try some things around and maybe empower a little bit the bottom four defenseman. But I think you gotta lean into your strength here. - It's strange to go away from what's worked all season long at this stage of the season. I don't think Ronik has been playing his best hockey of late. I haven't really liked his past couple of games coming into today. I don't know if that had something to do with the change in deep airings. But in Quinn Hughes' entire career, we haven't seen him play a ton with Myers. It just doesn't really jive. The chemistry hasn't always been there. And it's not that they were bad tonight. I thought Quinn, especially in the third period, he has the injury on that third goal where it looks like he's shook up, got a knock, whatever you wanna say. And then he comes back in the third period and he looks like a man possessed. He was the only guy going in the moment for the Canucks. - And he played 10-33 by the way in the third period. - At times, it felt like his impact was a little bit neutered because he's making a pass into the high slot and it's Myers there. And he's unable to get a good shot off. Or he's out there and he's doing all these crazy things and it's the fourth line that's with them and they're unable to connect. - That was one that was really puzzling. - They're unable to connect play with him. So I just, you know, the deployment with Hughes and hey, he was out there for a lot of shifts. So he's gonna be out there with the fourth line at different points, but there was a lot of things about the deployment that was puzzling. But going away from Hughes and Roanik like with 10 games left in the season, like really? I mean, it just, it doesn't seem to add up. Similarly to, you know, JT moving off the left half wall for such a long time on the power play. It must be the coaching staff trying to figure some things out. - Yeah, part of it is also are you reacting to the opposition on the other side to say, hey, that's a pretty balanced lineup. That's a pretty, you know, three lines deep. Do you want to spread out some of the prowess and move your puck movers around a little bit? - But they're a team that says, we got to focus on ourselves. - Yeah. - That's how we want to be. That's the conox, well, one of their mottos. - I would like the super pairing better than, and to your point about Roanik, yeah, he hasn't played all that well when we compare to the beginning of the season, is putting him on a different pairing, something that he's kind of struggled with over the last couple of months. Is that the right move? We'll see. You know, it's one game, it's a regulation loss. We'll see what they come back with on Thursday. But overall, I thought the defensive pairings, I was kind of scratching my head a little bit as well 'cause you look at Carson Sousie, I know he had some moments today, which is probably not, he's not happy with as well, weird deflections, but 12 minutes of ice time, which is pretty shocking for him, considering he played what, 19 minutes lost game, right? - It was probably his lowest game since his return. - Yup. - Didn't notice so much in the third period, really. - Yeah, I mean, I'll bring up how much he played here in the third period, but I can't imagine it was-- - Was it something with the penalty that they didn't love? - Probably, yup. - He plays 254 in the third period. - Diving in a little bit. Somebody, you know, for Hughes to play as much as he did, I guess somebody's gotta be the odd man out. - And Zadora played nearly 19 minutes, so a little bit maybe more confidence in his game tonight. - One of the things about it is, when you have the four lefties, it's the issue of who do we think is most comfortable playing on their right side? And I don't think they've loved having Zadora have been cold together. - Well, Zadora has told us that he doesn't like the unright side. - And Zadora have told us when he did his first interview with us on Knock Central, that he doesn't like playing the right side. So you're moving away from Sousie and Myers, because you're trying to appease Zadora and Sousie Myers has been a solid pair for this team for much of the season when Sousie has been healthy. So I think that's part of the calculations here is, maybe we gotta try to figure out some different pairings that might work for us as we start to think about how this is going to look in the playoffs. - And, you know, we've talked about those pairings guys. Part of this is, and guys, we've talked about this as well in the past is experiment time, right? You've got that padding. I know Rick Talkett, when he's talking to us is I'm thinking about the next game. I'm not thinking about two weeks in advance. I'm not thinking a week in advance, but this is a situation where you kind of have to look at that because if when you're right shot, defensemen get hurt, or if you're not able to use Noah Jules and then that situation, what does that look like? What's the maximum a guy like Hars and Sousie can play away from a Tyler Myers? What's the maximum, you know, Phillip Roanett can do without Queen Hughes? These are the times to figure it out because, you know, you're going to have no experiment time in a couple of weeks. None. If you're experimenting in the playoffs, it's probably too late. - D by committee. It's finally happened at game 72 of the season. - It was probably a good endorsement for Noah Julesen tonight too. - Yeah. - If the righty lefty thing is so important and you go with four lefties and you pick up a loss. - Yeah. - Which lefty? - I'm not taking Cole out of my playoff lineup though. - Yeah. I think there's value there. I know he's had struggles moving the puck out and clearing the zone at certain times, but he's also a guy that's like in a war of attrition. I feel like he's going to be plugging up the lanes a lot and that's extremely valuable, right? Carson Sousie's showing that too, but which left you're taking out then? - Yeah. - It's tough, it's tough. Adam Foote, Rick Doggett may have a decision on their hands, but we'll see. We're not on the playoffs yet. - And tonight, another night where the physicality was amped up to a thousandth degree. What was the final number on hits? - 46 for the Vancouver Canucks and 44 for the Kings. - Yeah, they had 40 on Thursday against Montreal and everybody was parading that around and now 46 tonight, but it comes in a loss so it's going to be a little bit more muted. But whatever Rick Doggett said after the Washington game, message heard by the team to up their physicality and that was one thing that I did like about their game tonight is just how physical they were with the Kings. - Yeah, not backing down whatsoever and it's going through the lineup. It's not one or two guys. You're looking at, you know, VisilyPod goals and it's the defenseman kind of diving in and occasionally as well. One thing though, guys. I was a little confused by the officiating tonight. - Which one? - Yeah, that's what. First period, J.T. Miller gets slashed by Kempe. No call on that. Quinn Hughes gets a call against him for slashing. Very similar play. Third period, the exact same thing happens. Hit by J.T. Miller and Drew Doudy and it happens again. No call, there's a conference at the center ice for it felt like two or three minutes and then you have the Drew Doudy penalty, which was the interference play on Brock Pesser. What happens right after that? In the neutral zone, Fiala interferes on Pew Souter, no call. It just felt, and that's not a reason for the loss. I was just puzzled by the officiating tonight. - Yeah, the one on Doudy. I mean, maybe it's me just watching it in slow motion a thousand times afterwards. - Amanda's Drew Doudy make him love it. Like they don't call that pick if Doudy doesn't look like he got a clothesline from hell from JBL Bradshaw, you know? Because he went down, his helmet comes popping off. It's just like such a show from Drew Doudy as he gets the smallest tap from Brock Pesser. And it's like, if you watch it, there's one angle that shows there's not a ton of contact there and he goes down. - In a hammer, yeah. - In a heap. And again, if there's no show like that, they don't call that interference because that play happens a thousand times a game in the offensive zone. - And boys, that's gonna happen in the playoffs. - I was just, I'll aim for you guys to finish, but stuff like that, the interference stuff in the neutral zone or the chip ins or guys kind of redirect, that stuff is gonna happen, be prepared for a ton of that in the playoffs. So that sort of stuff I don't have a big deal with. We talked in the first intermission though, Reece, like the Susie penalty, I can go either way on that one. The Hughes penalty, I can go either way on that one. - Or sorry, sorry, the Susie one that he draws in the corner, the very first penalty of the game, that it can go either way 'cause Susie also sold that one down pretty easy. - It ultimately all kind of comes out in the wash, but as you said, Randy, it's not really a reason for the result tonight. - No, it's not. And it's just a frustrating standard, right? And you guys have talked about this in the post game, a fair bit where you're seeing this thing happen. I felt like that slash in call in Quinn Hughes was a game management, all right, cut it out. There's a lot of stick work going on right now. We've seen a bunch of things. We're gonna call on, we're throwing one guy in there for a retaliatory penalty and stop it there. Happens later on in the game after Dougie takes a hit from J.C. Miller. And it's like, all right, at least maintain that standard. That's what frustrates me. - Well, and LA's chipping bodies all over the ice. I mean, the problem with those interference calls is, okay, well, what do you call and what aren't you calling? Might be like holding in the NFL, right? You know, holding on every play. It just depends on when they're gonna call it. - Randy, thank you very much, good call. And we will see you on Thursday night. - All right, enjoy the night, see you. I always forget, the schedule is like my, so jumbled in my mind right now. It's a Dallas game, not through the rest of this. - Are you framing your hockey night towel or? - I don't know how to do that. I don't know if I'm gonna have to go on the internet. I guess it's like a jersey, right? - Yeah, what a great memento. - Yeah, it was awesome. I never thought I'd get one for obvious reasons 'cause I can't play with the word. But yeah, I just got the gift from the producer, so I can at least say I have a hockey night in Canada towel, which it will not be on eBay anytime soon. I'm keeping it for myself. - Thanks a lot, Randy. - Cheers guys. - Cheers guys, off of the evening, again, back on Thursday. When the Canucks get set to play the Dallas Stars. All right, a look at the inbox. We'll get to the phone line here in just a second, but 6.50, 6.50. This one, Kings are underrated. They don't have any superstars, but they have eight quality two-way forwards, play smart with good complete, good structure. Whoever plays them in round one will be in for a long series. And Walt and Burnaby, the Canucks have rarely trailed, but their inability to get anything going for most of the third. And a playoff atmosphere was frustrating. What's the biggest thing that stands out to you tonight? I reach that that was maybe frustrating or a precursor to what might show up in the playoffs. You can text in as well, 6.50, 6.50 for what you think could be something that hinders the Canucks come playoffs. Well, it's just something you can't do in the playoffs is when something goes against you, you can't... - Make it worse. - You can't play. You can't let that compound and end up giving up another goal. Now you're two goals down instead of one goal down. The shifts following the LA Kings go ahead goal were really puzzling, right? They just let the Kings continue to pile on. They had a couple of chances even before they get the third goal. And that's the kind of thing you can't let happen. And we've seen it happen quite a bit with this team, right? A bad call goes against them. What was it in the Washington game, right? A bad icing? Okay, yeah, it's a bad icing, but defend the face off. You won the face off, clear the puck. These are the kinds of things that you just, if you do them in the playoffs, you will get burned. So, you know, having a kind of woe as me mentality, it's just, it's not something you can get away with when it comes to the postseason. - Let's take a call on the full line, 604-280-650, first thoughts coming in from Blake in Vancouver. Blake, your thoughts on a 3-2 game. - Yeah, thanks for taking my call, guys. I was at the game tonight, and I just think the Canucks didn't have enough urgency there in the third period. I mean, I think they went the first 15 minutes without even getting a shot on net, and then once they pulled Casey to Smith, they threw everything they had at Talbot. But by that point, it was too little, too late, and hopefully they can rebound on Thursday and get a W and clinch that playoff spot. - Blake, thanks a lot for the call, 604-280-650. We'll get to more of your thoughts on the other side. Plus, we'll hear from head coach Rick Tockett in multiple Canucks players after they meet with media on a game where they lose 3-2 for the LA Kings and the clinching scenarios are delayed just a bit. It is Bikna Zardand, Riccio here with you till 10-30 on the Canucks Central Postgame show presented by the number five orange on the Sportsnet Radio Network. - Discussing the biggest stories that matter to Vancouver Sports fans, howford and Bruff in the morning, subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. - This is where you talk Canucks. - You're listening to the Canucks Central Postgame show on the official home of the Canucks. - Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network. - Podkoles into the Kings line, tried a long shot, blocked by Dubois, Arvidson's got it near a wall. He's pushed to the boards by Podkoles and got a free to Lafferty with room in the slot. Ricc shot missed past the stick side of Talbot, and Podkoles and goes after it again, left wing side. Chipped it loose to Ian Cole on the boards, now to Lafferty. Carrying on the near wall, gets around the ferry air, going to the goal. Lafferty to the forehead, he scores. (audience cheering) No quit from Sam Lafferty as he takes it to the goal himself and buries it past Cam Talbot to tie the game at one for the Canucks. Sam Lafferty showing off the motor on that play. First Basilipod, Colson takes the puck from Arvidson along the boards and then Lafferty picks it up, goes for a little bit of circle along, left boards, and ends up going through about three LA Kings and beats Lafferty air, who's not even skating, just trying to get a stick on Lafferty. But Lafferty goes across Cam Talbot and beats him on the forehand to tie this game up. Highlight reel stuff from Sam Lafferty getting the Canucks on the board. One of two goals they scored this evening, the other coming from Brock Besser late in the game, ultimately in a 3-2 loss. Welcome to the Canucks Central post-game show presented by the number five, Orange, Bik Dazar, Dan Ricchio. You can chime in 6-0-4, 2-0-0-6-50, also 6-50-6-50 in that goal, the feature of a text from Bill. Says, "Hi guys, you guys are overanalyzing this loss, "it's pretty clear, the Canucks can't play a style "that will beat the Kings in a seven-game series. "The only way to win is by going through their players, "which we can't do as we don't have enough big forwards "to play that way, the Lafferty goal, "perfect example of how you need a score on the Kings. "Unfortunately, we couldn't do it on a regular basis, "Kings get two lucky goals, but the only way we stand a chance "is to win a game like that is keep it close "and go into overtime." Thanks, Bill. - Man, I appreciate the text, Bill. I disagree with a lot of your thoughts. The game was close, it was 3-2 in the end. Canucks were very close to forcing overtime, if not for a couple of big-cam Talbot saves in the end, and I'd argue that the Sam Lafferty goal is the kind of goal that's very rare come playoff time, where you're able to find that kind of space in the offensive zone and essentially go unimpeded to the front of the goal and go across the net and across the goalie's mouth and be able to tuck it in back door. I mean, that just, that doesn't happen on an in-zone play like that. Maybe there's a breakaway, there's a breakdown, somebody misses an assignment, something like that, but not to that extent. Sam Lafferty scoring that goal was a bit of Vasily pod Colson, doing a hell of a lot of work on the forecheck, and also Lafferty just taking what was given to him, which the Kings didn't give the Canucks much space at all on the night. Carne from Delta does want to highlight Vasily put Colson. The effort shown by the scoops, sometimes, so frustrating, however, watching put Colson continuing to make smart little plays and be that aggressive forechecker, it is so satisfying to see he gets an assist on that first goal, or actually do what they took it away. They gave it to Ian Cole, which I did mention that it looked like Ian Cole might get an assist, but it does get changed to Cole or Lafferty's goal from Ian Cole, but Colson deserves a point on that goal because it's his forecheck that gets in on Arvidson, and then it's his box out on Gavrakov, which opens up the path for Lafferty to take it to the net, which is-- - Hey, we're David and Greg. - How the Canucks tied the game, but they couldn't do it again. Let's quickly jump in the inbox. Let's catch in your eye. In the 650, 650 Dunbar Lumber text message inbox. - The, this one comes in, Canucks have to get back to one major thing. They have to get back to dominance of the neutral zone. When they do, puck possession becomes natural. This creates speed, puck carrying, and net front scoring. - It is, it's a good point from the textor. - Well, let's just look at the first two goals. - Yeah. - So the first one, Brock puts a puck, takes a pass on the backhand, which he doesn't handle very well, and then tries chipping it off the wall all deep, and it gets to just inside the blue line, but push right back out, and here comes the Kings three on two. Now, it's also aided by one demand not jumping on, but there's a neutral zone play. And then the second one, it's Ho-Lender taking a pass, which he doesn't receive well, and it creates this rush chance that Susie ends up taking a penalty on Lewis. So two neutral zone plays, and away you go. - Well, and that's, it goes back to LA playing the way that they do in the neutral zone, and basically stopping the Canucks from generating speed. They did it very seldomly, right? They didn't have a lot of clean zone entries, and I know people roll their eyes at the idea of zone entries and zone exits, and why is this a thing? But when you have possession with a zone entry, it just statistically leads to a lot more good things. And the Canucks didn't have a lot of zone entries with possession tonight. They had to dump it in and try to get after it. They didn't time their dumpins well, and there wasn't one player streaking in to get in hard on the four check, so it was an easy retrieval and exit for the LA Kings. I mean, those are the things that they did well a couple of weeks ago in LA when they beat the Kings, did not do as well tonight. - 604-280-0650. We'll get some comments from Rick Tockett coming up here, also J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes throughout the rest of the post-game show, but let's go back to the phone line. 604-280-0650 here on the Canucks Central post-game show. Aftar in Delta, welcome to the show. What's on your mind after a Kings win over your Vancouver Canucks? - Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. A long time caller, first time listener. - Love that. - Just wanted to comment on our physicality today. I thought the boys stepped up, played real hard, coming into the playoffs. That's exactly what we're gonna need here. Doesn't matter what team we play. Seems like every team is pretty big in the West. And we saw what happened with Edmonton when they went into Toronto the other day with their big guys, you know, kind of getting pushed around there and even their coaches tapped in like it. So I feel like we responded pretty well with Brock Besser, neutral zone penalty. I think the reps kind of caught on to doubt his lotion handigans there when they didn't call the high-sticking call. So I think that kind of stuff is gonna happen in the playoffs. I like the way we're going. So let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. - Thanks a lot for the call, 604, 280, 0650. That's an open phone board. You can grab that one. We will get to your phones in just a second but Rick Tuckett has wrapped up with media. So let's hear from the Canucks head coach after a 3-2 loss to the LA Kings. Here's Rick Tuckett. - Rick, you're going into this game that LA is a tight-checking defensive team. What did you see from your group in terms of maybe some of the struggles to generate tonight? - Well, we're a tight-checking game too. They just got a couple of goals around the paint. It was low event, it was eight or nine chances each. And they got a couple of stuff in the paint, I don't know what else to say. - What did you think of your push late to try? - The guys were on guard. I mean, we tried. You know, there's a couple of opportunities, I think for guys, there was two lanes there. If we played the back post, we talked about it before, it's there. And somehow we had two guys together. We should have the guy in the back post. I mean, I think it scores a lot like that. And if we just had that guy there, I think we would have got that equalizer, but I think we got a little bit antsy. - You guys have had a few games here where you've given up some late second period goals and tonight was no different. Is there something about that time of the game that you need to work through? - I don't know, it was the two goals in a couple of minutes. Yeah, I don't know, it was just blue paint stuff. We got to really own the blue paint. - Your top forward seemed a little bit quiet until that last push in the third. Did you see it that way? - Yeah, I just thought so much of them. I didn't think our execution was that, I didn't think we were just missing a little bit, execution wise tonight. So yeah, eight or nine chances each. They capitalized on a couple, but like I said, it was a hard fought game, but it's a good game for us to realize, that execution, and we got to make sure that we go to spots to score goals. I mean, some other guys got to know where to go sometimes to score goals. And you got to be ready for it. - Not the result you wanted, but the process tonight, do you think your team followed it for the most part? - Yeah, I mean, like I said, it's a coin flip type of game. They hit heads in one. They got a couple around the paint. I think that's really what it comes down to. - And one of the things you talked about earlier was the fact that you'd like to push the puck prior to them developing structure on defense. Do you think you could have done a better job with that maybe tonight? - Yeah, I just think the execution was, we were just off. I mean, a couple of bounce passes, you know, we were just kind of off. So, you know, got to execute these type of games. - On their first goal, it looked like there was a confusion at the bench with the line change. You looked like you only had four players on the ice at the time. What happened there? - Got it in jump. It was supposed to jump, he didn't jump. That's really what he told the guy to go and for some reason he didn't jump and it was too late. - What were you hoping to see changing the parents tonight? And I know you adjusted in the third and we saw different combinations, but what were you looking for and changing the D? - Just some different looks. You know, we're going to have some different teams we're going to be playing, you know, so you want, you know, we felt that matchup wise, this was the best way to go. - Late in the game there with, at the end of the game, you had Zadorov kind of in front of the net as an effort presence. Is that something that you're looking to try down the stretch to see if it works? - Yeah, I just, you know, we need somebody to win a battle in front. I just felt he'd be the big guy. So I was just hoping somebody was on the side of the net. Like, there was a couple of teachable moments I think we'll learn from it. You know, Z was in front. I think one of us should have been off to the side. Z could have, you know, I think it was battling and we could have had that back door play. But yeah, yeah, I think Z be in there. It could be something in the future. Sure, winning some battles in front. - That's Rick Tockett. After the Canucks drop one to the LA Kings three to two on a night where they could have clinched. - Yeah, man a few words tonight, Rick Tockett. That generally means he's not the happiest camper. - Well, one word in particular. - Yeah, execution. - Execution and blue paint. Now there was a lot of blue paint. - And eight or nine chances. - Yeah, I think we know how many chances that they felt that they knew. - Eight or nine chances each. - They just got a couple in the blue paint. - The interesting one though. We talked about the deep pairings a little bit. He gave a pretty good answer there. Just that they wanted different looks for the deep pairings and different teams that they're going to be playing. We felt that match up wise, this was the way to go. Which is something we did briefly discussed in the pregame show as well. Breaking up hues and heronic and Susie back on the right side in this moment. Did it create multiple puck carriers? And what are you gonna do with this as well? So one thing to know, and I meant to bring it up earlier when we were talking about Quentin Hughes with Randeep is Quentin Hughes' puck possession this evening was three minutes and 25 seconds. - That's a lot. - Usually he's 230, 245 on the really, really good nights. And even some of that is aided by power play. - Yep. - Today, there wasn't a lot of power play time. - No, there was a lot of six on five time. - Sure, yeah. But nevertheless, three minutes and 25 seconds is excessive and a minute 13 in the offensive zone. So just to show the gap between Quinn and everyone else. The next closest player in the game with total possession time was Drew Doudy at a minute 43. And offensive zone time by any player in the game was Elias Patterson with 44 seconds. So he's basically half a minute ahead of PD with offensive zone time and he's nearly two minutes ahead of Drew Doudy in total possession time. - Quinn, I said it earlier, he felt like the one driving the bus in the third period, right? - Trying to lead the comeback as a one man army. - So what it creates then is if we're talking about matchups, right? And you want Quinn to use to handle the puck as much as he does and he's naturally gonna do it anyways. Who is he going up against? - Yeah. - In these scenarios. He goes up against Phillip, no, a ton at five on five tonight. - Yeah. - Doesn't go up against Pierre-Luc Duval very much, fourth minutes and 31 seconds. Doesn't go up against Anze Coppertaar to much three minutes and 34 seconds. So they try to create an edge, the edge ultimately goes up against Phillip DeNo, but did they create enough with that edge? - No, because they didn't create enough all night long. - Because it was the thing that we kept talking about, it's some of the best plays that he created were to Tyler Myers and to fourth liners. And actually to be fair, to Lafferty McCabe and Blueger or Souter, they may have been the best line tonight. - Yeah, they actually generated a little bit, right? They, you know, Lafferty scored the goal. McKay, I've maybe had the other best chance on the night outside of whatever they were generating on the power play or six on five at the end of the game. So, you know, some things worked out for the Canucks. I agree with Tockett that they just, they left a lot out there. And that's kind of what it feels like when you play the Kings. Now, some of the execution could be sharpness on the Canucks end, but some of the failed execution is also on the way the Kings play and how strong they are defensively. So, you've gotta marry the two or find the happy medium where you're able to execute against this Kings team because they weren't able to execute for large stretches of the third period. And that's why a lot of our textures are saying where was the urgency in the third period? Didn't have a shot on net for the first half of the period. What was going on, all this kind of stuff. And part of that is playing against this LA team, how are you finding ways to play through them and they struggled with that tonight? - So I'm just looking at it now, per natural statric, high danger chances created with Queen Hughes, with the Hoaglander on the ice with Hughes created one, Suter created one, but Patterson zero, Garland zero, Miller zero, Brock Besser zero. - Wow. - High danger chances for, paired with Queen Hughes. Four for Teddy Luger, four for Sam Lafferty, three for Ilya McCabe, that's who he was doing it with. So if you wanna talk about execution and where matchup advantage was missed, there's a big one. - Gotta get Queen Hughes out more with your top six. Or figure out how to get them going a little bit more than they were. You know, one of the things we talked about in the pregame was Suter moving down to play away from Miller and Besser and I feel the duzeppe just didn't provide a lot to that top line tonight in his return to the lineup. I know you had to make some changes because Lindholm comes out of the lineup and so you're down a center. Now Suter has to go back and play in that type of a role, but you know, Suter with Miller and Besser has had a lot of successes here by the numbers and that missing that Lindholm piece, it's not that Lindholm has been incredible, but it's how it's fit the pieces around the Canucks lineup that seems to put them in a better position and you felt that absence from Lindholm tonight because it took guys away from playing in certain areas that had been having success and having to put them in different spots of the lineup. - Does it create an opportunity for Vasily put Colson? - I would, 'cause we talked about the 12-4 battle. - And when he is playing right now, I wouldn't mind seeing him with Miller and Besser. - And Miller's always been really quick even since Put Colson's rookie year to praise Put Colson. - Yeah. - That this guy's got something and right now he's doing plenty with his energy. On a night when we talked about 46 hits, Vasily put Colson has five. Sam Lafferty, by the way, leading the way with eight, JT with seven. - That's a crazy day for Sam Laffer. - But Vasily put Colson's hits were felt more. I'll say that much. He is just, I don't know, he was shot out of a cannon tonight, as I said it. I felt like his effectiveness sort of dropped a little bit after the block shot in the second period, but still he was a menace on the forecheck and the Canucks haven't had enough guys like that. And whatever they're teaching them down there in Abbotsford and showing them little tricks of the game and where to lift sticks and where to be on the ice and how to take better routes to pox on your forecheck and those kinds of things. Vasily put Colson took them to note because he is a far more efficient player than he was earlier this year. - Let's get to one call before the break. You can call in 604-280-650. Let's go to Wes in Coquitlam. Wes, how are you? - Thing. I, you know, it's getting harder and harder to listen to you guys after every Canucks loss, whining and whining about the officiating. If anyone has a complaint this evening, it's the Kings. There were two latent calls tonight that were not called. One was late in the first period, I think it was Luzzot who was hauled down, a two arm haul down, no call. And then again, in the second period, either Fiala or more. Same thing, two handed all down near the neutral zone. No call, but of course no comment on that tonight. When Randall was on, you know, the first thing you guys are talking about is officiating and all these-- - Well, okay, Wes, no, no, no, no, no, no, because it was the last thing we talked about. - It was literally the last thing we talked about. - It was literally the last thing we talked about and two, the bigger point was that we didn't like the officiating on either side and that the calls were questionable as to when they were made and which calls they chose to make. It wasn't that the Canucks lost because of the officiating. So I appreciate your call, but I just, I can't sit here and listen to you tell lies about what we were talking about earlier. - Wes, you're still there? - Well, I'm not telling lies. As I say, I recorded the game, I'm gonna watch it again later. - Well, it's on podcast so you can listen back to it and hear how we didn't say any of the things that you said we said. - You'll see those two calls that I'm talking about and those are calls that would be called any time in the regular season in a playoff game at any time in the game, regulation or overtime. - Yeah, and there was some that LA run an interference in the neutral zone time and time again that didn't get called. It's not about calls missed. It was just simply a comment on the timing of the calls that were made and when they were made. That's, that was the conversation. - I enjoy your show fellows, but focus more on the scoreboard rather than the officiating. Thank you. - Appreciate it, Wes. - Appreciate it, Wes. - Thank you, Wes. - Thank you, Wes. - Wes in Coahuatlum, 604-280-0650 to call in. Grab that full line. We'll be here from J.T. Miller and Queen Hughes on the way back on the other side. We are in the Canucks Central Post Game Show presented by the number five orange. - Everything Canucks before and after the games. Canucks Central with Dan Riccio and Satyar Shah. Subscribe and download the show on Apple's Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. - This is the Canucks Central Post Game Show. Join the discussion on the official home of the Canucks, Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network. - Campaign, right point for doubting. Leaves for Coapatar, top of the right circle, takes a shot, stop by Desmith, rebound loose. In the crease kick, wide to the number, they score, Coapatar found it in the blue paint, shovels it home on the backhand, and LA goes up three to one with 140 left in the second. And the Kings win another battle in front of the net as there's chaos, campaign, biofield, and Coapatar all in and around the blue paint. - I don't know, it was a two goals in a couple of minutes. Yeah, I don't know, it was just blue paint stuff. I've got to really own the blue paint. - Oh, Batchett Randeeb, ahead of the curve on the usage of the term blue paint. - Yep. - Welcome back to the Canucks Central Post Game Show presented by the number five orange Vancouver legend. They've got Sports2, that was the eventual game-winning goal by Anze Coapatar, who keeps doing it. It's, we alluded to it in the pregame. He's red-hot right now, Aja Coapatar. And the Kings needed it because when he-- - Another multi-point game for Anze. - Yeah, when he was struggling, the Kings really struggled. That was probably their low point of the season, that's when Todd McClellan ended up getting the axe. And now that Coapatar is going, you see a much more formidable team because, you know, they, for as much as they want to play this lock it down kind of style, you still need some guys that are going to break the game open every now and again. And Coapatar is that guy for them right now because beyond him, I don't know. There's just not, there's not a lot that frightens me. Drew Dowdy doesn't frighten me in the way that he used to in the prime of his career. But Aja Coapatar, when he's going, he can still do that. - Ian in Dunbar, LA is very demonstrative in front of the net in their own end, totally clogged the middle and in the Canucks net front slash in grab. I don't know if that meant smashing grab, nevertheless, that's the text from smash and grab. Ian in Dunbar. - Burnly going into Old Trafford and smashing grab in a one-nil victory. - Oh, also Travis in Chilliwack. Pedersen has been average for the best month now. When is the last time we've seen Pedersen really take over a game? He pinches against the boards all the time, ends up getting out, muscled off the puck. He used to have so much flair in his game and his shot from the hash marks that he had last year. It's non-existent. If the team's going to make a run of the playoffs, they need to get him going. Can't just rely on Hugh and Miller to carry this team night after night. - I disagree that this was an average night out of Elias Pedersen. - I don't know if it was a good night. - Well, yeah. I mean, look, he didn't make the difference in the game, so I guess it's hard to sit here and shout from the top of Gross Mountain that Pedersen was amazing this evening. - When they tried switching it up, he got shifts with Miller and Hoaglander, which didn't really work. He got shifts with the Lotto line, which didn't really work. - He played 16-37 at five on five. Him and Miller were the heaviest time on ice players. Pedersen did have, he was not on the ice for a goal against. - I felt that if a player was going to make a difference tonight, Pedersen was more likely than not to make it. More so than Miller and what was going on with Miller and Besser tonight, didn't love their game. Pedersen, less so in the third period, but moments through the second, where you saw the flash from Pedersen finding ways, angles, different moves that gave him extra space on the ice to make a pass. - He helped generate a Garland opportunity in the first period. It was a high slot shot where pressure along the wall creates a turnover. And he was at the cross ice pass. It was the high shot on Talbot. - So there was some good things in Pedersen's game tonight. Obviously, there's been sort of a stretch here where he hasn't had a big game. - I just think it was one of those games that waned. I think he was probably best in the first period. And then, yeah, progressively, it depreciated. - Well, he had that chance to, I guess in the third, it was their only shot on goal for a large part of the-- - It was the first shot, seven minutes in. - Yeah. And he has an opportunity to take a King's defender one on one is feet kind of stop moving and it's easy to defend. And he gets a weak shot off that's easily stopped by Cam Talbot. He had a weak one-timer opportunity in the second period, as well. - Yeah. - Hoaglander gets the inside track on Drew Doudy. He gets some good work to retrieve the puck and comes below, slides it above the goal line to Pedersen who's coming towards the net. And the one-timer shot, not that he was coming up, but just even the chance to shovel it towards the net doesn't really come off. - I think, for me, Pedersen, that moment in the third period where he tries to make a move, create a little bit of space, but his feet aren't really moving, so it's easy to defend. He's trying to get an angle to make a pass to Hoaglander who I think was trying to get some space at the back door. But sometimes the pass isn't on. And you've got a great shot. You should use it more often. And use it before somebody's able to check you in a way that takes away the time and space for you to get some heaviness on the shot. But overall, Pedersen played pretty well tonight. I don't think he was the issue. I think overall for the Canucks, they just struggled for much of the night to play through the LA Kings. And for as physical as they were, the Kings did a better job of getting to the inside and winning those battles in the blue paint, as Rick Tockett says, compared to the Canucks. And ultimately, that is the slight difference in the game. - Dick Nazar, Dan Ricchio here on the Canucks Central Post Game Show. You can chime in 6.50, into our Dunbar Lumber text message. Inbox also to the phone lines, 604-280-650. Let's catch up with Nolan in Kelowna. Welcome to the show, Nolan. How you thinking? - Hey guys, thanks for having me on. Kind of fun to just talk about Pedersen 'cause I totally just sicked with you guys. - Let's hear it. I'd love to hear a different thing. - I actually want to know this. I want to know who the heck is like representatives are. Just trying to get $11 million contract. Like I would be shining shoes out there every day, putting up like grinding the corners, like the door up and all these guys. He's like, looks like Bambi out there, gets tossed around. You know, like last couple of goals, or like kind of a barely goal, like those pucks next to the net, being like kind of dives into it. And it's like, oh, look at me. Like it's kind of like a bit all over the place. Obviously not want to always call in and complain, but that would be my only complaint. And then maybe you guys can also touch on like Lindholm asking for his next kind of contract 'cause it's coming up. You know, he's looking at, he's trying to ask like five or $6 million. And it's like the guy looks like a ghost, they could be, you could put someone, you know, from the Abbot's for League up on the team, performing just as well as he is. So maybe you guys can kind of touch on those two points. But thanks for your time, eh? - Thanks a lot for the call. Nolan in Kelowna, 604-280-0650, if you want to grab. That phone line, I think Lindholm's going to be looking for a lot more than five to $6 million. - Yeah. - And certainly the UFA market doesn't look fantastic. So his name might pop to the top of the list. There's a reality where, you know, he gets $50 million. - Yeah. - And I didn't play tonight. The President's defensively probably shown a little bit just to illustrate how the center's played out tonight. Miller plays for 21 minutes. Pew suitor for 14-23. Elias Patterson, 22-09, and Teddy Blugger with 13-51. Odd note here on the box score. Elias Patterson only with two face-offs tonight. Goes 50%. - Guess the Canucks went away from it. We saw Miller come out for a couple of the offensive zone draws. - He took 24 face-offs tonight. - He went 58%. - So no Lindholm says or means more. - No other Canucks player, I think, took more than seven. So no Lindholm means JT Miller is going to be taken a lot of face-offs until he is back into the lineup. - And Sam, sorry, just looking at the face-offs stats right now. So JT goes 14 and 10 for 58%. Sam Lafferty goes two of five for 29%. - Mm-hmm. - Suitor goes three in one for 75% and Teddy Blugger three of four for 43%. So not a lot of guys taking face-offs outside of JT Miller. - That was all on JT. So you see a little bit of a nice Lindholm value there. - Brings back fond memories of JT taking all the face-offs basically at the end of last season. So Lindholm, I think for right now, he is very much in a really tight spot. You get traded to this team. You want to be part of a playoff push. You want to show well so that you can get going and earn yourself a big payday in the summer from somebody that isn't the Calgary Flames. And absolutely nothing has gone right for him since he arrived in Vancouver. Maybe outside of his first game where he scored two goals. Man, that seems like he owns a go. And now he's got the injury. Can he play through it? Seems like he can. He has for a while now. Does he want to play through it? Does he want to try and up his value for free agency? Does he want to be part of a contender? Does he want to show how he can help a team win in the playoffs? I think all of those things are going through Lindholm's mind right now, but also I got to do what I got to do for my family and make the most money that I can and set up generations of Lindholm's to come. So it's, you know, I feel for him a little bit. It's a tough spot to be in, but you've already made quite a bit of money in your career, you should be fine. And you're still going to get paid pretty well in free agency this summer. End of the day to the caller Nolan. He has 40 goals on his resume. He's a two-way center with some offensive upside. Teams like him, the Bruins like him. There's a reason why Lindholm is going to be sought after in free agency despite what is going on in Vancouver right now. As for the Parisin point, I don't know, I thought Parisin was pretty good Saturday to assist, to primary assists, two goals against Buffalo, a couple of games ago. I understand if you want to look at the strength of competition and say, all right, do it against playoff teams and tonight wasn't a great night for Lea Fetterson. - But what do we want, you know? Nolan, Nolan, that's the point. - Look, Nolan's point is fair. Petterson's last goal was an empty netter. The one before that is what he mentioned, right? Oh, probably loose puck in front of the net. He dives at it and puts it in. It's like, well, don't you want guys to score goals in the blue paint? Isn't that what we complain about all the time? Oh, this guy's not going to the hard areas of the ice. Pick your poison, man. I mean, you're going to complain about every different spot on the circle of what you can possibly complain about, then you're never going to be happy with anybody. - I was joking last week on the show that we don't really appreciate when players are good because when they break out of a slump or something like that, it's the common we get is, yeah, you're supposed to do that. And tonight we're saying Lafferty has this great play. It's like, oh, that's the guy. - Yeah. - Give that guy four years. - Look, Petterson hasn't done enough lately, okay? That is a very fair and factual statement to make. Since the All-Star break, which is now a run of 21 games, Petterson has one, two, three, four, six goals. One of them is an empty netter. In 21 games. So quick math, that's about what? 20, 24 goal pace? Still not bad, but not only is Petterson. Right? And that's the issue here. You've just seen a player get 80 plus million, 90 plus million dollars on a new contract that's going to keep him in Vancouver for the next eight seasons. That's great, but at this very moment, he isn't playing at the peak of his powers and people are wondering why. I think we all are. I see a player that's doing a lot of things well, but it's just not coming off right now. But I think a hot streak is coming for Petterson before the end of the season. - Did I miss speak? Did I say two, oh, five or two and five? Someone's texting him out. How was two in five face-offs, 29%. Sam Lafferty took seven face-offs. It was two and five. - Yep. - Two wins, five losses for 29%. All right. I'm just turning it on and it's been fantastic and the level people want to see every player playing at. Is JT Miller and JT Miller met with media after a tough game against the LA Kings? An opponent they've seen a couple of times here in the last little stretch and I commented that they play a well-structured game. Here's JT. - Yeah, you know, they play ball today. I thought we were really good at the end of the first period. I thought we were okay at times in the second. I mean, it was a hard-fought game. - What's the mindset going to the third knowing that they've got a two-goal lead and they probably sent that back off like that? - Yeah, I mean, you know exactly what they're going to do. It's all about, you know, coming up with pucks and trying to get to the net and you need a bounce or two and just came up a little bit short. But like I said, they played, they played a really good structural game. - Yeah. - That makes them so hard to play against. - Just the structure, their discipline team. We got some guys I've been doing it a long time. So, you know, they don't really get out of structure and they stay composed even when they're up and they're comfortable being in that position. - What does a game like this do for you guys to help you prepare for what it's going to be like. - Yeah, I mean, that's exactly it. I mean, those are the games that you want to be in. I mean, you're not going to have a lead all the time going into the third period and you're certainly going to have to come from behind. So, constant learning lessons, you know. I mean, you want to win every game, obviously. We got some good pushes, but I think we just had a, we have a hard time, I think, getting on the inside sometimes against those guys, you know, and we need to do a better job. The forward's got to do a better job of getting there. You just had a few games where you gave them one up lead in the second period, how do you get through that? - Oh, sometimes that happens, it's a long season. Obviously, you want to, I mean, sometimes, you know, they go in whenever, you know, sometimes, I mean, it's a, that point we're pushing, I think, a little bit and you want to go into the third, obviously, a little closer, but, you know, at the end of the day, we would need it, too, anyway, so. - Didn't seem like you gave up a lot, but some bad bounces went against Casey. - Honestly, I don't remember the goals, but, you know, you know, they played well, it was a hard-fought game. They capitalized on their little looks that they had, and, like I said, they're hard to beat team, hard team to beat whenever they have a lead. - You were able to work the puck around to you in your spot there in the final minute, and you get a couple of decent looks, did you think? - Like, they just packed it in. I honestly don't see anything open really when I'm shooting, just kind of hoping to get lucky. The puck seemed to, you know, was bouncing the whole six on five. I mean, even if you, you know, you couldn't even pass it because it wouldn't settle, and then, it's no excuse, I just think it, we weren't as sharp, and, you know, those looks there is where when they pack it in, you just need to bounce sometimes, or you need to high-level play, and, you know, we tried to funnel some pucks, and, like, honestly, just come up short. - So, a lot of games, last couple of years, when you guys were aspiring to become a better team, that we thought were sort of measuring stick games, like, how did you measure up against this team or that team? Do you think your team's now the measuring stick that other teams? - Yeah, I mean, I don't want to speak on behalf of them, but we've been at the top of the league the whole year. I think there's a time we can take pride in that, and, you know, we're certainly not satisfied with there. I think it's, you know, more of a game-to-game process type of thing for us, and, you know, I love the fact when, you know, they're banging their, you know, I don't love losing games, but, you know, one of their teams are banging their sticks, and when that last pucks cleared out, you know, they know they just beat a good hockey team. I mean, it says a lot, and, you know, where you, it's gonna be a lot of hard games here coming down, this is a good prep for us, and we gotta find a way to win games like that, and, you know, not give up the late one in a second, or whatever happened, and, you know, they're all tight against LA, I mean, that's just how it is gonna be this time here. - You didn't hear much of stat-cheving your hand out, or any particular number two look for after a game like this? - Jesus. (beep) - Oh, okay. - Nope, just go and stat it. - What a finish. - JT Miller with an emphatic end to the press conference, or the media scrub, after a 3-2 loss. I'll read his whole stat line. - Daniel Wagner just knows how to get the most out of his questions. - I'll read the whole stat line for JT if there was a number he was looking at. It's a one assist, plus one, 21 minutes, 26 shifts, one shot on goal, one attempt, one missed attempt, seven hits, one giveaway, one takeaway, one block shot, and, as mentioned, 14 of 24 in the draw for 58%. - Yeah, it was a busy night for JT. - Is that a fine? - I don't think it's a fine. - I mean, the NHL, some things they'll find for, some things they'll do. - I mean, didn't Christian Fisher drop an F-bomb in a TV interview? Then he said, "Sorry, Mom." The other night. - All right. Maybe it's not a fine. - It happens. - Maybe it's not a fine. - Don't think it's a fine. 604-280-650, you can grab a phone line on the other side. We'll also hear from Queen Hughes, and we'll see if we can connect with Ian McIntyre as well. But he's on deadline on a day like today. - On deadline, it's an earlier finish. - Hey, busy, man, you're busy. - Tell the sports net people in Toronto to stay up later. - I'm actually got to finish his piece. So he spoke about JT just referencing that they stayed in their structure and all this sort of stuff. And we mentioned, he connects, made some mistakes, the line change, which Rick talked to even mentioned, that the guy's number was called, the guy didn't jump. - We talked about Sousie's ice time with Randeep, and after Rick talk, it's a comment. I feel like we have a little bit more. - Because it was supposed to be Cole jumped onto the ice, and then his deep partner on the night was Carson Sousie. - It was weird, though, 'cause he would say, Cole swaps for Hughes. - Yeah. - And Myers, or Sousie was for Swaffa Myers, but it's Myers that goes off the ice first. - Yes. - And Cole's the one that jumps off. - I think Sousie's been playing on his offside more lately. So he would be the one to jump on for Myers. - Yes. - It was just a weird mix up, but they make a mistake. - Mm-hmm. - And then a Hoglander play in the neutral setting where we can't corral past leads to Sousie's penalty, leads to the second goal. Another mistake. It's the topic I want to talk about on the other side, because we've mentioned so much of unforced errors, they've made some, they can correct them, and it's not a big deal. When they keep happening, is this also part of their identity? We've applauded them for their five on five defensive play, and it's something that they can have, obviously, going into the playoffs to give them a bit of success, but is the defense, or is the mistakes, also part of their identity, too. We'll get into that on the other side. Victor Azar, Dan Rachio, 650, 650, if you want to text in. It is the Canucks Central Post Game Show presented by the number five orange of Vancouver legend. They've got sports, too. The most opinionated Canucks show out there. Canucks talk with Jamie Dodd and Thomas Drans. Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is where you talk Canucks. You're listening to the Canucks Central Post Game Show on the official home of the Canucks. Sportsnet 650, and the Sportsnet Radio Network. Gavricov, great way for Roy to the Vancouver line, in front of the Zoth to the net is denied by dismissed with the glove. Lake Lazart, in a loan, made a beautiful move to the backhand and tried to fire it over the glove of Casey Desmith, who was ready and waiting to make the save. And if the Canucks can come back in this game, that will be a huge moment. It's still 3-1 LA. Excellent glove save by Casey Desmith, but this was a play that started in the neutral zone. Arvidson with excellent back pressure on the Canucks, who were trying to attack. And after that, Roy takes the puck on the right-hand side. And very good feed, but Casey Desmith ends up making the save and keeping the Canucks in this. The Canucks, on the wrong end of a 3-2 result, LA Kings, getting the two points tonight. Welcome back to the Canucks Central Post Game Show on Sportsnet 650, presented by the number five Orange. Get your thoughts in 650, 650. You can also call in 604-280-0650. We'll hear from Quinn Hughes and the goalscorer Sam Alafferty this evening with a highlight, a real goal tonight. A great performance, or a great goal, marring the, or the result, marring a great goal from Sam Lafferty. It was beauty. As it happened, I just like, I couldn't believe it. Like you saw the play open up as soon as he was able to get around LaFairy Air. I just wasn't sure if he was going to have the confidence to take it. Same with me. I was like, is this happening right now? Is Sam Lafferty taking his heart to the paint? And he did. Hey, he was looking like Alan Iverson or something like that. Yeah, maybe a young Charles Barkley. Yeah. I don't know. And even like the, the, the in-tight maneuverability. Yes, so we're working the confined space of, and big shout out to Vasily put goals in again on that play. Yeah. But Sam Lafferty, it's strong. It kind of happened in slow motion a little bit. Like almost the Kings were also surprised that Sam Lafferty was taking it hard to the paint like that. But look at me just saying paint every three seconds thanks to, to Rick Tockett earlier. All right. 65650 to the Dunbar Lumber text message inbox. You can get your thoughts in there. I want to continue our conversation, though, where we're having right before the end of the break. So mistakes that they pile up. And oftentimes we sit here, you know, myself and sat, and you guys the next day over, and we talk about unforced errors they happen. And you know, by and large, on a good team, you'd say, oh, like that stuff gets cleaned up. Yeah. We don't have a lot of concern. But now it feels to be a regular prevailing thought at times that I feel like I've, my self has said, and I'm forced errors tonight. Good team though, they'll, they'll, they'll fix that. It seems like it's been happening a lot. So is that also baked into who they are? Or is it just the nature of the game? I think it's more nature of, of the game. I don't, they aren't the cleanest team out there, right? That's part of their MO. They are still working through some things. They are, for a large part of the squad, going through this for the first time. And, and also, I agree with you there. It's also a bit of a transition year, too. This isn't the final product for Patrick L.V. and Jim Rutherford, and Ian texted it earlier. This is an experience year, not a cup year, right? And so not every player, like there, there is a disparity at times between the guys they've truly invested in and the guys that they're still working through the contracts from the last regime. And do they totally agree with the talent assessment at times? So sometimes these things are going to happen, that there's some gaps from players that maybe they didn't originally invest in or don't want to continue to invest in. But nevertheless, I think it does start to happen. The, the gaff, the gaffs tonight, I don't, if they weren't so egregious, there's certainly things you don't see very often. Not jumping on the ice, this incredibly egregious. The Susie one is definitely egregious to not jump on the ice for a line change and leave your team out with one man short on a critical play. Sure, that one is egregious. But the whole gender mispasses, like that stuff happens. Yeah, and you know, those kinds of things happen. I know we've gotten a lot of questions about the ice you saw. I was leading to that, but yeah. Cam Talbot in the first period at the change of skate plates, Kevin Woodley on Twitter was speculating or wondering if maybe it has to do with the soft ice here in Vancouver. There's been, I wouldn't say complaints, but you've heard some whispers about how the ice is not maybe as good as it is in other spots in the league. The commentary on that from fans in particular has picked up significantly and it's been noticeable. And then I'll read this text here. Hey guys, notice the last couple of weeks how choppy play has been. Is there any way to improve the ice quality here in Vancouver? Should this be the standard moving forward? It's been noticeable since we had that nice 19 degree day. Yeah, and as the weather has changed, has the quality of ice also changed? I'm not an ice technician. Neither am I. I felt it at my local beer league up in North Van. It was hot in the rink, muggy in the rink, and the ice was a lot choppier than normal. So look, it's part of it. I know that this rink is getting pretty old now. Are they going to have to? They've done a lot of Renos are continuing to do a lot of Renos. Big new jumbo Tron. How much of the undercarriage is in need of some upkeep here at Roger's Arena? I think we're starting to see it and it's it'll become more of a conversation if the Canucks go deep into the playoffs and you start to get some hotter days. Although, you know, if you're playing in Juneuary, you might be okay. Yeah, as far as investment, obviously the big seat reinvestment is going to be happening. Black seats, 150 million. I'm curious for that jumbo Tron. Let's offer more heat or something like that. If the technology has less heat and that plays a factor, I'm trying to bring up anything here each. One degree could make a big deal. It very well could. I don't know what's going to happen, but somebody's got to fix the ice. Can they get that guy that does the winter classic ice to come in and figure it out? Not the Lake Tahoe one, though. Not the Lake Tahoe one. Skating through slush and that one. That was pretty bad, yes. The guy who built the the rink in LA for one of the stadium series games, that might help. But yeah, a lot of questions coming in about the ice, the course of this evening. This one, they sure love passing the puck around and skating behind the net. Also, dump-ins when the king's defense is always back. So let's just turn over every time. Such a frustrating game. Listen to the arena and shoot the puck! Cadux are a quality over quantity team. They have been all season long. And Rick talking here recently has talked about that coming around the net. Yeah, play of looking and you actually reference guys being on the back post rather than two in front tonight in post game. But they've discussed quite a bit how often they're trying to do that loop around the net and look for someone out of the high trailer or someone net front or back post. So essentially what he was saying in the post game is guys kind of ended up on top of each other and they needed to one stay in the net front battle. Zadorov stay in the net front battle and somebody go to the back post and score the Zach Hyman goal. Tap in merchant Zach Hyman as he is now being called according to those on 32 thoughts. It's, look, you've got to find ways to generate more. The Cadux took them all night to generate heavy zone time. When they got to six on five they started to get some zone time and that's where they generated their best offense, their most chances. But to the textures point, a lot of their dumpins, it just felt easy for LA to... All right, we're gonna go retrieve the puck and get it back out. Sometimes the Cadux were just late, you know, slow to get in on the four check. There wasn't one moment I think in the third that did a little frustrate me a little bit with Pedersen where rather than get in on Ju Doudi, he tried to guess which way Doudi was gonna pass. Now look, I understand you're down 31, you're just trying to create a turnover and chase the game that way. But there was a moment where can you create a little bit of contact and make a player make a tougher play and you just allow an easier zone exit. Now, how often did that occur the whole evening? The Cadux, I think, weren't necessarily first of pucks but battled along the boards and at least held the puck there, which I think is the more important task. Pedersen does that a lot where he just sort of tries to read the play and tries to bait and take basically. And sometimes it works brilliantly. You know, there were other mostly non-noticeable moments where that happened. You know, there was a play, I think it was in the third period, earlier in the third period. And an LA player has the puck in the neutral zone. And Pedersen's just kind of like sitting in the far right circle, not doing much. And he's just staring at the LA player waiting for him to rim it around because he knows what is exactly about to come. Why would I move from the spot when I know the puck's going to end up here? And so eventually the rim around comes and Pedersen is able to quickly retrieve it and get it out. So, you know, those kinds of things happen all over the ice. It is Pedersen's, you know, aside from the deeks, I guess, and the shot, you know, one of his elite qualities is how he reads the game and knows where to be, knows where the puck is going to go. You know, there's always, from watching Gretzky documentaries as a kid, you know, one of the things Walter Gretzky's father mentioned he did with Wayne. It's like, they'd watch... Wayne Gretzky's father. Yes, Wayne Gretzky's father, Walter. Is that not known? Did I not make that clear? You said Walter Gretzky's father. Yes, okay, well, that would be Wayne's grandfather in that case. But anyways, Walter Gretzky, what he would have Wayne do and what Wayne got accustomed to doing is when Hockey Night in Canada was on on Saturday nights, he would just grab a board with this, you know, with the rink on it. And all Gretzky would do the whole night is just track the puck all over the board the whole night. And he would just draw where the puck is going. And why was Gretzky so great? I mean, he was seven steps ahead of everybody on the ice. He always knew where the puck was going to go. Pedersen doesn't have that quality to Gretzky's ability because nobody did and nobody does. But Pedersen's one of his great qualities is that he reads the play so well and knows where to be. 650, 650, keep coming with your thoughts. We'll touch on a couple more here. But let's get to the thoughts of the captain on a three, two, lost night to the LA Kings. Here is Queen Hugh's talking about, hasn't had enough time to process this game. I'm not sure I haven't had a lot of time to digest yet, so... What makes them so hard to break down? I just think they have a lot of really good players and they play to their system. When they had that going for them, Queen had kind of skates here, a couple of shots going in, one of them was off SUSI, one of them, just kind of unfortunate. Yeah, yeah, of course unfortunate. You know, not much SUSI can do on that one there. And then obviously don't want to get scored on that late in the second. I'd say that was the tough point there. And what are you going to do? Like I said earlier, they're a really good team. They got some good players to play their structure really well, but we had our looks also and then comes down to probably the last couple minutes of the second period there. It was late second period both against that has been kind of a trend. How do you get past that? I don't know, I don't really remember what you're talking about as a trend, so can't recall any games really, maybe one against Washington or two against Washington, but I think that we just got to be ready for the full 60, whether it's, you know, the first, second or third. When you guys only had one shot until you got the goal you pulled in the third period, was that more what they were doing to defend or did you guys have to find a way to do a little bit more? In the third? Yeah, I mean, I think they were just probably packing it in a bit there and then we were trying to push the pace and had some looks, but obviously it wasn't off. I thought we had some really good chances there at the end there with a minute left or two minutes left or whatever it was and yeah, it's just too bad. Like you had the puck on a stick and you used to take a lot tonight, like you were skating miles, it was tough to turn a lot of that into high-grade scoring chances. Yeah, like that's something I got to be wary of, just making sure that I'm getting to my point and making a great a chance instead of just exerting energy and had some coupling of that back in a second and a shot in a second I liked both from the right side of the rink and I'll take those chances any day, but as far as that I think I probably want to have a couple more shots than then throughout the game, but I thought some guys played really well and obviously not much case you can do on those two goals sir. I know that you were back with Phil for most of the third period. I mean, is that just a comfort thing or do you expect to see you go back and forth through the last time? Yeah, I didn't talk to anyone about it. I mean, Misey's been here five years, you know, really comfortable with him on the ICN off the ice and obviously I've been very vocal about how talented and good of a play I think Phil is and how much he's elevated my game and hopefully I've elevated his, but we've been great all year and they're obviously wanting to see, you know, a couple different things and a small recursion from them, but I'm comfortable with with any of our guys. It's Quinn Hughes on the night where he gets assist number 68 on his trek towards 70 and more talking about the deep pairing is changing for this evening on a night where the Canucks lose 3-2. We make a couple of changes, no sapphire shot tonight, but we certainly make sure Ian McIntyre comes in to close the night. He is the triple threat on radio, on digital, at sportstime.ca and also on television. He is Ian McIntyre. And Dan Reicho, so considerate and kind to give me my chair tonight, my perch in the far corner, yeah, of the press box. I feel much more comfortable. I feel like Quinn Hughes has just been reunited with Philip Ronik. I felt like a bad teammate after the other night, you know? Well, I didn't put you in a spot to succeed. How would you know? How would you know? I've actually and I've never done this story and I've covered hockey so long, so that's it's totally on me, but for years I've toyed with the idea of trying to write a big feature about the pregame warm-up and how guys figure out who goes where and who gets what ritual and write about that. Like if you're a new guy coming to the team, how do you know where to stand in the umbrella? Now things are a lot different, it's not quite as I think regimented as it once was where the poor new guy like was just in terror of being in somebody's spot on the ice. So you know, really never got a proper warm-up until he'd been with the team about a month to figure out the lay of the land. But yeah, so there you go. Nice of you to move over. Well, I mean, you know, especially after you posted that picture of how beautiful Vancouver is, he's the quadruple threat, the photography for me in McIntyre is a mackey. Where did you get that picture from? Did you just raise your arms? No, I'm looking down to Vancouver. Yeah, I wish I was that tall. No, I had my, I was in one of the medical buildings on Broadway. I took my dad for an appointment today and looked out and saw that and it was it was pretty incredible. I was, you probably don't know this, Dan, as a young man, which wasn't that long ago, no matter what you're thinking. I actually did some training as a photographer and it was as I was going to school, it's like, okay, writing or photography. And I think I chose the right thing. Aren't we glad you made the right choice? Yeah. Well, as difficult as journalism and the writing field has become, the getting paid to be a photographer part is really, really tough. Well, and you get to watch the LA Kings just absolutely locked down a hockey game. Yeah, yeah, Nikita Zadora said, and I'm going to paraphrase because I haven't, I haven't got the quote right in front of me, but I talked him after and he said, yeah, they don't really make plays. They just rim the puck and fall back. And he said, you know, they don't really play hockey and their goal is to not let anybody there playing play hockey. But he is actually saying it in a complementary way, because you know, LA, everybody in the league knows LA is tough, is a really tough team to break down. And the Canucks, you know, they did win two one in overtime in LA, a four on four on three goal on a delayed penalty in overtime. But they have had a hard time in the three games against LA getting to the net and getting getting scoring. That's five goals in the three games, including the big bounce tonight off copotard skate for for Besser. So what's interesting to me though is in that two one game where they win, they were really proud of the fact that that they made adjustments in that game that hey, this one three one and guys all below the red line that they figured that out. Why didn't it translate tonight? Well, that's a good question. I don't know. LA has something to do with it. I think, I think tonight's game, you know, the impression to me, and I asked, I don't know if you heard my question to Miller and the scrum if you played his audio, but you know, for for years, this team treated because it was always aspiring to be something better than it was treated games against other top teams as some sort of barometer or measuring stick. And now it feels like a game like tonight, this game probably meant more to LA than it did to Vancouver, even though the Canucks had a chance to clinch and they've been incredibly consistent. That's what maybe as much as anything sets them apart from all these other teams that have had great seasons and, you know, my goodness, there's never been standings like this. Like the other day top seven teams were separated by one point within one point. And if any of the seven, you said we're going to win the Stanley Cup. Yeah, okay, they got a chance. I mean, it is so even. But one of the things that is separated Vancouver is their consistency, like how well they have applied themselves to each game and they've stayed in this mantra of, you know, earning their day and all that stuff. But it really felt like a game tonight, especially where LA is, with LA having lost to Vancouver at home three weeks ago with with the Kings knowing that there are potential first round opponent for Vancouver. And not only that, probably probably knowing if they're being truthful with themselves, the preferred first round opponent because would you rather play LA or would you rather play Vegas? Would you rather play LA or would you rather go most of the way across the continent and play Nashville when they're the hottest team in the NHL right now? I mean, who knows how they'll be in three weeks, but LA knows this. I think this was this was a measuring stick game for them. Yeah, they wanted to show something to Vancouver. And for the second time in three games, they certainly showed them. And I would I would say big that that two one game in LA, which I covered, was the Canucks deserve better than a two one OT win, but they did get the win. I would say tonight, I'm not saying that LA deserved better. I mean, they got the two points, but that that goal at the end by Besser really gave it a veneer of closeness that I don't think was merited. I know talk it said it was a coin flip game and they got heads, but I thought LA was the better team for a lot longer part of the game. And maybe more importantly than that, once they got the lead, so what however you thought of, you know, their bounces and yeah, there was a couple of bounces and however you, whatever you thought of their goals, the Canucks were absolutely a nerd in the third period until they pulled their goalie. They had one shot on net in the first 16 minutes, and it was a slow slider along the ice from Patterson from the high slot. That was all the Canucks generated while trailing by two goals in the third period on Holmice. LA is a tough, tough team when they get their nose in front, and you know, to their credit, they're so disciplined and patient not to force anything, and they wait for their chance to get their lead. And once they have it, man, that's not the team you want to be playing. Certainly it's not the team the Canucks want to be playing from a deficit. So through 71 games prior to tonight, Hughes and Roanek were together for much of them, and now tonight they were apart. It surprised me a little bit just the change in all in the pairings. Because one of the best pairings in the league, why go away from it now? Well, and also the team had won three games in a row. I just think it smacked a little bit of maybe trying to fix something that wasn't broken. And you know, there wasn't much of an explanation from target post game other than you know, the this is what they wanted to try and and see you can bet there would be a lot of discussion and a lot of internal reasoning behind it. But I think with the success, it's like breaking up a line say after, and I know the lines did change tonight because they had so little going against the Kings. But it's like after last game, you're not going to break up Hoglander, Pedersen and Garland, like yeah, certainly not for the start of the game. I kind of think with the way they had rolled as a team, those last three games, basically a systems clinic for most of those three games and yielding next to nothing to the opposition. I thought maybe they should just leave it alone until they but there would be, you know, I can guarantee this. It's not just, oh, let's just see what happens if we do this or, we're going to make the playoffs. Let's start to tinker. It's not that they will have had a strong reason for why they wanted to do what they did. I just, I think it maybe was an inopportune time to do it. Well, it comes with the reintroduction of Ian Cole until Julesin comes out and then you got to figure out the who's the guy that's flipping over and then who does he go with? It's just interesting to see how this play is out and they've done it with Zadorov and Cole and Cole playing the right side and they've done it with Zadorov and Susie and Susie playing the right side and I think they've done it with Cole and Zadorov with Zadorov playing the right side and now each one of those experiments hasn't really translated and unfortunately this was probably the worst game we've seen from Carson Susie on the right side because he's been really strong the other game sees audition there. Yeah, I think one of the things as well, you know, when they had Zadorov with Ronik and I thought Zadorov was fine. Like it, you know, that wasn't the problem. But when you have Zadorov there and you've got Hughes and Ronik there, I mean Zadorov is a puck carrier, a puck, a puck mover and I think maybe, you know, that's a real advantage to have on your third pairing because not a lot of teams have a guy on their third pairing who can skate like that and move the puck like that. But if you're playing him with Ronik, isn't Ronik the guy who's who's going to do that. So and the Canucks, they prefer to go up the left side like right to left and then the left guys are mobile and and they take the puck and that's why I think for instance you saw when Susie was playing with Myers and he's on the left. I mean Myers is a guy who can get up the ice as well but I think that Susie was more comfortable over there but he has played the right side a lot as has as Cole has. So I don't really think just the change in itself would be a reason like he can't play as well on the right side but it just looked like they as Tockett said they were off and and it looked like they were a little off and they're deep hairs too. Lin Holm is out of the lineup tonight. It maybe he's the secret even though he has saw that serves the drink. Well listen, I was watching in the third period and co-patar was winning draws against JT Miller down the stretch. You know the Canucks were battling and keeping the puck in but I think they did miss Lin Holm tonight but continue. Yeah they missed them in the in the draw. We mentioned earlier that JT took what 25 face-offs and most the other Canucks were taken in really any. Willie Patterson had I think only two. It just his absence I know he hasn't you know hit his offensive potential but now you have to move suitor down into the bottom six away from Miller and Besser where they've had some success together as a line and it just felt like you had to change a forward group that felt pretty good through these last three games to something that was different and didn't have the same effectiveness. Yeah yeah I mean obviously if you're you're taking out Lin Holm as your third center and of course prior to that you moved Garland two games for that you moved Garland away so now you don't really have your third line left so they were they were trying to find something on the third line. So you know to me that's different though if you have to change a line or two because somebody's coming out you didn't have to change the D right because Lin Holm because Lin Holm wasn't playing and I think you know they recognize because they changed the lines again in the third period. I think suitor right now is struggling a little bit compared to other guys. I don't think the success of Besser and Miller together is predicated on pew suitor so I don't think moving him off that line necessarily means that that Miller and Besser aren't going to be great because those guys have been great all season with a variety of wingers and it's it's the classic talket you know duos you know there were two guys together and the third guy's interchangeable so I don't think it's that I just think that right now suitor is is struggling a little you know deeja sappy hasn't been playing and Aman is struggling I think to to make any kind of impact like he's a he's a guy who skates fast and he tries hard but what right now is he is he actually adding and and you know I know that sounds harsh but he's still let's remember this is second year over here and he's a guy who's still you got a lot stronger this year from last year he'll be stronger again next year but his upside just feels evident that it's like the role he's playing now just a bit more biased version of it except the role he's playing now is more of an energy winger he's not playing at center right now yeah he's not the first out on the pk right now they have other guys to do that so but listen you know we're we're talking about guys near the bottom of the lineup and on most nights it's the guys at the top of the lineup that are they're going to decide the game and I thought the the Canucks taught players tonight you know I thought co-pitar was really evident I thought Hughes had certainly a busy game he had the pakolot as he often does it was interesting that Hughes said after the game that he's got to make sure it's not just kind of wasted energy right he's skating because he did have the pakolot but he also had the pak on the perimeter circling from the outside where he wasn't very dangerous so you know I think I think the team was off I think almost across the board I mean Lafferty was very good pud coals and again I thought for his role was good and and noticeable but in the end you're going to need your your big guys and and you know they for the most part that's why they are where they are and at times when the big guys do go quiet it's nice that they have more depth than any of us thought they were going to have but I don't think you can pin a game like tonight on you know guys in the bottoms I mean Lafferty did get a goal after all yeah you're one of our top guys he's Ian McIntyre I will let you get back to work who are the others starts with you and it answers again we're all here in the booth yeah well let's get back to work and your piece will be up shortly at lien is the best dot she's the star facts only facts only facts only sportsnet dot CA your latest will be up there shortly as we get ready to depart here on a Canucks loss that is Ian McIntyre brought to you by Avenue machinery and Douglas Lake equipment be a champion on the work site find them together online at dlemc.com Dan Reed Chio I'll be back with you tomorrow on Canucks Central as the day to day sat continues yes sat still day to day just like a lyslyn home but the Swedes are day to day we can give you lineup news a day in advance on that one tomorrow and so that'll be tomorrow four o'clock on Canucks Central or Fongafar will join us then big shout out to everyone check the texting and calling in to our feedback channels and big shout out to Eddie Gregory back admission control and lien is tagging here at Rogers arena on a day where the Canucks lose 3-2 to the LA Kings this has been the Canucks Central post game show presented by the number five orange on sportsnet 650
