By: Brayden Fengler / December 25, 2023 Jingle bells
Vegas Smells
The Oilers laid an egg
Oh, what fun
It is to win
In all the games you playDashing through the stands
Winning all the games we play
Over the Flames we go
Riding PDO all the way
Ha ha ha
En route to a ring
Making McDavid Cry
What fun it is to score and win
Thanks to that Daryl guyOh,
Jingle bells
The Kraken smell
How bad is San Jose?
Oh, what fun
It is to win
In all the games you playNow Quinn wears the “C”
And Brock is scoring goals
Demko is the Key
To digging out of holes
Tocchet runs the bench
And Miller the PP
Myers still makes us clench
Playoffs a guaranteeOh,
Jingle bells
The Ducks still smell
Hockey is fun again
Oh, what fun
It is to win
In all the games you play
Game 33: December 19th vs. The Nashville Predators
Tuesday night the Canucks played the Nashville Predators. The big story of the day leading into the game was that Kuzmenko woke up to find himself on the naughty list. Kuzmenko was a scratch again in favour of Phil Di Guiseppe.
Early in the game, the Canucks had a powerplay. Pettersson made a power move to the front of the net to try and stuff the puck five-hole. With Pettersson’s shot as lethal as it is, when he has time and space to shoot, it is not often you see him walk into the net for an in close shot like we did. The play was blown dead after Pettersson was pushed into the net, causing it to come off. The draw was taken out of the zone because Pettersson was pushed into the goalpost on purpose, just like he wanted.
Late in the first period, Pettersson finally earned himself a goal off the rush. Pettersson came in off the right wing with a full head of steam, as if he had been drinking hot cocoa with extra whipped cream all night and scored low blocker side.
The next goal came 31 seconds later as Nils Aman got his first goal of the season. Tyson Barrie drew Aman for Secret Santa this year, so he made sure to make a turnover right to Aman so he could score his first goal in 11 outings this season. You couldn’t have given him a better gift, great job, Tyson!
The end of the period came with more adjustments to the Naughty and Nice list after Lauzon hit Conor Garland hard into the boards. It was a clean hit, but instead of trying to fight Conor Garland again, Joshua stood up for Garland and tried to initiate a fight.
Lauzon did not oblige and McCarron jumped in but Joshua wouldn’t fight him, making McCarron mad. Very mad. We’re talking your childhood bully giving you an electric razor at the Whobilation mad and eventually, he got tossed from the game.
The second period started with fewer reindeer games. The first scoring chance for the Canucks once again came off Pettersson’s stick with a nifty little play that went off the post.
Pettersson put the team on his back offensively early, like he was Rudolph on a foggy Christmas Eve.
Louzon scored to make it a one-goal game off a rush play. It was a very slow rush but a rush nonetheless fooling DeSmith on a clean look from the circles.
Everyone’s favourite Swedish Elf, Nils Höglander promptly scored to restore the two-goal lead with a hard-earned deflection of a Hughes shot. Höglander now has 10 goals on the season, tying him for fourth in goals on the team with Ilya Mikheyev.
All in all, the Canucks seemed to take Kuz’s scratch as a warning to make sure they stayed on Santa’s Tocchet’s nice list. All four forward lines scored a goal, and it was one of the most complete games from the Canucks defenders.
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Game 34: December 21st vs. The Dallas Stars
As the reindeers got ready to fly up north, the Canucks flew further south from Nashville to Dallas for what was the team’s last non-pacific time zone game of the year.
Unlike some of the team’s most recent outings, the Canucks were the ones that put on the pressure early in the game. It didn’t take long for the team to get rewarded either as just under three minutes into the opening frame (after a Demko save at one end), Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua found themselves on a 2-1 break in the other direction. One quick pass from Garland and a release from Joshua and the Canucks were up by one.
After the Canucks unwrapped their first gift of the night, the excitement from the team must have worn off a bit with offensive pressure from the Canucks waning as the minutes ticked on in the first period. The game saw a shake-up with some four-on-four action halfway through the period. This was the result of a Nikita Zadorov interference call on Jamie Benn, followed by Benn earning himself a tripping call on Joshua moments later.
The Stars were the team to capitalize on the added room out on the ice, as a three-on-two break-in and some tic-tac-toe passing by Matt Duchene and Miro Heiskanen allowed Tyler Seguin to put the game back to even.
Nothing would change on the scoreboard as the game entered the second frame, outside of the number of shots being peppered on Demko by Dallas. Nearing the halfway mark in the second period Dallas was approaching 20 shots on net, on pace for 40 by the time the contest ended. Meanwhile, the Canucks still had not cracked double digits. Much like a dad who leaves their Christmas shopping to the last minute, the Canucks still had a lot of work to do, and only so much time left to do it if they wanted a positive result.
The Canucks’ workload increased as continued Dallas control resulted in Roope Hintz goal halfway through the period. Thankfully for Vancouver though, Brock Boeser, with a release faster than Santa’s sleigh, got the puck with momentum in the Stars’ zone, and sent a nice little gift post and in to make it even once more.
The second period ended and the third period kicked off in a similar fashion. With just under five minutes to go in the third, the Canucks took back their lead, which they hadn’t seen since the first period.
Conor Garland, involved in yet another tic-tac-toe play on the night, found himself as the goal scorer this time around. Off of a highspeed break-in, Garland positioned himself at the backdoor beautifully and tapped in a much-needed break for the Canucks.
All was calm after this Canucks goal; it seemed that Christmas had come early and delivered a victory out of the jaws of defeat. However, just as the Canucks were ready to hit the showers and partake in celebratory Christmas mimosas (probably), Dallas’ 34th shot found its way past Demko, thanks to the Stars’ Thomas Harley. Suddenly, this game needed overtime.
Overtime was looking like it would last the entire five minutes. However, the Canucks unexpectedly found themselves on a 2-0 break-in with Pettersson and Joshua. After some back-and-forth passing, Joshua wisely let Pettersson take the shot. Unfortunately, Pettersson’s release was an easy save for the Dallas tendy.
With 13 seconds on the clock on a Dallas regroup, Thomas Harley saw Matt Duchene at the Canucks blue line and connected a sharp pass to his stick. Duchene made no mistake, despite Quinn Hughes hot on his tail, and the game ended on a Stars overtime goal. Although the Canucks continued their point streak, they now had to wait until Saturday for their chance to unwrap their final W of the year.
Game 35: December 23rd vs. The San Jose Sharks
The Canucks gave fans one last gift before Christmas: a game in the Flying-Skate jersey. Kuzmenko got one last chance to get off the naughty list and onto the nice list. He drew back into the lineup on the top line alongside Patterson after two straight games of being scratched.
Kuzmenko had zero shots in the two games before being scratched; on his first shot, once returning to the lineup, he scored a goal.
Kuzmenko was clearly feeling the giving spirit of Christmas during this game because his second shot on net was the Christmas gift of a second goal. His second wasn’t much a shot but it was as far as the stat sheet is concerned. Miller shot the puck at Kuzmenko’s stick for a redirect goal.
Kuzmenko now has his first multi-goal game of the season and the eighth since entering the NHL last season.
The Sharks scored, bringing the game within one, ruining Kuzmenko’s shot at a natural hat trick with a shot over Thatcher Demko’s shoulder. The Sharks scored again when Tomas Hertl scored his eighth goal this month with a shot under Demko’s pad, which fooled Demko into thinking the shot was coming high.
Nils Aman scored his second goal of the season, the Canucks third goal of the game. While the goal is Aman’s, the props should go to Blueger for an amazing dangle and fake shot before feeding the puck across the crease. That was the best fake-out since the time Rudolph fooled Santa with that fake mud nose. Blueger now has seven points in six games which is his longest career point streak.
Sam Lafferty scored just as a powerplay ended with a deft tip, giving the Canucks their second two-goal lead of the game. Lafferty has been nothing but exceptional for the Canucks this season, seeing as they got him for only a 5th-round pick. That’s like giving your brother a six-pack of beer and some socks for Christmas and he gave you a PS5. You feel bad for the disparity in what was given versus received until you realize you despise your brother…then you love it.
The Sharks scored next to bring the score to 4-3 midway through the second period. At this point in the game, there were seven goals on 20 shots combined for both teams. The shot-to-goal rate midway through the second is nearly as high as my Baileys to Coffee ratio this weekend.
Remember in the pre-season when Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland almost fought in practice? Well, now they are besties and can’t stop scoring goals when they play together. That is what the holidays are all about, putting aside your differences and enjoying each other’s company.
Their holiday spirit was out in full force on the 5-3 goal. Garland showed some spectacular patience before passing the puck to Joshua for his ninth goal. These two have the chemistry of Bernard and Curtis lately.
MacDonald went ahead and scored the ninth goal of the game, bringing the score to 5-4. But don’t worry, Pius Suter scored another deflection goal for his sixth goal of the season. Hughes would ice the game with an empty net goal. Thatcher Demko even appeared like he was about to try and score a goalie goal.
The highlight of the game overall was the third line. This line has been responsible for 8 goals and 22 points in the last six games. It is a big part of the Canucks success this year, they have been a stable, consistent force for this team since day one.
The Canucks now enter the Christmas break first overall in the entire league, by two points no less. I can’t think of a better present for Canucks fans this season. Enjoy it!
Happy Holidays from Trent, Brayden and Reid here at StadiumChinatown.ca.
