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FTP: WCQF vs. Canucks

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 1:04 pm
by Harri McBain
Canucks series discussion thread!

The original thread link is here:
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/ ... s.2772310/

Page number: 1

Bring on the Champs
Shock the world

Nice

Canucks in 6, let's go!

Well here it is boyz!
May the best team win! (Or the Canucks, I'm fine with either).

Dang thisll be a tough one, hope its a great learning experience for the young guys and hope for the best
Major underdogs here, no expectations but hopin for suprises
GOOOOOOO CCCAAAAANNNUUUCCCCKKKKKSSSSSS!!!!!!

Man I love this team

Blues haven't beat the Nucks in a playoff round.

Love it
Rather play blues than stars, Dallas has our number just like Winnipeg
Beat the best to be the best

Either team was going to be tough. The Blues are a "heavier" team. I just hope we can outskate them, and Marky brings his "A" game.

This will be the playoffs of exes!!
we beat the wild
We will beat the Blues
We will then beat Colorado
We then will beat Chicago
THEN WE BEST BOSTON
COME AT ME BROOOOOOOOS

Don't mind this matchup at all. Think we actually have a shot of winning this round.

'member when Al Macinnis got his shoulder blown out by Bertuzzi in '03? I 'member.

Wild and Blues in the same post-season? What is this? 2003?

Why am I pregnant again or something?

Bring the noise, boys! Let's do this!
I've got my car flags on and my towel is ready to go, WOOOOO!!!

You have to beat the best to be the best. The young guys are going to be ready to prove they can take on the defending champs, and it should make for a decent series. The penalty parade has to come to an end, and hopefully Markstrom can round into form, but it'll be a tough series to win no matter if it was the Blues or Dallas. Regardless, we should all be excited to be able to watch this group of players compete in the playoffs again. It's been a long time coming, and I'm absolutely ready for it!

Remember the flu wiped out their entire team and the Blues looked lethargic and dead by game 7? I still remember that footage of Doug Weight looking like he was about to puke at the bench.

I'm just going to cling to what Drancer was alluding to with the Blues heart's not really being in it.

was it not the same playoffs we beat St Louis and then lost to Minny
THAT St Louis series was insanity, we beat Al Maccinnis into submission, what an awesome series

Given the current state of the world, it would be unconscionable for me to want that again, though

I was really pissed off at first....but i thought about it...this really is a WIN-WIN for the Canucks
We've got this young core....they showed up vs the Wild and won a series. That will go a long ways to helping them develop.
Now they're going up against the Blues... The reigning champs.... if you lose to the Blues...its like..okay, they get four more games of experience against the best... no shame in losing to the champs.
If they win, then thats all for the better.
Imagine going in and getting swept by Dallas, that might actually hurt their confidence ... i guess for the long-haul, its best we take on the blues.

2011 Dallas loses last game and Canucks play the defending Stanley cup Champions. Samething happens today, Dallas loses and Canucks play the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Page number: 2

I wanna know when game one is (to the tune of "I wanna know what love is")
I want you to show me.

Heart says Canucks in 6
Brain says Blues in 5
Hope it's competitive

Well Binnington is already a goalie I can't stand so good start there.
ROR vs EP should be interesting.
Really going to need the other lines to step up and Marky to stand on his head.
Lets f***ing do this.

Team will feel invincible if they can beat the Blues. Would be huge.

Dougie couldn't handle the Weight of Game 7 expectations.

Strangely, a stat that doesn't instill a ton of confidence for me, haha.

Going to be a real challenge, but we've had their number before.
Let's go boys!

Heart says Canucks in 7. Brain says St Louis in 6.
This will be a tough series, literally. Expecting Myers to take 2-3 penalties in the first game and unlike the Wild, the Blues PP will actually make us pay.

Well Blues so Blues

Myers needs to be physical, because the Blues are very

We've played since then, first round of I wanna say 2009?

We played the blues in 2009, burrows had the OT winner in a sweep

Win or lose, I feel like our team can push the Blues and make this a close series.

2009

Second last time

We don't even have playoff avatars

Yes that slipped my mind! That was a good time to be a Canucks fan; with a team on the rise.

I think it's better this way. Hasn't worked before, let's try something new

It's all coming full circle.

JFC, one suffocating team to another one. Expect another low scoring, gritty, nail biting series.
We are going to need bottom six toughness for a team like this.

Well, Blues apparently have looked like complete dogshit but it's tough to judge games in the round robin.
It is good that they have blown leads and for the most part really struggled to score goals.

Watched that and then youtube recommends me: Canucks @ Blackhawks Game 6 5/11/09
f*** off youtube...I watched it anyways and Luongo couldn't f***ing stop a beachball that game.

Page number: 3

oh boy, binnington loves his Pettersson match up doesnt he?

Something tells me this goes one of two ways: Blues in 4 or the Nucks shock the world and oust them in 5.

I really didn't want the Blues, they feel like a sleeping giant just waiting to be unleashed. Hope we can pull off the upset.

does blues have anyone injured or out?

Great googly moogly.
Canucks vs Blues.

What will just end up happening is him taking a bunch of penalties

Haha forgot about that "beef".

On the flipside, if Canucks best Blues, their confidence will be sky high and I believe they have a legitimate chance to make it to the cup finals.

Hope so. And maybe, just maybe, the canucks could play the role of the 2009 Blackhawks, with some ultra skilled, ultra talented young players that nobody thought were quite ready to challenge for the cup...but did.

Yeah I'd rather he play a little soft than constantly put the Blues on the PP.

damn, for some reason I thought Tarasenko was out :/

Barbashev is out and Bouwmeester.

Nice to see some positivity around here. I like it!

Unfit to play or out of the bubble altogether?

Even though the Blues are a better team than Dallas I feel like we match up against the blues better.
Happy with the outcome.

Either way it's great experience for the kids

He was for the majority of regular season, yet the blues was still at the top of West

Not sure. Barbashev is listed as OUT - Personal. Bouwmeester DL - Chest.

I thought Barbashev left to be with his wife for a coming baby, maybe I heard wrong.
Speaking of which, will Benn be available soon?

If you think Brodin, Dumba, Suter and Spurgeon were difficult to play against, wait until we get a potential 7 game series with Pietrangelo, Parayko, and Dunn. Remember how good Duncan Keith was in all those Chicago series.... how he could play 27 minutes a night.... Pietrangelo is just as good.
Oh, and then behind those three studs, in their bottom pairing they still have Justin Faulk. This will be really tough. Special Teams will need to shine here.

Well it is going to be just like Minnesota wild, but with offense.
Gonna be a tough series, but arent Blues kinda old? Looking at their stars they are aging.

Real question: Canucks Alumni vs Blues Alumni. Who wins?

You pulled out all the stops for a first date. She must be quite the looker.

Page number: 4

Not to mention the Wild don't have a player like ROR. Defensive beast.

Honestly, a bigger slower team like St Louis will be good for Myers. He's played well up until now (dont care what you say about his penalties, ...the toughness matters). I think if Myers continues to play like he has, he's going to be pretty useful here.

St Louis reminds me of Pittsburgh, as soon as they win the cup that's enough of them, they can go away now. It would be just fantastic if Vancouver beat them and I think they can.
The blues I don't think make it past the 2nd round this year no matter who their opponent is anyway.

Probably the one with Gretzky, Hull, MacInnis, Pronger.

Exactly. People who dont watch hockey outside of Vancouver may not apprciate ROR.
Like, you know how Horvat comes back deep and helps out the D and helps move the puck from our goal line to the neurtral zone. ROR does that better than Horvat does.... he has a motor that doenst stop. He's gritty and smart but plays a clean game and takes minimal penalties

Slower, heavy team with some real offensive weapons. If the Canucks can skate (ie. Blues not allowed to hook and hold), we could make a series of it.

It'll be a huge test. Petey was relatively shutdown last series - and expect more of the same this one. 2nd and 3rd line HAVE to produce or it's over.

I wouldn't get too cocky, Blues are the better team here. Buying too much into our past wins against the Blues doesn't mean anything now, the team is much different.

I don't think too many people are going to underestimate how big of an impact the reigning Selke & Conn Smyth winner could have.

Atleast we dont need to see the finnish invasion with hesikanen, aka bobby orr.

Probably going to take 7 games if we are to win.

If you're going by the rosters at their peaks, the Blues, yes.
Their actual Alumni teams? The Canucks in a landslide. They play a lot of games, whereas I don't think the Blues have an active alumni team.

For one game maybe. He finished the series with 4 points in the final 3 games.

Long distance romance so I figured it was the best way to find out if she could assimilate into our society!

My post was just pointing that fact out. Of course series in previous years have nothing to do with this series outcome.

I hear Chris Odleifsson and Dennis Ververgaert are really killing it these days.

depends which team gets ronning and courtnall

I know but Petey is a goal scorer who only scored once. That's what I meant by relatively - shoulda cleared that up.

I dont know, i see him more as a playmaker with a Good shot

Keith also played behind this team:
2010:
Offense: Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Byfuglien, Versteeg, Ladd, Brower
Defense: Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Hjalmarsson
Blues are nowhere as potent. The Canucks will have to be defensively responsible but they also have to go for it since they will be on the wrong side of any low scoring games.

i think bouwmeester's career is probably over? he had a heart attack during a game

Odleiffson refs their games sometimes. Their best player by a long shot is Cliff Ronning. But they have Babych, Lumme, Gradin, Courtnall, McLean, Higgins and Wellwood that regularly play with them.

Not to mention Eric Weinrich and Curtis Sanford. Though Pavol Demitra could have been a real difference maker for either side (RIP).

Page number: 5

But St. Louis doesn't have a player like ANTOINE ROUSSEL.

Niccceeeee

You would think that all the teams that clawed their way in the play-ins ,would have the advantage right off the bat...?....They should have the momentum going their way.

I think so. If the Canucks lose this series in 5, then i think the one game they win is the first game. They'll be pumped up here ... but when the Blues wake up and find their emotion... we're gona have a REAL uphill battle lol

The Blues are better than us in every way but I'm not going to pick them to win this series.

Should be fun Stl plays long series and do not seem to blow out other teams. Issue is their goalie, hope he is off. Nice to see Allen playing last game maybe means Binny is not playing well?

Looked like both teams were starting backups today so I doubt it.

Kind of where I'm at LOL. And regardless of what I think, I've got hope!

He had a .947 vs the Avs and .842 vs the Knights.

We have Hughes. We win in five.

We will lose if it goes to G7
If we are gonna win, it's 6

Gonna be a tough series. Should be a good one though.
Anyone have an idea of when the first game will be?

I'm just praying his skating is well enough to avoid a monster hit - he's so tiny that it wouldn't be good.

Canucks have the blues beat in young talent.
ROR is 30
Tarasenko is 28
Steen is 36
Thomas is their only young guy.

Cant lose with Hughes....Win for Quinn

This may be a far out feeling but I actually like our teams makeup. It genuinely feels like this core is built for playoff hockey. We are no longer soft. We have a decent top 6 (minus eriksson, do we know when TT will be back?). We have speed, I'd say faster than Blues. We have grit. We can score, we can hit, and we have a goalie who can steal games (has all season long).
Blues clearly have the experience and more weapons (and better goalie) than wild... it will be a tough fought series but not a write off like some of you are making it out to be.

Does Steen even count as "talent" at this point?
But if you use Perron or Schenn instead they're not youngsters either.

Blues has Tyler frickin bozak playing? He was ran out of toronto lol.

You know what? Bring it on
Hate everything about Dallas and their schmuck players and management. Would hate for our season to end with them.
Lets go out in a blaze of glory versus the champs!

You don't think Quinn wasn't targeted by Minny? Hughes is the best U 23 D man in the league, and he will carry us to victory over the Blues.

Just battle. Leave it all out there. We lose, ah well. Not expected to win. But get some big game experience. Get the boys a taste.

They've also got Troy Brouwer, remember him??

This will be a good series.

I mean that canucks have the younger core. And it is not even close.
Current canucks reminds me of the Quebec Nordiques from early 90s.

Page number: 6

If they call this series like last series then I very much like our chances.
If the whistles go away I think we get crushed as they will shut Petey's line down and it'll be up to the bottom six to carry the offense. It'll be like 2011 vs Nashville where the Sedins got dominated except there's no Kesler as the 1-2 punch.

I mean the Canucks have been one of the worst teams in the NHL for nearly a decade! Think that balances out Bozak?

That's where Bo comes in. What is the Blues second line in terms of matchups assuming ROR plays against Petey.

Looks like the Blues are firing with missing cylinders. Hopefully they keep it up. Go Canucks!

Gotta get the jump early on the blues, use the energy from the last win and shock them early.
Blues are probably one of the most down to earth teams in the league honestly, Not much to dislike.
But I am sure after a few games, both fanbases will hate each-other.
Wouldn't have it any other way haha

Green doesn't play Hughes or Pettersson with leads. He seems to think spending time in the opponent's zone with a lead will give you chlamydia.

Binnington
2018-2019 season
32 gp
GAA 1.89
SA% .927
2019 playoffs
GAA 2.46
SA% .914
2019-2020 season
GAA 2.56
SA% .912
Lets hope his statline keeps getting worse. Last season was unreal.

The Blues lost every ranking game including the exhibition game. I think the Canucks will be more ready to start the series but need to score early and not let the Blues get into that grinding game they play so well.

I want to say we win but I have the Blues in 6. Definitely hope I'm wrong.

First goal of the game was so important against Minnesota, doubly so against St.
Louis.

Remember the shade their goalie pulled on Petey? I can't believe some people here are going on the Blues board and wishing them luck. Quit being nice, do not humanize the enemy. You don't make friends with the cow before you slaughter it. Tho I heard it does taste better that way.
All Joking aside, whoever has the hotter goalie wins. Get the flags out boys.

I got Blues in 6

Petey will be facing one of Pietrangelo or Parayko at pretty much all times. Not looking forward to that. Will be a good test for him.

2 goals, 7 assists for 9 points in 6 career games against St. Louis for Pettersson. Let's hope he can bring it!

I know it's only regular season but He's +9 in his career against the blues. They havent been able to stop him at even strength so far in 6 games.
he also just went up against the wild who have just as good a top 4. If they focus all their attention on Elias it will open up room for other players.

Remember Burrows and Kesler trash talking Backes? That was f***ing hilarious.

Schenn
Schwartz
Perron

If Buster Douglas can beat Mike Tyson
If Bianca Andreescu can beat Serena Williams
If Leicester City can win the Premier League
If the U.S. can beat the Soviets
We can beat the Blues.

Canucks in three.

And Boeser has 5 goals in 8 career games against the Blues.

Canucks vs Blues is that big of a mismatch? Damn, maybe I shouldn't have a bit of confidence.

Bo's gonna have Eriksson stapled to his wing all series and while Pearson is better than Loui it's not exactly star power, I don't see Horvat taking over a series like this. If he had better wingers then sure. He'll be against the Schenn line which looked bad in the round robin so that's in his favour.
The biggest thing in our favour is the Blues look so disinterested. I don't believe teams "flip the switch" so maybe we can get out to a 1 or 2 game lead in the series before the Blues round into form. If we can do that and if Markstrom can channel his regular season form we have a shot.

Page number: 7

Kesler had what Samuelsson and Raymond on his wings? Not superstars.

How could a returning champion not get up for the shot at repeating? I mean I hope it's true and they sleep their way through the series so they can get out of the bubble but that just seems crazy to me. Yeah you won a cup, now go for the repeat. Whatever though our benefit if their hearts aren't into it.

Dont like this matchup for us.

If we had Sammy in 2011, I think he might've just been the difference. Or maybe that's just the biased fan in me.

It seems like the break was awful for them and are struggling to take things seriously. Drance gets to see these games live and he's stated they look like they don't even want to be there.

It's going to be a tall order here for the Canucks to make their way past STL, but it will be a good experience for everyone who has not had a taste of a real playoff. I love the push back from the Canucks in the Minny series - that's something we had not seen from this team in years. As great of people and players the Sedins were, I like the jam that Pettersson brings. It's a different sort of vibe where he is clearly not just going to sit there and take it like the twins did. I think that rubs off on the rest of the team.

Not superstars but still a fair amount better than Pearson and Eriksson.

last time we played st louis in the playoffs kesler's linemates were sundin and demitra. man does that seem like a lifetime ago.

Even when the Canucks are good I am always wary of picking them to win a series... but I actually could see them taking this. Part of it is I just don't know enough about the Blues to be really afraid of them, and part of it is the Canucks having had a decent record against them in recent times.
But when you throw in the fact they've just come out of a less competitive round robin whereas the Canucks have already gone through an elimination series (true of all of these matchups of course), but as Drance has pointed out, STL kind of has the least to gain out of all this as incumbent champions and their hearts haven't looked in it... I could definitely see an upset here if Markström has a good series.

Cup hangover is a real thing. Covid19 shutdown might compound it.
Hope STL comes out flat and doesn't wake up until it's too late.

Can someone just quickly do a mini scouting report on the differences between Minnesota wild and the St. Louis Blues, because they seem to be pretty even on paper except for goaltending and the centre position

Off the top of my head:
1) STL has better goaltending
2) STL has superior defensive quality 1-6
3) STL has better forward depth and better high end offense
4) STL is much bigger and more physical
5) STL can generate offense off the rush and enter the O-Zone with possession
The Wild, for their part, are tirelessly hard working and slavishly adhere to their tight defensive system. Classic counterpunching team. But what was their undoing was their pop gun offense and lack of physical snarl.

Ah playoffs, how we've missed thee.

Was really hoping we'd get the 10-loss in a row Stars coached by Bowness. Would be extremely impressive to beat St Louis, but then again, this playoffs is going to continue to be pretty chaotic.

That 2008-2009 team was stacked, god damn Luongo.

Roussel and Myers need to keep their cool for us to have any chance. We won't be getting many PPs this series either. Whoever wins the first game I'd bet wins the series, We need to keep the pace up since it's true that STL wasn't very interested or engaged during their play in and if they wake up it'll be an uphill battle

Well...no. But they are the defending champs.

The biggest take away I got from Game 4 against Minnesota was that this new Canucks team has a killer instinct. They're hungry and have the talent to make some serious damage.
I picked Canucks in 4 last series and this time I'll take Canucks in 6. Let's go, the Blues might be a good team but our style always does well against them

Going Vancouver in 6.
I'm a homer here, and I'm looking at this matchup in the lens of a Canucks fan, but we're better than them in every way imaginable including: personal hygiene, attractiveness, personality, etc.
Wait, didn't they win the cup last year?
We beat them, I'm pretty sure we get the cup. That's how it works.

Might well be compared to Eriksson, especially Samuelsson.
Horvat isn't exactly 40 goal scoring selke winning back to back 70 point seasons Ryan Kesler either.
I'm not really sure where you're going, you think Bo and 2011 Kesler's lines are comparable? I don't. I'm not a Bo hater, I think he would be a 70 point guy right now with legitimate contender worthy top six linemates instead of Eriksson and Pearson, but he isn't 2011 Kesler.
My main thesis is that I think Pettersson will get shut down. Teams have figured out that you can double team Pettersson and his line won't punish it, and Pettersson hasn't figured out how to dominate despite this. I don't think Bo can take over a series like this so with Pettersson shut down we'll need our bottom six to do a lot of heavy lifting.
I love that we're playing the blues. They're going to do exactly the kinds of things that our young guys need to learn how to play against so the experience will be valuable especially if they can figure out a way to overcome it. If it's a special teams battle like vs the wild or if the blues are still sleepy I think we're favoured. If not, I don't and the above are my reasons.

That 2008-09 team was so good and Sundin was heating up.
Pivotal moment in Game 4. Canucks up 2 games to 1 and leading 1-0 with minutes to go in Game 4. Mitchell turnover and poor defending. Boom goal against and Chicago never looked back.
Didn't help that Luongo gave up crap goals in game 5 and completely unravelled in game 6.

Hope this matchup motivates Bo even more than he already is!

In a cap league once you spend money on the important positions, there is little cap space left for middle 6 wingers. Having several cheap wingers that outperformed their contract was huge.
Raymond and Samuelsson were actually perfect wingers for Kesler. Gillis said that Kesler sucked at zone entries, but was dominant once in the offensive zone. Samuelsson and later Higgins were brought in for that reason.

Thus the birth of 7uongo was born.

That wasn't til 2011 game what 3?

Page number: 8

Doesn't Derrick Pouliot play for the blues?

7uongo became a thing after Game 6 in 2009 vs. Chicago. Canucks were easily the better team, but he had a real off night and we lost 7-5. He freely admitted he choked (he was in tears) in the dressing room.

Nope, that was game 6 in 2009 against Chicago.
The legend of Patrick Kane was born and 7uongo was unleashed.

Must've erased it from the memory banks. What's funny about those Chicago years was back to back years we were eliminated on my mom's birthday which both times happened to be Mother's Day. And I spent it screaming at the television. Poor mom.

Gosh I hope so.

Double agents

You and us both, sir!

How was your last series officiated?
All the round robin games I watched played out like preseason games, and the officiating for them was pretty much right in line with that as well. Lots of relatively ticky-tack calls on both sides, not a lot of physicality, lots of space and wide open play.
If any or all of that continues, I have to say that I like your chances a lot.

Game 1 Wednesday @ 7:30.

Our series with Minnesota was definitely intense - more playoff feel than exhibition or regular season. But it was a virtual parade to the penalty box for both teams, everything being called. Our PK did a great job shutting down Minnesota, but I think if we continue taking penalties at that pace against St. Louis, we'll be in deep trouble.

You're in luck.
Our special teams the last four games were utter crap.

Pre-Game Thread for Game 1 is up, shutting this down.