Canucks Player Grades: Vancouver wildly beats Boston for fourth-straight win

Somehow, some way, the Vancouver Canucks have won four-straight games.

They are 4-0 without Quinn Hughes.

Little of this makes sense beyond, “This is why you play the game.”

Playing in Boston, against a Cup-contending squad, their second game in two nights, still without their No. 1 centre, you didn’t give them much hope.

How else was it going to go, though? Exactly as it went, right? Falling behind twice, coming back twice, holding on through regulation, then winning the shootout?

Makes sense, right?

No more 32

As of this writing, the Canucks are now 27th in the league.

That’s still terrible. That’s still in the lottery.

For the tankists, don’t forget this. And don’t forget that in three of these four games in the post-Hughes era, they’ve been outshot.

You just don’t win consistently when you’re getting outshot like this.

6-7

Linus Karlsson is the hero your kids need right now.

That is all.

Actually, no: Early in the season, we talked about what Karlsson felt he needed to do to be successful in the NHL. First there was the battle. He was getting that down. That was giving him a chance. But he knew he still needed to be more than the next guy. He’d scored at every level and, while no one was looking to him to be a top-line scorer, scoring goals when your role is to be a dependable fourth liner matters.

And now he’s doing that.

The other thing that occurred to me was an exchange he and I had a few weeks ago, when nothing seemed to be going right for the Canucks.

He was talking about the losing. He was saying it’s on him and his teammates. He wanted to win. He did know that the fans deserved better. He’s really turned the corner on the season.

Forwards

Marco Rossi C- Got absolutely buried in his matchup vs. the Bruins’ top two lines. His worst game as a Canuck.

Conor Garland C- Same as Rossi. Invisible night.

Brock Boeser C- Make that three. Top line buried. Any yet …

David Kämpf C+ Got crushed on faceoffs. But was fine between the whistles. No shots on goal.

Evander Kane C+ With his team under pressure in the first, hustled down the left to create his own scoring chance. Smartly slides puck to the front with Jeremy Swayman slow to return to his net to set up the Karlsson power play goal. Big struggles defensively, though.

Jake DeBrusk C+ Had a couple chances on the puck but he’s not generating much in general these days.

Aatu Raty C Got back in the lineup but not much doing.

Drew O’Connor C Back on left wing and not as noticeable. Only thing of note was he got caught swimming on the third Boston goal.

Kiefer Sherwood C Just not much going for this line. Just one shot for Sherwood and he had a couple turnovers, too.

Max Sasson A Canucks were nowhere, then he took a chance and scored. That’s why he got a shiny new contract this week.

Linus Karlsson A Super good forecheck leading to Sasson goal. And reminded us all why you should keep your stick on the ice to score the second. But completely lost on third goal against. And then makes up for it with the tying goal early in the third.

Liam Öhgren A Nice forecheck, nicer pass on Sasson goal. He’s playing smart, direct hockey. Great tip on go-ahead goal.

Defence

Marcus Pettersson C Huge shot blocks early in the second as Boston pressed to tie the game backup. But spent too much of the night in his own end. He’s been better.

Filip Hronek B Shot the puck well. Not as much chaos when he was on the ice as other defenders.

Zeev Buium C Tough night. Struggled against Pavel Zacha’s line. Couldn’t get much offence going.

Tyler Myers C First bad night in a while. And wasn’t even facing the top Bruins.

Elias Junior Pettersson C+ He’s put together some strong nights this week. Has he found his game?

Tom Willander C+ The young pairing looked good. Both skated well.

Goalie

Kevin Lankinen B Faced a mountain of shots and played well in face of it all.