SportsHockey

Fans react to Canucks giving up rare 3-on-0 breakaway in overtime

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Nov 6 2019, 6:45 pm
Fans react to Canucks giving up rare 3-on-0 breakaway in overtime

Vancouver Canucks fans may have witnessed a bit of history last night at Rogers Arena.

As if 3-on-3 overtime wasn’t hard enough on goaltenders, the Canucks gave up a three-man breakaway to the St. Louis Blues.

Poor Jacob Markstrom.

After a Tyler Myers wrist shot missed the net, the race was on, but the Canucks stumbled out of the gate. Myers lost an edge and fell, wiping out Canucks teammate JT Miller in the corner. The humanity lying on the ice slowed down captain Bo Horvat, who was also tired at the end of a shift.

The result was a rare 3-on-0 for the Blues — something I’m not sure we’ve ever seen in 3-on-3 overtime before.

The Blues took full advantage, as Brayden Schenn settled the puck before passing to Alex Pietrangelo, who set up Jaden Schwartz for the tic-tac-toe game-winner.

Markstrom broke his stick on the net in disgust.

Many fans have suggested that Markstrom should have purposely dislodged the net and taken the penalty, though as Joey Kenward astutely points out, the NHL recently changed the rule for such a situation. Purposely knocking the net off in this case would have resulted in an automatic goal being awarded to St. Louis.

Despite the 2-1 loss, Canucks head coach Travis Green was feeling positive about his team’s play. And he should.

Vancouver outplayed the Stanley Cup champs for most of the night and probably deserved a better fate. The Blues didn’t take the Canucks lightly, and Vancouver responded well to their physical style of game.

“Our team played really well tonight. Unfortunate ending,” Green told reporters afterwards. “That was a big-boy game.

“That’s a heavy team and they know how to win. If you want to win a Stanley Cup, you have to play some heavy games. I thought that was maybe the most physical game we’ve been in this season.”

Still, all fans could talk about after the game was that wild finish.

ADVERTISEMENT