A Three Dressed Up As A Nine: Canucks 4, Hawks 2

Thought we had a good one going, for 35 minutes anyway.  Even then I was confident that The Hawks would regroup after those few rough minutes at the end of the second period and resume having their way with The Canucks.  Alas, The Canucks stormed the gates right off the trot in the third, while The Hawks failed to respond.
These west coasties always have me a day late so let's not muck about.

No Kane looked like No Problem for awhile.  Kunitz was an odd choice to fill 88's boots but Saad was so good that it could have been anyone on the left wing.  Saad was a beast all evening with a goal, a shot off the post and an optimistic kick-in that was called back.  All his game seems to lack, when he's switched on like this, is precision - he could stand to be slightly more patient and choose his shot locations more carefully rather than just shotgunning the puck.
The Hawks Third Line was a nightmare.  Schmaltz's errant pass led directly to VAN's first goal, annoyingly scored by a guy who, had he not stumbled onto that interception, would have been hollered at for lazy-dogging it back to The Canuck's zone.  Fortin did  little more than chug up and down the wing, rarely involved, probably just hoping for a long pass and a scoring chance.  I didn't mind Johnson on the PP, actually.  He'd got some poise and he appears to know what to do and where to do it, even if he lacks any finish (which is still left to be seen).
Brandon Manning: I'll partially violate my standing order to not discuss this lump unless he's anything except bad, but only because he was well beyond merely bad last night.  As usual, his first pass was rotten all night and, on Virtanen's second goal, he was absolutely pantsed by Granlund.  Why was he standing still at his own blue line with three Canucks entering The Hawks' zone?  Tipping Roussel's shot past Crawford was just the icing on Manning's shit cake.  He might have gotten away with fucking up the Granlund thing had Davidson not been paralyzed by indecision.  Maybe if Davidson had committed to Virtanen he could have closed the gap and prevented the shot, or maybe the shooter was always gonna be out of reach.  We'll never know.
Crawford had a so-so game, mighty in many ways but three of the four VAN goals were nothing special.  That's partly on the guys in front of him, allowing so many mano-a-mano chances, but Crow did lose all of those duels.
DeBrincat wasn't super sharp, either, whiffing on passes and having the puck bounce off his stick a bit.  He's going to have off nights like anybody else but his timing kinda sucked, what with Kane being ill and half of his teammates not showing up for the third period.
Dominik Kahun is in a precarious spot right now.  That line has been great, generally, but his contributions have been infrequent.  If that trio fails to get going in EDM and CAL I expect Kahun to find himself in the bottom six next week.

Trooper - 3 Dressed Up as A 9