Game over. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Game Over Vancouver. On a night with the Vancouver Knucks, we moved back to eight games over 500 with a big two-nothing victory over the Minnesota Wilde. My name is Clay Emo. I am Knuck Clay here on YouTube and on Twitter or X. I'm so glad that you're here with me tonight. We're going to break down this game. We are going to talk about some of the bigger stories facing the Vancouver Knuts. Basically, I had to do a bit of scouting because I am actually doing game over Edmonton tomorrow night as the Oilers host this exact same Minnesota Wilde team. I barely could get through one game watching the Minnesota Wilde, but now I guess I'm going to be doing two games of the Minnesota Wilde, but at least I get to take an Edmonton Oilers perspective. But that's tomorrow night. Let's worry about tonight first. So once again, welcome. If you are new here, we cover all seven Canadian hockey teams with postgame shows called Game Over on this S. D. P. N. Channel, the Steve Dangle podcast network. So I would love if you guys would subscribe to S.

D. P. N. Right now, we're at 97,000 subscribers, making our way to 100,000. Not sure if we're going to get there by the end of this year, but that's our goal. Make sure you subscribe. You can also hit the notification bell, so you get notified, you get reminded. You should know every time the Cunux play. I know every time the Cunux play. But just in case you weren't sure if we were doing a show or not, hit the notification button. It's important that you like the video. There are already 35 of you in here, which is awesome because we're all in a good mood that the Cunux won. Well, those of you who are Canucks fans, but I don't see one single solitary like. I'm not sure if you want to see Parker or Sam or Kaya, but you're stuck with me tonight. So make sure you like the video, like the fact that we are here talking about a Canucks win, like the fact that the Knucks are indeed eight games over 500, trying to keep pace with the Red Hot L. A. Kings and with the Vegas Golden Nights, those two teams seem to keep winning.

And yes, the Vancouver Knucks are now back to their usual: loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win. It has been alternating losses and wins for the last 10 straight games. So the Knicks will need to try and break out of that streak with hopefully two wins as opposed to two losses. And they have a chance to do that when they host the Carolina Hur hurricanes this Saturday night. But let's talk about tonight's game. So once again, subscribe to SDPN, like the video, hit the notification button. And if you can remember at the end of the stream, make sure you like and follow and subscribe to me at Kinnock Clay as well. I'm going to break down the game. I think this is a classic definition of low event hockey, but I'm going to do my best to keep it exciting. Then I'll talk about a couple of bigger issues facing this Vancouver Kinnocks team, and then we are going to end off with your questions and your answers, what we call the game over presser. I look forward to all that and we'll see how the next 30 to 40 minutes go.

Once again, welcome. We are the only show on the SDPN network right now because we usually get that as the only Canadian team in the Pacific time zone, unless, of course, another Canadian team is playing in the Pacific time zone. So 2-0. The first period was a disaster. An absolute dog's breakfast. This was the only reason why the Knicks weren't... Well, there are two reasons why they weren't losing after the first period. The biggest reason was Casey to Smith. He makes 12 saves. Well, he makes 26 saves the entire night, but he makes 12 saves in the first period. You guys, the Knucks didn't even get a shot on net until about 10 minutes in, and that shot didn't even hit the net. So they weren't credited with their first shot and goal until 11 or 12 minutes into the first period. My son Sean was at the game. I was texting him and he said, Yeah, it was pretty brutal. Watching at home, it was very brutal. And just like the fans at Rogers Arena did, our whole family watching at home gave the Knucks a sarcastic clap when they got their first shot on net.

And they wind up ending up getting four shots on goal in that first period. But of those four shots on goal, one of them goes in. And it is Niels Hoglander who scores that goal, continuing his red-hot pace. He has nine goals now, nine goals on the season. And if you remember, this play started in the Vancouver, Cunuck zone, and it was a quick up from, I think it was Myers. And then it became... Yeah, it was Myers up. What was funny about this play, actually? There are a couple of funny things about this play. It was Myers-Upt-Bessar who found Hoglander streaking through... Actually, Hoglender, that's the wrong word. He wasn't streaking through the middle. Well, streaking is not the right word to use anyways. He was skating quickly through the middle. But even skating faster than Hoglander was Nikita Zodorov. He starts in his own end, and I think he thought it was Pavobure because he skates straight up the middle. It's one thing if you're five foot six like me, skating up the middle. But Nikita Zodov is six foot six, skating up the middle. Obviously, he has to draw the tension of not only a Minnesota defenseman or a forward, I can't remember who it was, but of course, Augustus in the net too because there's a six foot six Russian guy skating right at you.

So Hoglander was smart after receiving the pass from Bester. He holds onto that buck. He sees Zodov whip past him. Remember, Bester is not the fastest skater anyways. Zodorov whips past him, goes towards the net. It wasn't like Zodov was going to stop and wait for one time or no. He went straight to the net. Miller then was coming in from the left side, almost as a decoy, but a good alternative for a hoglander. And a hoglander then puts a good wrist shot past Gustis, who had to be a little bit distracted, at least a little bit distracted by the 6'6 Russian player skating at him. And then it was a really, really good play, actually. Miller with the decoy or distraction or whatever, maybe decoy is the right word. And we'll say the door was the distraction and then the Huglander was the one who actually did the damage. So triple-D there. We had a decoy, we had a distraction, and we had the actual damages, if that makes sense. Huglander, with his ninth of the season, puts the Knucks up 1-0, and they escape. They escape out of the first period, outshot 12-4, but winning 1-0.

Also, not much else in the first period to talk about Ian Cole took one penalty, a hooking penalty against Matt BOLDie, but the Knucks were able to kill off that power play. Speaking of which, Minnesota had one power play, the Cunocks had two. Cunocks power play looked good, although it didn't convert, but not a lot of in this game, so not really a dirty game. But the game certainly got more exciting as it went on for sure. Well, it couldn't have gotten any worse. Second period, it was reversed. Whereas the first period, Minnesota outshot Knux 12-4. In the second period, it was the Knucks out shooting the wild 10-4. I'm pretty sure Rick Talkett had a few things to say about his... How about his team, to his team in the first intermission because came out in the second period and they played a lot better. They controlled, they dominated stretches of the play. Like I said, an out shooting Minnesota 10-4. Now, in this period, there was a John Merrill elbowing penalty against Connor Garland. Merrill, it wasn't even a malicious elbow. He was actually a natural flow. It wasn't dirty, but because of how small Garland is, Garland's face is where Merrill's elbow is.

Merrill gets a penalty, Knuts can't convert on that power play. Then Middleton and Joshua get into a fight. It wasn't much of a fight. It looked like Midleton got the best of Joshua, but I don't know if Joshua lost his balance. I don't think he got tagged, but he ended up with Middleton standing over Joshua. Then later in the frame, we also had a Frederick Goodrow holding penalty against Connor Garland. Garland was basically, it was the reason why Minnesota took two penalties. Now, ultimately, the Clots didn't capitalize on the power play, but it was still a really gooda good period for Connor Garland. We're going to talk about Connor Garland in the third period as well. Also in that period, I'm pretty sure that was the one where Blueger put it off of the crossbar, off of a really nice penetration and pass from Quinn Hughes. I believe that was also the same period where J. T. Miller got robbed twice on I can't remember if it was the early power play or the late power play, but he got robbed twice. The first one was I think it was a cross-sex pass from P.

D. Or or Bessar and Gustafson made the save. The second one, it was another pass. This one was from P. D. For sure. We could saw this play developing, Miller on the doorstep and simply put the buck off the post. Yeah, it could mean three-nothing at the end of that period because of Bluegars crossbar and because of Miller's post. Casey Smith was barely, barely tested in the second period. It was 12-4 for shots in Minnesota in the first period. It was 10-4 for shots and it connects in the second period, and then it was 10-3 Minnesota in the third period. It went dun, dun, dun. Although that the third period, even though the shots were 10-3, I'm not sure if a lot of them came when their net was empty, but the Knucks didn't… It didn't feel like they were badly outplayed in the third period. I'm looking at the advanced stats just before I talk about the third period, and the expected goals for the Knucks were 1.31 and the Wilde were 1.85. Whereas Minnesota really dominated the first period, Knucks really dominated the second period. The third period was a bit closer to even, but it was still in Minnesota's advantage, would make sense looking at the shots.

Then high danger chances, the Knucks only had six and Minnesota had 11. For Casey to Smith to get the shutout of facing 11 high danger chances, that's a good night for him. Anyways, the third period starts, though, with the Vancouver Knucks goal. This was Teddy Blueger. I think there was one play, is escaping my mind right now. Oh, no, it was in this period as well. For the goal, Noah Julesen did some good work. We rag on Julesen a little bit, at least in the Vancouver market, but let's give him credit, did some really good work on that at the blue line. Then Joshua also, with Julesen standing the ground, keeping the buck in. Joshua tips the buck to Garland, and Garland puts a beautiful feather pass to Blueger. Between past or in between two Minnesota Wild defenders, right on Blueger stick. He does an inside-outside move or right-left move, whatever you call it, and then puts it past Gustafson. That was beautiful. The way it was going, the way that Smith was playing, you couldn't guarantee it at the time. There's no way you can guarantee something like this. But you felt like the Knicks had a good chance to win this game up to nothing.

Granted, they still had the whole three-period to play because this goal happened two minutes and five seconds in. But it was a really nice goal by a Blueger. Now the Knicks are up to nothing. It's not like they sat back and tried to protect the lead, but maybe three shots and goal shows that they did. A couple other one definite, nice play of note. There was another play where Garland sprung Bessar for a breakaway. Then Garland's shot, Garland's pass was so good. It was right through the neutral zone and he put it right on Bessar's stick. Bessar showed a lot of speed. He's probably the fastest I've ever seen him skate. Fakes a forehand snapshot, which is what you'd expect from him, and then goes back in. A really nice move and he put it off the post. He had Kustis and beat. There's two posts then. There was a post for Miller in the second, a post for Bessar in the third, and a crossbar from Blueger in the second. I consider those high danger chances, considering all those shots beat the goalie. The Connects could have conceivably won 5-0 if they didn't hit any of those irons.

But then, of course, you could say that Minnesota could have scored on some of their opportunities. The only other thing of note, Minnesota closed their goalie with about two minutes left. Then a bit scrambley, a bunch of broken sticks lying around. Then Pat Maroon, I think we'd agree that Pat Maroon's best days are behind him. He gets into a little bit of a tiff with the aforementioned Nikita Zadorov. Maroon is a big boy too, and I think he has three Stanley Cup rings, so I can't really make fun of him. But not much of a fight. It was Zadorov and Maroon basically holding each other. When you're that big, you… I don't think you want to get rocked. Maroon is I'm sure 6'3, 6'4, Zadorov, 6'6. And either guy, as big as you are, you certainly don't want to get rocked. It was a very defensive fight and more of Maroon just lit out some frustrations. And Zidora continuing to win the hearts of the Vancouver Knux fans. The only other thing was about a 10-minute delay when the rent crew was trying to replace the curve glass by the Minnesota Wild Bench. I made a joke on Twitter that I got a bit of love saying this rent crew had more ice time than Kuzmenko did in the third period of the last game.

That's something I'm going to talk about in a few minutes is the Andre Kuzmenko, where that's going. Overall, the Knux, a solid game, if not the most exciting game. They get out shot 26-17. Face-offs were about even. No one scored in the power play. Twenty-three hits for Vancouver, 16 for Minnesota. Twenty-two block shots for the Knicks 11 from Minnesota. You can see that the Knicks had more of those hustle stats, so to speak. Then when you look at the scoring summary, because there's only two goals and the two goals come from Huglender and Bluegir, you would say that's your death pieces. Although Huglender got to play on the second line today, Miller's line. Then really you get assists from guys like Joshua, Garland, and Meyer. Only Brock Bester, would you say, the bonafide score or point-getter tallied on the score sheet. Are you asking whether did Miller have a bad night? Not really. Did Patterson have a bad night? Not really. Patterson was noticeable. Even though he was only credited for two shots a net, I noticed him for sure. Miller had four shots on net and a hit, and I thought he was quite good as well.

Miller played 22-38. Peeley only played 17-49. In fact, there were only two fours that played over 20 minutes. That was Miller and Bessar. Then low man was Neels Amon with the 8:49. Then the so much resting, Hughes and Horonick, they did 27 minutes for Horonick, 28 minutes for Hughes. Then, congrats to Casey to Smith. In his eighth start of the season. He gets his first shutout as a Vancouver Knack. He was solid. He was really good, especially in the first period, really controlled the crease, his rebound. He's not a big player, but he looked big and he played well. He played really well and he gave the Knacks obviously every opportunity to win this game. This is one of those where the goalie did his part in the early going and then the Knucks finished it off. You want the Knucks to have a bit of a stronger start, but I think they're going to take the win and everyone is just fine. Vegas didn't play tonight, but L. A. Did, winning 4-0, keeping their Hot Streak alive. Then when you added it all up, I'm just looking at the Pacific division for U-Knux fans.

The Sharks won. They spoiled Patrick Cain's debut for Detroit. The Sharks won, the Kings won. Who else? The Ducks lost. Surprise, surprise. Flames won. They beat Carolina. Then the Knucks won and the Kraken lost. Everyone except Vegas played tonight. And when you throw it all together and do the standings, this is how it looks right now. In the Pacific Division, we have Vegas with 39 points in 27 games, L. A. With 35 and 23. So four games fewer and only four points behind. Vancouver keeps pace with Vegas, 35 points in 27 games. So they're only four points behind Vegas, equal number of games. Calgary wins so that the Knux cushion over the fourth place team, Calgary is still 10 points. Calgary has one game in hand. So Knucks are doing well. They are back to eight games over 500. We know that they needed to be 12 games, 13 games over 500 to finish off the season. And yes, Patrick Cain did make his debut today. I think he was a minus, but I think he did 60 minutes of vice time. I think, sorry. You're right, the Oilers didn't play as well. Thank you for that correction.

Because I'm covering that game tomorrow. The Oilers and the Vegas Go Nights were the two Pacific teams, Pacific Division teams that did not play tonight. Overall, a great game to Smith, I think, was the highlight. I thought Garland was a standout. Hoglander, obviously with a game-wining goal that stands up, played a good game as well. Overall, and even though Jules did, I thought, was fine. There's not a lot to nitpick, aside from the Knicks as a whole not being that sharp in the first period. But no blatant or glaring errors, just a really slow start for the entire team. That's where we're at. The Conex now don't play again until Saturday when they host the Carolina Hurthanes, the same hurricanes that lost three to the Calgary Flames tonight. So hold on to your questions in about 10 to 50 minutes or so. I will take 5 to 10 minutes of your questions. So you're welcome to ask questions in the chat right now, talk to each other, but I probably won't get to it because it's only one of me, like me. I don't have a co-host or a guest. So likely, I will get to all of your questions in about 10 minutes or so when we do the last part of the show.

But you're welcome to ask them now and answer each other in there. But then I will re-ask you to submit questions in about 10 minutes or so. Today, I want to spend a few minutes talking about Andre Kuzmenko. Andre Kuzmenko, he is making $5.5 million this season and $5.5 million next season. He's the fourth highest paid forward on this team behind J. T. Miller, Leus, Patterson, and Brock Bessar. $5.5 million, that's what you need to know about Andre Kuzmenko. $5.5 million. But so far this season, he has not produced a $5.5 million player. Andre Kuzmenko has four goals. He does every 11 assists. He has 15 points in 23 games. Actually, make that 15 points in 24 games because this hasn't been updated just yet because the Knucks have played 27 games. He has 15 points in 27 games extrapolated over a full season. That is a 46-point pace. Forty-six point pace for Kuzmenko. If he played all 82 games, and we know that's not because he's already been scratched for two or three of them. Kuzmenko is on a 46-point pace. Last year, Kuzmenko had 74 points in 81 games. Seventy-four in 81. Actually, I did my math wrong.

I only counted the games that he… I should have counted only the games he's played. He's played in 25 games of the 27. My math was a bit off. Though that's traveling. It's still under a 50-point season. Well, last year he had 39 goals, 35 assists for 74 points. This year, he has four goals in 25 games. Now, last year, no one in the NHL knew about his skill set. Well, they knew about his skill set, but they never played him. Probably didn't do a lot of prescouting. And his shooting percentage, you guys, was ridiculous. Last year, Andre Cusmeco's shooting percentage was 27%. Twenty-seven %. More than one out of very four shots was going in for him. This year, his shooting percentage is 11%. You might say, Well, Clay, the 11% is really bad. No, that's about league average. So 11% isn't bad. It's just that 27% is ridiculous. You're saying, Well, then if his shooting percentage is normal around 11% and his goal scoring is bad, and he only has four goals, then obviously, he's not shooting enough. You're right, he's not shooting enough. In 25 games, he has 36 shots on net.

That's certainly not enough for a volume shooter like Andre Kuzmenko. I was just looking tonight. Tonight, he had 12 minutes of ice time, but zero points, zero shots on net, zero hits. So a bunch of zeros, and then the 12-15 at the end of Kuzmaik's stat line. Now, we know that he's a very, very popular player here in Vancouver because of his hair, his personality, eating a banana and drinking a Pepsi, which I approve of, on the bench last year. I had a bit of controversy when he was the only Vancouver Knicks player not to dawn the Pride jersey. So always in the middle of attention for sure, and generally in a positive way. So Knicks fans are really rooting for him. But at the same time, I think he's not Rick Talkets type of player. There were even a few people last year before the Knucks signed him to his two-year extension that were saying, Maybe it's better to trade him than sign him. You had to say, that's crazy. He's a 40 goal score last year. Yes. But he was also going to demand a lot of money. He's not the youngest player.

He came in as a… He's 27 years old already. There was a thought that maybe that's cap space you can use on someone else. But no one would have guessed that he'd only have four goals one-third through the season. He's better than a 12-goal player, 12-goal score. He faced the media today. Actually, we should go backwards. Rick Tauket, yesterday. He'd be talking about how he wanted Kuzmenko to be harder to play against, to for-check more, da-da-da. Then in a slight moment of, I guess, of patience or intolerance on Tuesday night, when asked about Andre Kuzmeko, Rick Tauket actually said, I'm tired of talking about him. That's what he said, I'm tired of talking about him. Let's start with Forchek. That's what he can do. It wasn't the most charitable thing ever. Then today, Rick Tauket was a bit more calm, and he simply said, Kuzmeko, like other four, they got to be faster. They got to forecheck harder and not hesitate on the Forchek because then it basically slows the entire line down. That's what I was looking for tonight. I was looking for a more persistent, more relentless attack from Kuzmenko. I saw it in places.

I think he made a couple of good plays through neutral zone, but still didn't see enough. And the fact that he had no shots on goal, it's saying something. Now, we have to look at the context, too. He was playing on the fourth line that had Niel Zaman and field Di Giuseppe. Now, Di Giuseppe, it was a healthy scratch the last two or three games. You don't expect a lot of offense. It's funny how Kuzmenko started the season on the top line with P. D. And Mikaev, and Phil Di Giuseppe started the season on the second line with Miller and Bessar. Now both Di Giuseppe and Kuzmenko find themselves on the fourth line with Sam Lafordy and Niel's Hoglatter being the beneficiary. Lafordy played with with Mikaev and P. D, of course. Then Miller centered Bessar and Hoglander. And Hoglander did not look out of place at all today in scoring the goal and then playing 16 minutes of ice time. There was no room for Kuzumenko in the top six, even though he did get power play time. He played on two full power plays tonight, and he still didn't have a shot on net.

I get that he's not the first option. He's probably the fifth option between P. D, Hughes, Miller, and and Bessar. But you still think given power play one time, he'd at least be able to get a shot on goal, credited to his name. I get that he's not going to get as many opportunities as he did before if he was playing on the fourth line instead of the second line. I get that. Or first line, I should say. I also get that, but on the flip side, he does get power play one time on a very, very good power play unit. So where do we go from here? Well, Kuzmenko was interviewed today, and he said that he received the message okay. He said, It's okay. It's okay. He likes to say that. It's okay. It's okay. That he's going to work harder, that he's going to forecheck, that he's going to shoot more. Well, I saw the work harder tonight. I saw the forechecking a little bit, but I didn't see a lot of offensive. I didn't see a lot of threat offensively. And of course, no shots on goal. Kind of shows that.

So where do we go from here? It's only game one of the fourth line version of Andre Kuzmenko. You're going to be really, really interested to see what happens going forward because I don't see Hoglander getting bumped from the top six anytime soon. I think it would be Laffordie would be the one to come down. Then technically, Kuzmenko could take… Then you're not messing up three lines. Cusmanco could just take Laffordie's spot on that top line. I thought I like Laffordie's speed. I always like Laffordie's speed. But I did find tonight that there were times where PeeD just doesn't get the buck enough because Laffordie doesn't have the hockey IQ in the hands to get the buck to P. D. He can jostle some pucks loose along the boards or win some races to lose pucks. But the next step then is setting up P. D. For a chance or scoring chance. And I didn't see a lot of that tonight. So maybe, and it's only a matter of time before Andre Kuzmenko actually gets back to the top six. So just before we get to the actual Game over Presser, where I'll take your questions about the Connects or about this game, I would love to get some thoughts from the chat about the Kuzmenko talk situation.

I don't mean situation from a sound point of that it's ugly or is going to be horrible. But I am curious as to where how this is going to turn out. I am very curious. Do you guys think that Kuzmenko will find himself, will work himself back to the top line again to play with P Diddy and to play with -In situation from a sound point of view. -with Iliam Makev? Or do you think that he's going to be stuck in the bottom six and in particular on the for a little bit longer. And is this something that he can work his way out of with some good work and with really doing what Rick talked as? Or is this a situation where we're going to be wondering both this year and next year if Kuzmaikov is going to be the actual trade target? Now I realize that I can't highlight comments like I usually do on my regular streams, so I've been clicking on stuff, but they don't show up on the screen. Terp says, notice he hasn't really been a net front presence like last year, and I shifted to the Pace-Off circles, rooting for him regardless.

Yes, a lot of his goals last year were deflections and rebounds. Great point, Terp. Peter says, Kuzmenko has got to be better, plain and simple. That's fair? Peter? Peter also says, Laffordi has the speed, but the dude can't handle or finish or play make. Yeah, his hands aren't the greatest. Sometimes there's some players whose brain and their hands simply don't keep up to their feet. Kaya May, my quote... Why aren't you in here then? Kaya May says, What if Boudro was the Kuzmenko whisperer? That's true. There are a couple of guys that did indeed thrive under Boudro. But collectively, the team didn't, obviously, that wore off a little bit. But you're right, maybe they're both the same personality. Maybe Kuzmenko just related better to Boudro. Although the way Rick talks in his media availability, I was making a point to a friend. I can't remember Boudro really talking X's and O's and strategy. His was more funny stories or general motivation things as opposed to Xs and O's. But I think the Connex reporters like Faber and Herman and Drans and J. Pat don't mind asking talk about strategy and X-O-O because talk it likes to talk it.

Yeah, good point, though. Maybe a lot had to do with Boudro. That's a great point, Kaima. You should be a co-host on Gimmore, Vancouver. You're pretty smart. Dark Wolf says good point, says Lafty was traded for a fifth round pick, so give him a break. Yeah, I don't think we're being unreasonly harsh and I don't think we're putting unreasonable expectations on him. But as you're playing with Piti on the top line, I think it's important that you do produce. And if you don't, then move him off that line and it's fine. He was awesome. He was awesome on the fourth line. It was so good that the Knucks got him because he can play center before they brought him to Nielzaman because Blueger started the season on the injured list. Now, of course, it is P. S. Soter. No, overall, I think he's been great for the team. What I'm saying, though, is do you want a more skilled player on PD's wing? Well, that's fair. Fair, fair, fair, fair, fair. Carroll says, I think he'll get back on the top line, which is fair. Then Rick says, Laffordie only speed for check, not meant for skills player.

All really, really good points. Okay, friends, for the last 5-10 minutes, I will invite you now to submit some questions for the Gameover Presser. Put in some questions in the chat, I will highlight a few of them for the last 5-10 minutes as we wind up this stream. What do you want to talk about? Questions about this game, the deployment of the CNOX, Casey to Smith, Connor Garland, whatever it may be, or Kinax questions in general, put them in the chat, and I'll certainly do my best to answer them. As I'm waiting for a couple of questions, I'm reminded to all of you to subscribe to this SDPN channel, the Steve Dangle Podcast Network, and invite you to hit the notification bell so you get notified and hit the like button as we celebrate all of us being together and the Kinax giving back in the Win column tonight. Peter says, Who on this team is not hood-ready? Now, I guess it depends on your definition of hood-ready. I think Peter is in his Homey G phase right now. Peter, not Hood-ready. When I think of hood, I don't think of guys putting down cardboard and breakdancing in their garage.

But I do think, I guess you're asking, I don't know what you're asking, but I'll also entertain the question as to players that show some hood attributes. Obviously, Zadourov, getting in a fight with Maroon. Connor Garland, despite being the smallest player on the team, he shows some hood attributes by not being afraid to mix it up and draw panels, as you saw that night. Obviously, Dakota Joshua is one of our bigger players. He could be hood ready. Instead of talking about the players that aren't hood-ready, I would like to talk about the players that are. I would say Zadourav, I would say Julesen, because I guess Julesen stays in the lineup over Friedmann because of his physicality. I would also say, yeah, Joshua has some hood in him. I think Miller could be a nasty piece of business sometimes. I think Hoglander. Remember, Hoglander, as flattened guys, he got in it with Kevin Le Bank from San Jose, got into it with Brandon Tanev in Seattle. Then I think he checked Jonas Brodine and the boards in this bench a little bit too. Not really where Brodine bent backwards a little bit. Let's go with Hoglander as well.

Kaya, unrelated to hockey, does anyone know how to use IBM, SPSS for social science statistics? I don't even know what I just said, Kaya May, so I wouldn't be able to help you. But if anyone can help out my game over Vancouver co-host with IBM, SPSS, Social Science Statistics, hit her up and help her out. Irwin says, What do you think has been the reason for the up-down 500 play after the hot start? Demco also being whatever UD means, D injuries, P not being well, something else. Irwin, I think it's a combination. I think it's a combination. I think the quality of opposition has been a tiny bit better, but not really. I think definitely the biggest factor is you're missing Su-C and Suder. I don't think that can be understated because then it just makes your defense a lot weaker and it makes your bottom six a lot weaker. Remember, our pursuiters had scored four goals in five games and some big goals before he got hurt. I think that's important. I think the two injuries, Demco has just been okay. I think our penalty kill has slipped. I think our power play has been inconsistent.

Even the scoring of our top guys have slowed down a little bit. All those factors, none where I'm super, super worried about. But even though we are eight games over 500, we still got to get to 12 or 13 games over 500 to get to the playoffs. We can't just play 500 hockey for the rest of the season. You do have to win four or five more than you lose between now and the middle of April, for sure. David says, As the Knucks shut the Minnesota Wilde out, no Knucks player had a sub-zero plus, minus. Yeah, that's natural because they didn't allow a goal. That said, Kuzmeca was pointless and didn't do much. Yes, I made that point already, David. But thank you, you noticed it as well. No, I did not see what Watson did at the end of Lightning Vs. Fred. What did he do, Kaya? Tell me. Peter says, Would you do Garland with Piti and Makeov? At least Garland can create and he's hood-ready. He has a great beard and he seems to do… I'm not going to read that last part. Peter, I don't know how you know so much about Connor Garland.

It's scary, actually. They tried Garland with Piti last year. It wasn't the most effective combination. Although, Garland, he does look busy. He does have better hands than Mikae, sorry, than Lafordie. He showed that by making two really good passes. I think if Rick talked ever wants to break up that third line, Blueger, Joshua, and Garland, I wouldn't mind seeing Garland have a go up top and see if he can do a bit more. I guess it would come at the expense of Lafordie. But do you move Garland up with Laffordie before you give Kuzmenko another chance? Kaya says, hogs is an underrated pest. I agree. At least once a game, he's getting under someone's skin. Luke says to Kaya, Chat GBT for that very complicated question. Jack says, Clay, who do you think is getting Ohtani? Even if I had opinion, it doesn't matter because I want to keep this hockey related or at least Knucks related. I do like Ohtani, though. I know my son Sean bought a jersey when he watched him in Anaheim, but I have no clue who's going to actually get him. Yeah, Murray says, I reckon they… I like the use of the word reckoned by the point way.

I reckon they missed Suse and Suder. I agree with that. Mvd says that 85 Oilers played 500 for a month. That's good to know. I did not know that. Peter says, Can you tell Patrick Alvini is my homie G for life? Can you ask him if we should send Kuzmaik to the hood? Peter, I'll save that for my own show. How's that? You can ask me again later. What do you think of Myers? Silver UK Hatch? It doesn't matter what I think of Myers. I thought he was okay tonight, actually. But I know that Rick Target really likes Myers. No matter what we think of him, he's still the second best rightshot defenseman on this team behind the Philp, because Hughes, Cole, Sousie, and Zadourav, technically are all, not technically, they are left-handers. The Zadourav-Meyers pair, they're better tonight against maybe… Obviously, Minnesota is not as talented as New Jersey is. New Jersey really exposed the Knucks lack of foot speed on the blue line. Today, I thought they were okay, and I thought Tyremeyer was okay. Don't think you trade them. I think if the Knucks are loading up for a playoff run, that's the player you need for the playoff.

I don't really expect Myers to get moved. Not that you're asking that. Where is Pat Kholz and Jeremy? Pat Kholz is still in Abbotford. About a month ago, he suffered a nasty injury, hit his head on the ice, took about two or three weeks away, and now he's playing back in Abbotford. He could be an option for a call-up later on in the season. Kyah says, In the dying seconds, Watson for the lightning, slapped shot into Louison's legs. Louison's legs? Oh, yeah. But what do you mean? During the play or after the play? Or you're just saying, Oh, I get it. As the clock's winding down, losing 5-1, yeah, there's no... You usually just skate it into a corner or behind your net. I see what you're saying. That's not good. That's not good. Mr. Wilkins said, Not too much chaos tonight from Tyler Myers. Yeah, he was okay. Thoughts on the power play tonight. Well, Peter, the Knicks only got two chances on the power play. And both times the first unit held the buck in there for the majority of the two minutes. I remember that because I remember on both power plays, the second unit only got 20 seconds.

It's not because the first unit was hogging all the time. It's because they actually kept the buck in. There was that sequence where Miller had the two chances back to back. I'm pretty sure that was on a power play because it was from Miller. Sorry, it was from Petterson. The only reason they would play together is on the power play. I thought they were fine. You got the sense that they're going to break out pretty soon. I thought it was okay. Obviously, you like if they score, but they didn't score, but it didn't hurt them as well. Akaiame says, At the buzzer, Matt went up to Lizon after. Okay, that's an Andrew Roonette called it out. Okay, that's good to know. That's good to know. Now don't do that. If you're losing 5-1, that's not the most sports and light thing to do for sure. Friends, I'll take one or two more questions as we wind up. There's 90 of you in here. Thank you very much on a night where the Vancouver Connects indeed, not indeed, they defeat the Minnesota Wild to nothing to get back on the win side of their lost win, lost win rotation for the past month or so.

Any other thoughts from all of you as we wind up tonight's show? Don't forget that our next show is indeed Saturday after Knux and Carolina in Vancouver. I'm looking at my handy-dandy spreadsheet right now and it looks like that, oh, Speak of the Angel. This time is like Kaya is doing the show this Saturday. Make sure that you are back here at 7:00 PM. No, at 9:45 or 10:00 PM Pacific Time on Saturday, where Kaya will hopefully be wrapping up another Knux win. Their first two-game win streak, it would be in 11 or 12 games in over a month. Thanks everyone for being here. I hope you enjoyed the show. And as much as you enjoyed the game, if you compared the show to the first period of the game, I'm sure you'd picked the show. Second period, I think it was a saw-off. Third period, I think you picked the show over the game. But overall, we're happy that the Knux won to nothing. On a night where it's our death players and Casey to Smith who come through for the victory. On your way out, please subscribe to S. D. P. N, like the video on your way out, and you can hit the notification button.

And if you want to follow my work as well, I'm Knux Klay here on YouTube and on X, formerly Twitter. You can follow my work there. And if you're not sick of me and you still want some more Knux Talk, I'm doing my own show 20 minutes from now. For those of you not in the Pacific time zone, I don't know why you'd want to stay up to watch more of me, but for anyone else, I'll be starting in 20 minutes on my own channel, Knut Klay. Saturday night, it's Vancouver, it's Carolina, and it's the wonderful KIA May as your host. Friends, thank you for being here. Enjoy the rest of your night. Enjoy the rest of your week, your work week as we head into the weekend. Friends, stay safe, stay healthy, take care of yourselves, and take care of each other. Good night. Game over.