Win together - share the pain together - the entire team took some pain for Bo - it was painful to watch

The bad news today was so bad for NucksNation that the appropriate thing to do was cancel the game against Philly. So they did.

And I’m cancelling the recap in sympathy. Thanks for reading.

Then it was noted in pages of legalese so crushing with financially intimidating, cancel-at-your-peril vividness, Orca management fins re-opened the doors to the ROG, let the keen fan(s) in and sadly, let Philly off the bus and onto the ice.

If you haven’t heard the Bad-Broken-Bo news...then lucky you. Click away now and tune in again sometime in early 2018. Or 2019. Just in case.

After the big 3 game win streak, the big 1st ever shutout for Marky, NucksNation expects more winning from the Nucks. Everyone not from HNIC.

So, let’s win some records! Ready, Set, Go!

1st Period

If the Nucks could keep the Flyers off the shot counter for the first 8 minutes while putting 9 on Elliot, several that pretty much went in - if you could photoshop the TV in real time - it’s enough to win the game in the 1st. Like they did last Saturday against the media cabal team.

But that Nucks team had our #1 Borrific center. Tonight’s tilt didn’t even have a syringe of botox to inject. Still...we have a player who recently struck the center of the doughnut.

Our newly minted shutout maestro, Marky, got busy shutting out 7 shots on Philly’s first power play. Could he win the game by himself? Or the period? Would winning the first Philly PP suffice?

So many questions. And then so many more Nucks penalties. After successfully killing Edler’s flashy slashy infraction - an infraction the league was determined to crack down on - in the preseason - our new one thousand point bully, Dank, took a penalty for high-sticking. Thing is, the stick was never tested for drugs, so it could have just been a contact high.

No matter. The Nucks have been very good the last dozen games on the PK. When they had most of their top 4 penalty killers available. Tonight, they were down to one. We lost Sutter to the I-faeries, lost Double D to forced retirement and then discovered today we lost Bo for the next six weeks. Not really lost - can find him in the pressbox, maybe playing hopscotch and cursing the bone faeries.

Anyhow...what happens on the next PK? A bad thing. A Gost goal. Shutout streak is over for Marky - it had barely started FFS. That’s just mean, Philly.

Canucks outshoot the Flyers by a huge margin and are rewarded with nothing. The wrong kind of nothing.

Still, not the end of the world or the game. That comes later.

2nd Period

Remember the 20+ recaps where we gloated over the ownership of the seconds by our first line? Take your time. And more.

This wasn’t one of those kind of periods. It was the other kind. Nucks couldn’t even rent it until the last 20 seconds. By that time Philly has scored two more goals - one on the powerplay where Giroux imitated a Boeser one-timer.

The Flyers’ pathetic power play got 2 goals. TWO! During their 10 game losing streak (which we helped extend for them back in a previous era), they had a pathetic power play rivalled only by the Nucks early season one.

Missing key players can mess with key aspects of the game. Who knew?

The game is over. But not for Brock. He swatted a rebound from the dirty area past Elliott.

Philly claimed Elliottated interference on the goal. Their protest was rejected. And because the refs love the city of Vancouver and NucksNation so much, Philly was punished - all their goals were overturned. We WIN 1-0! Yay!

3rd Period

Turns out.... I actually did make up the part about getting goals overturned, ref love and possibly some other details I can’t recall.

So the Nucks were forced to play comeback kids hockey without all their kids. The Nucks successful comebacks in the 3rd this season haven’t really been very successful. Still... they managed to keep the unsuccessfulness intact while keeping Marky sharp with a few odd man rushes against.

But because the team were leaving Marky exposed, he let in a real softie - Philly scored again after Marky abandoned all hope and his net. Some say it’s a strategy employed by the coach to put an extra attacker on the ice to push for the tie and the win. Some say the wet coast rain in November is refreshing.

What does this mean? It means we should have cancelled the game as originally planned. Not really much of a plan but...tough day.

And thinking of 30 20 5 thoughts when the lineup is scrambled by bone-munching spells of injury from Feckless Fecal Faeries...

• Thought 1: Stay out of the box. 3 key PK players out? Stay out of the box, Eddie. He took 3 penalties in one game. And there were a couple of offensive zone penalties too. Those are always the most offensive.
• Thought 2: Depleted roster? Depleted energy? Step up and...

We interrupt this finely honed thought feast to bring you up-to-the-moment-from-hours-ago Foundation Shaking Nucks Trade Information.

Star Earth Date: 2017.12.07: The Vancouver Canucks have acquired forward Nic Dowd from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for defenceman Jordan Subban.

Boom! There goes another bombshell. I’ll wait here until your ears stop ringing.

We’ve lost our ONLY Subban! Why? I could tell you the reasons, but they’re BOring. We’re in the Crisis Center Before Christmas and we haven’t done our shopping for a center that can win faceoffs. In LA, all their centers win faceoffs. So we took their 4th best one, because Kopi kould hamper kemistry. And we couldn’t afford him.

Who is this guy? Other more competent NM contributors will fill in the blanks for you later.

What we know so far:

This 6’2” 196lb 52% faceoff master is from the southern hockey hotbed of Huntsville, Alabama. He’s one of the highest scoring players on the Kings - from the bottom six. He’s known as the Austen Matthues of Alabama.

Welcome to the Wet, Cold, Northern Jungle, Nic!

We now return to our carefully crafted thought hones....What was I thinking?

No idea. Wasn’t important. What is important is winning. Or being hard to play against at least. It’s harder to do that without a fully hardened roster.

Let’s focus on the good points of the game - the only points we scored - from the guy who took 7 shots on Elliott and made one count.

And on the sore points of the game.

This game was a bit of face wash in the yellow snow of reality. Our yellowed underbelly of PK guts was exposed to the harsh elements of GA fallibility. That and we didn’t take enough shots - that counted. We outshot Philly 37-26. When we get over 35 shots on a goalie we always win the game. It’s a soft enforced NM municipal hockey bylaw. Which is like a certainty rule guideline.

Hope Sutter returns soon. Like Saturday. Will Nic join the mixed-up lineup? Only you, me and HNIC will know for sure. Yes, we get to experience another night of Hockey Night in Canada for the second time in a week. This time at night, pretty much.

So while the neverland express has possibly hopped the tracks, never say never. This is a season of surprises - a season of Destiny. One that Westy foretold before/during/after he sobered up.

Keep your Friday safe, wear your Subbans Raybans, keep your cool - your wits nearby in case you need them on Saturday. See you then, NM!