The Canucks avenged their 5-1 loss the other night in a low-scoring playoff-style game against a low-scoring playoff-style team Tuesday night in LA. The boys were resolute and disciplined, and some timely saves by Demko plus goals from Petey and JTM were enough to push the team to two wins so far on this roadtrip. Here are your highlights:
The tides may be turning on the Canucks’ funk. The first period last night was a little wonky, but over the final 40 the Canucks were the much better team, and their commitment to win the puck and keep their structure was needed against a stingy LA team. Tocchet talked about drive and desire before the game – the team had had some lackluster efforts recently – saying: “You can diagram it all you want, but if you don’t win puck battles, it doesn’t matter what system you play.” After the game, he was much happier with the effort.
“That was kind of a playoff-style (win) and I just liked the resolve,” he said. “That was one of our best second periods of the month and we managed the third. When we did chip it in, we got to pucks quicker and that’s a will and not a systems thing.
“We came up with more battles and territorial play and Demmer made the great saves. He gave us a chance — 100 per cent.”
Oh that he did. Demko was great all night, but nothing more fantastic than his robbery glove save against Turcotte on a 2-on-1 at the beginning of the third. Miller noted how nice it is to have Demko back there:
“We played a good road game and playoff-style game and Demko is such a big part of this team. It’s almost a get-out-of-jail-free situation for us when we have a breakdown.”
“Playoff-style” was thrown around a lot after the game, and it’s something the boys should step up to as the season progresses. LA plays that kind of hockey well: a trap team that pounces on turnovers. The team kept their calm and chipped away all night, not getting too frustrated and pushing themselves too much.
“I thought we just did a better job of kind of not cracking,” Miller explained. “That team over there will make you do dumb stuff and then that's how they get their opportunities. A couple of loose plays in the third... but other than that, that's a game I think we can expect moving forward against a good hockey team that defends really well.
“I'm really proud of the way our team hung in there and was able to be patient. The pucks just aren't going in like they were earlier in the year right now, but that's okay. We have to find a way to not let that defeat us in a hard-battle game.”
Blueger echoed that sentiment: “I thought we were a lot better. It was kind of a tough game because it really did kind of test your patience the way they play and just kind of the way the game was going. We had to... not get ahead of ourselves. I thought we did a really good job of that.”
Having Soucy back helped tremendously. The Canucks are 17-3-2 with him in the lineup this season, which speaks to his on-ice impacts… not just around the puck, but in all aspects of the game.
“He was a calming influence,” Tocc said of Soucy. “When things get hectic, he makes that little subtle play to get the puck or make a play to somebody. We’ve been missing that and he’s a leader, too. High hockey I.Q. He knows when to snap into somebody and hold the blue-line.”
The Canucks will take their 2-0 Petey record into Vegas on Thursday, another tough divisional matchup against a struggling but dangerous Knights team.
Lastly, trades? To the shock of most, The Athletic insider Chris Johnston tweeted that the Canucks may be shopping Lindholm in an effort to get Guentzel. That’s not new for a Rutherford administration to cut ties quickly, but this would be a really quick turnover. Lindholm was asked after the game about it, but he had no idea of the chatter.
“Obviously, I want to help the team more (than I have),” he said. “But this is the way it is right now and I've just got to work hard. If the team is winning, we're fine.”
Allvin was also asked, and this statement was put out through the communication staff:
“The coaches and players have put in the work this year, so we owe it to them to explore each and every option. Trades are not easy to make but we are willing to do what is necessary to help our team.”
We’ll have our answer in a couple days… but seeing how Allvin and Rutherford operate, I would bet something goes down before the TDL on that front.
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