The Vancouver Canucks just lost their way into first place in the NHL.
The Canucks came into Thursday’s game against the Dallas Stars one point back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the most points in the NHL standings. When Vegas fell 5-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in regulation, the Canucks just needed to get the game to overtime to move into first, as they hold the tie-breaker over the Golden Knights — they have five more regulation or overtime wins.
After a raucous, back-and-forth game against the Stars, the Canucks did just enough to pass the Golden Knights. But it didn’t feel very good.
The Canucks had a one-goal lead heading into the final minutes of regulation but couldn’t hold on for the win. Then, in overtime, they had a golden opportunity to win the game, couldn’t finish, and then gave up the game-winning goal with just ten seconds left.
“Their tying goal, we kinda made a couple mistakes and it’s in our net,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “And then we had a 2-on-0 in overtime, so we had our chances to win the game.
They were minutes away from a regulation win and seconds away from a shootout but, unlike so many other times this season, they couldn’t hold on. It’s pretty understandable that the Canucks were upset with how the game ended.
Tocchet was nowhere near as hard on the team as the team was on themselves, however. While Tocchet hasn’t shied away from criticizing his team’s play even after wins, he took a more upbeat approach after the tough loss.
“You have the lead with three minutes left and then you have a 2-on-0 in overtime, guys are upset about it,” said Tocchet. “But hey, we grinded it out — it’s four [games] in six [nights], this is a tough building, we’ve got a point in the last eight or nine games or whatever. It’s good to be upset but keep your head up and we’ll march on.”
Tocchet is right. The Canucks have been all business this season and never satisfied, which has been an important part of their strong start, but that kind of attitude can turn into self-flagellation if you’re not careful. The Stars were a tough opponent at the tail end of a weirdly-scheduled four-game road trip and the Canucks managed to get at least a point out of it. That’s a win.
Okay, not an actual win, but a spiritual win. A moral victory, if you will.
“These kinds of moments are good. It builds character,” said Tocchet. “I know they’re disappointed but we’ve got to get some rest. We’ve got one more game before the holidays, a big game, and then we have much-deserved rest. The guys deserve it. I think we get one game in seven days, so that’s a big seven days for us to get some guys reset.”
Yep. What a concept. I could use a little rest myself. And we could use a little reset.
I watched this game.
- The Good Job Boys — Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua, and Teddy Blueger — came out flying in the first shift of the game, creating two grade-A chances in the first 30 seconds. I’d say they set the tone for the first period, but then the Stars out-shot the Canucks 16-to-6.
- That line did come through with the opening goal. Thatcher Demko made a save on a Wyatt Johnston shot, then chaos erupted in front of the net, with bodies flying everywhere like a Mad Max: Fury Road action scene. Out of the chaos came Garland with the puck, breaking the other way on a 2-on-1 with Joshua. Garland looked off Joshua, made like he was about to shoot, then slipped a no-look pass to Joshua as soon as Miro Heiskanen committed to blocking the shot that never came.
- Joshua had a pretty great game. He not only scored a goal and, later, added an assist but also drew a penalty to end the Stars’ first power play, threw a game-high five hits, and marched around Jericho seven times to bring down the city walls.
- “Consistency, right?” said Garland of why Joshua’s finding success. “Each and every game, I think he’s realized how important he is to our club and it shows. Each and every night, he’s bringing it. The goals have gone in but I thought he’s been very good the majority of the year, so it’s nice to see him get rewarded.”
- The Stars pushed back hard and came up with the tying goal midway through the first. During a 4-on-4, Heiskanen shook free of Garland in the neutral zone and sent Matt Duchene and Tyler Seguin into the Canucks’ zone. Seguin did the giving and the going, passing to Duchene and then accelerating past Ian Cole to the net before chopping in Duchene’s return feed with one hand on his stick.
- When it was suggested that the game slipped away from the Canucks after they opened the scoring, Conor Garland was quick to say, “Only for the last six [minutes] in the first. Yeah, they poured it on there in the last six of the first, but I thought we were pretty good after that.”
- The Stars took a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. Nikita Zadorov got caught puck-watching and lost track of his man, Roope Hintz, as he rooped his hintz right to the front of the net. As Tyler Myers chased Jason Robertson behind the net, Hintz was all alone in front to deke the puck through Demko’s five-hole with the quickest hands since the Waco Kid.
- J.T. Miller was not fond of this hit by Mason Marchment and had fighting words for Marchment afterwards, though not fighting fists. Honestly, I don’t think this hit is too bad. It’s a bit from the blindside, but he doesn’t hit Miller in the head.
- Miller got his revenge on the scoreboard a few minutes later, setting up a brilliant Brock Boeser goal to tie the game 2-2. Off a Quinn Hughes stretch pass, Miller gained the zone and skated in deep, drawing the Stars’ defence with him. That left room for Boeser coming off the bench and he made the most of it, ripping a wrist shot into the top corner with the type of precision that would make Mike Howell jealous.
- Honestly, the comparison to that scene from American Ultra is very fitting, seeing as Boeser’s shot also took a deflection, ticking off Joe Pavelski’s skate rather than a frying pan.
- This game got wildly entertaining in the third period, as both teams opened things up, looking for the go-ahead goal. I particularly enjoyed these long passes from Hughes, Boeser, and Miller to set up a chance for Filip Hronek that unfortunately deflected off a stick and went wide.
- Eventually, it was the Good Job Boys coming through again, this time with Joshua setting up Garland to put the Canucks up 3-2. Blueger stole the puck from Craig Smith in the neutral zone, leading to a chance in transition. He threw the puck cross-ice to Joshua, who made a gorgeous backdoor feed to the literally net-crashing Garland for his first goal in 19 games.
- “We just work hard,” said Garland. “We play a system that rewards hard work and staying above [the opposing forwards]. We try to listen to Tocc as best we can before games and follow the team’s gameplan to a T, and it pays off.”
- Joshua made one mistake, however. He was put on the ice with Miller and Boeser for a defensive zone faceoff, taking the place of Nils Höglander, but he failed to execute off the faceoff. He was supposed to bolt to the far boards to pick up Ian Cole’s ring-around pass, but he hesitated for a split-second, then started to skate up ice before remembering where he was supposed to go. That led to a turnover to Heiskanen and a moment later, Thomas Harley fired the puck five-hole to tie the game.
- It wasn’t all on Joshua, to be clear. There’s a certain irony to Tocchet taking Höglander off Miller’s line while trying to hold a lead, then seeing Joshua miss his assignment, Miller blowing the defensive zone early and missing that the breakout had broken down, and Boeser getting caught flat-footed as Harley blew past him. Maybe Tocchet should’ve just kept Höglander on the ice.
- The Stars nearly scored the game-winner a minute later, as Evgenii Dadonov blew past Myers to drive to the net. To be honest, I still don’t know how he missed this chance and the broadcast never showed a replay because the rest of the third period was so frenetic. Maybe you can figure it out.
- The Stars controlled the puck for most of overtime, repeatedly circling back to maintain possession, change lines, and tire out the Canucks. It took Joshua to finally win the puck for the Canucks, poking the puck away from Heiskanen and breaking away for a 2-on-0 with Pettersson. It seemed certain to result in a goal but Wedgewood slammed his pads down to stop Pettersson’s five-hole attempt, with Heiskanen rushing back to take away the return pass tap-in for Joshua. It was the most disappointing two-person breakaway since they spun off Nick and Loretta Tortelli from Cheers.
- In the dying seconds, Duchene snuck in behind Hughes and took a breakaway pass from Harley. Like Pettersson, Duchene went for the five-hole, but Demko couldn’t seal the ice like Wedgewood did. With that, the Stars celebrated like they had just won a playoff game, which actually speaks very well of how much respect the Canucks are earning around the league.
- Honestly, getting six out of eight points on this four-game road trip is a great result, even if it feels like this particular game slipped through the Canucks’ fingers. The Canucks may have backed their way into first in the NHL, but they’re still first in the NHL. Nothing but Thomas Drance’s stubborn insistence on using points percentage instead of total points can take that away from them.
