This is a tale of two turnovers.
Two members of the Vancouver Canucks have been in and out of head coach Rick Tocchet’s doghouse this season: Nils Höglander and Andrei Kuzmenko. Sure, one of them has been a little bit more in the doghouse than the other, but both have been criticized for their failure to execute certain elements of the Canucks’ system — their “staples,” in Tocchet’s words.
Both Höglander and Kuzmenko had egregious turnovers in the defensive zone in the second period, the type of turnovers that give a coach grey hairs — or would, if Tocchet didn’t have a shaved head. What was interesting was what happened after those turnovers.
Let’s start with Kuzmenko. After his turnover, Kuzmenko didn’t play another shift at even-strength. He only came out for two power play shifts in the second period, then didn’t play at all in the third period, with Pius Suter taking his spot on the first power play unit.
Höglander’s turnover led to the more dangerous scoring chance of the two, as well as a Canucks penalty that put a very dangerous Coyotes power play to work in a tie game.
Unlike Kuzmenko, however, Höglander kept getting ice time. With plenty of penalties on both sides, his ice time was a little bit limited, but he still got a regular shift at even strength.
The result? Höglander assisted on the game-winning goal, then was out on the ice in the final minutes to play a crucial role in defending the one-goal lead.
“Höglander, I thought he did a nice job of turning the tides for us, a couple of nice hits,” said Tocchet. “I’m starting to trust him more and more. He was mad about the giveaway but he makes a mistake, I can’t just sit the guy on the bench — he’s a guy that I think has earned a little bit more rope and I’ve given him more rope.
“And that last two minutes, he kept the puck in their end. That was a big play by Höggy, keeping that puck in the corner and eating some clock. He did a nice job.”
That seems like a key quote by Tocchet, saying that he’s not going to bench a player for one mistake. As much as the turnovers were big, noticeable mistakes by Höglander and Kuzmenko, that’s not what gets a player benched.
Höglander has earned a longer rope but that longer rope is also available to be earned by Kuzmenko and he hasn’t earned it. He made a number of other, less noticeable mistakes beyond the turnover, including on the Coyotes’ lone goal. There’s a reason why Höglander has earned Tocchet’s trust and Kuzmenko hasn’t.
The question is, where does this end?
The Canucks are aiming to be Stanley Cup contenders and it’s awfully difficult to do that with $5.5 million in cap space sitting either in the press box or on the bench in crucial situations. The Canucks surely want to add at the trade deadline too and might need to create some cap space to add the player(s) they want.
Kuzmenko’s confidence seems utterly shot, he’s struggling to find his place in Tocchet’s system, and his only two goals in the last 12 games were against the last-place San Jose Sharks. What on earth are the Canucks going to do with him?
Much like Kuzmenko in the third period, I watched this game.
- Some Canucks fans on social media could not help but see some karma in Kuzmenko getting benched on Pride Night a year after he refused to wear a Pride jersey during warm-ups last season. That played a part in the NHL outright banning all specialty jerseys in warm-ups across the league.
- It’s a shame that the Canucks didn’t get to wear this year’s Pride jersey on the ice because it’s a beauty. Once again, it was designed by Swedish artist Mio, who also designed the team’s 2022 Pride jersey.
- While it was a tight 2-1 game, the Canucks outright dominated the first period and deserved to take a big lead like they did several times on the road. They out-shot the Coyotes 14-to-4 in the first period but came out of it tied 1-1, which is not how a first period is supposed to go for the Canucks. You either die a PDO hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the PDO villain.
- “My feeling after the [first] period is that’s the best team we’ve played,” said Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny. “They were fast, hard on pucks, they play well in their structure.”
- The first period also made it completely clear why Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien leads the NHL in penalty minutes: he’s bad at hockey and tries to compensate by being a big ol’ goof. After Sam Lafferty threw a big hit on Michael Kesselring, O’Brien came off the bench and immediately went after Lafferty, dropping his gloves to punch Lafferty as he tried to get onto the bench for a line change. That’s the type of thing that typically leads to a game misconduct and a suspension but O’Brien instead just got a two-minute minor for roughing.
- Later in the first, O'Brien came directly off the bench to fight Nikita Zadorov — again, something the NHL typically frowns upon. After his five-minute fighting major, however, O’Brien stayed in the game and kept trying to stir things up while largely just being ignored by the rest of the Canucks. A whole bunch of nonsense could have been avoided if they just booted O’Brien from the game.
- “I thought Big Zee, in the fight — it was a great fight — he did what he had to do and I think that helped our team,” said Tocchet. “Quieted it down a bit.”
- It looked like Brock Boeser opened the scoring right after the fight but the goal was immediately waved off because J.T. Miller made contact with goaltender Connor Ingram while in the crease. You could argue that J.J. Moser helped him enter the crease and that Ingram wasn’t impeded from making a save but the NHL is actually frustratingly consistent on this specific interpretation of goaltender interference: if you’re in the crease and initiate contact with the goaltender, it’s getting called back with little room for nuance.
- It’s a shame, because it was a really neat goal. Boeser went to the front of the net, then spun off his check and got his stick on the ice. Quinn Hughes fired a hard pass mid-spin, putting the puck right where Boeser’s blade was about to be. You’ve heard of a no-look pass but this was a no-look tip: Boeser never even saw the puck before he directed it into the net. That’s some preternatural passing precision by Hughes.
- Elias Pettersson opened the scoring for real a few minutes later. It was a simple play: Miller won the faceoff back to Hughes, who slid the puck across to Pettersson, who drilled it into the top corner of the net. It was sublime in its simplicity and it left Ingram staring at the corner like Mike in The Blair Witch Project.
- Despite heavily tilting the ice, the Canucks couldn’t escape the first period with the lead. Alex Kerfoot slipped free from Filip Hronek for a shot attempt from the slot but Ilya Mikheyev poked the puck off his stick. Unfortunately, it went right to Travis Dermott, who had jumped up the weak side behind the back of the puck-watching Andrei Kuzmenko. The broken play gave Dermott an opening on the scrambling Thatcher Demko and he took advantage.
- It’s hard not to be happy for Dermott, who missed almost all of last season with the Canucks because of a concussion he suffered in training camp. I spoke to him at the end of last season about how hard he worked to get back on the ice and it’s great to see him as a regular in the Coyotes’ lineup. He’s truly one of the nicest guys in the NHL and it’s fitting that his first goal in nearly two years was scored against the Canucks.
- That was the only puck to get past Demko, who made 20 saves on 21 shots. He wasn’t overly busy but he still had to make some big stops, particularly in the second period, where he robbed Clayton Keller after Höglander’s turnover, got a shoulder on a Matias Maccelli power play chance, and hung his left pad to stop a one-handed Logan Cooley shot on a breakaway. Like a little frog on a lily pad, Demko was on the ball.
- As much as Kuzmenko’s turnover wasn’t the only reason that he was benched, it must be said that it was a truly terrible turnover. Clayton Keller was literally leaving the ice for a line change when Kuzmenko handed the puck right to him with a no-look pass, which is an adjective that should never describe a pass in the defensive zone. The defensive zone is for look passes only. Heck, extremely-look passes. Do all of the looking before passing, please.
- Compare and contrast with this absolutely incredible spinning no-look pass by Quinn Hughes. First of all, it went to a Canuck, which is a vast improvement. Second, it was in the offensive zone on the power play, which limits the danger were the pass to go awry. Third, it was dope as hell. That’s more of a comment than a comparison, but still: dope pass.
- It took over 15 minutes for the Canucks to get their first shot on goal in the second period, which was stunning given how much they dominated the first period. I mean, I guess it’s easier to keep everyone’s shooting percentages up when they keep missing the net.
- “We didn’t play predictable, we didn’t get the puck in deep,” said Tocchet about the team’s second period. “The good thing is we didn’t give them a lot. They had a couple looks but even when we’re a little sluggish, it’s not like we’re giving them seven or eight grade-A chances, so that’s a good thing.”
- After Conor Garland was on the ice for a power play late in the second period, Höglander took his spot with the Good Job Boys and did a good job…boy. Tyler Myers poked a puck loose in the neutral zone and Teddy Blueger chipped it ahead for Höglander. He fired a pass to a net-crashing Dakota Joshua, whose initial tip was stopped, but Joshua showed off his soft hands by corralling the rebound and pulling it past Ingram’s outstretched pad.
- That was Joshua's 12th goal of the season, a new career high. It also moves him into a tie with Höglander for fourth on the Canucks in goalscoring. Joshua has an $825,000 cap hit, so that's some very cost-effective scoring.
- Late in the game, Höglander made like Default and wasted the Coyotes’ time. First he stole the puck in the neutral zone, then got in on the forecheck to come up with the puck in a board battle, then stole the puck again to extend the time in the offensive zone. Like he was a protagonist in an Animorphs book, Höglander had a beastly shift.
- The Canucks came agonizingly close to adding an empty-net goal and make the final seconds a little more comfortable for the on-edge crowd at Rogers Arena. First, Hughes sent a puck inches wide, then a Pettersson attempt rolled toward the net before it suddenly veered to the side like an Air Canada plane.
- The nice thing about this game is that it’s an example of the Canucks not getting any bounces but still coming away with the win. They had a goal disallowed, had an unlucky bounce give the Coyotes a goal, and missed the net on some golden opportunities on the power play, but they persevered. And now they’re the first team in the NHL to 30 wins.
