The best way for the Vancouver Canucks to ensure that the Toronto Maple Leafs lost this game was to make it as much like a playoff game as possible.
“These are the games for us where we, quite honestly, have to treat it like a playoff game,” said head coach Rick Tocchet before the game. “This is our, kind of, playoff game.”
The Canucks did exactly that, playing with playoff intensity right from puck drop, with a little bit of help from a former Canuck, Luke Schenn, who lowered the boom on Philip di Giuseppe just eight seconds into the game.
That set the tone but the Canucks matched that tone like the paint experts at Home Depot (contact me for sponsorship details, Home Depot). Tyler Myers absolutely crushed John Tavares with a massive hit less than a minute later, then dropped the gloves with Jake McCabe when he came to defend his captain.
“I just saw him cutting in the middle,” said Myers. “Honestly, Schenner set the tone with his hit in the first shift of the game, so it kind of got us in the mindset to hit back and I had my chance.”
“That definitely sparked the whole game to be physical,” said Elias Pettersson.
“That was a huge play for us,” said Thatcher Demko of Myers’ hit, then quipped, “He might have some mileage on him but he’s still a strong guy.”
Dakota Joshua followed that up with a stiff check on Tavares again in the same spot on the ice later in the first period. The Canucks were credited with 23 hits, led by J.T. Miller with five hits.
“The tone of the game was set with all the hits, even Schenner in the first second of the game,” said Miller. “Then Mysy, then Dak, and then guys are running around. I mean, it just felt like a playoff game — low-scoring too, for the most part. Those are fun games and it’s nice to come out on the right side of it.”
It certainly helped that the atmosphere in Rogers Arena felt like a playoff game. With legions of Leafs fans invading and competing with Canucks fans cheer-for-cheer, the building was the loudest it’s been all season.
“It was awesome,” said Pettersson. “Obviously, they’ve got a big fanbase, they’ve got fans everywhere, but Canucks fans were loud today and I’m happy we got the win for them.”
“The way the building was tonight, it felt like a playoff atmosphere,” said Myers. “We’re not in the position that we want to be in the standings but we want to keep building as a group to get to that level each and every night.”
“That was a fun game, just start to finish,” said Thatcher Demko. “We always know when they come to town, it’s going to be an energetic building. Obviously, there was a lot of physicality to start the game. Both teams were really engaged — it kind of felt like a playoff game there for a second.”
Maybe it only felt like a playoff game for a second but it allowed the Canucks to leverage 56 years of history to beat the Leafs like it was Game 7 in the first round.
Who knows, maybe someday in the future I’ll be able to watch an actual Canucks playoff game like I watched this game.
- Is it perhaps sad that this was the Canucks' version of a playoff game right now — a win that still leaves them still sitting in 27th place in the NHL? Sure. Does it say something that it takes treating this game like a playoff game to beat the Leafs, who were likely instead treating this game like it was a regular season game against the 27th-place team in the league? Definitely. Was it still a fantastic game to watch? Absolutely.
- When asked about the energy in the building, Tocchet said, “I loved the Canucks fans,” then left a pregnant pause to make sure everyone knew how he felt about the non-Canucks fans in the building. “Some of the people warned me that there’s gonna be a lot of Leafs fans. I didn’t know it was going to be that many. But I’m kind of used to it because when I was in Arizona, there’s a lot of visiting fans out there too.”
- As the media came into the locker room, the Canucks were grooving to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac played at concert-level volume. Kyle Burroughs had the aux, as it were, and while there were a few players good-naturedly rolling their eyes at the classic rock, others were definitely grooving with it.
- “No, I love it,” said Thatcher Demko about the music selection. “Stevie Nicks, man.”
- Demko was outstanding in this game, particularly in the first period where the Leafs out-shot the Canucks 14-to-5. Like Rumours for Fleetwood Mac, it was a classic performance for Demko, repeatedly stymieing the Leafs’ efforts to jump out to a first-period lead, something they badly wanted to do in their third game in four nights.
- Demko’s best save came on a shorthanded breakaway by William Nylander on a bad giveaway by Christian Wolanin. “I thought he had me for a second there,” said Demko of Nylander’s deke to the forehand. “I just tried to use some length and got the save.”
- The Canucks cleaned things up in the second and third periods. Even as the Leafs piled up the shots, out-shooting the Canucks 37-to-24 by the end of the game, the Canucks defended the middle of the ice effectively, as illustrated by the heatmap of their respective shots from Natural Stat Trick.
- The Canucks thought they had scored midway through the second period. Elias Pettersson made a slick toe-drag for a great chance, leading to a scrum around the net, with Matt Murray scrambling to cover the puck. Myers came barging in like the loose puck was Tavares and banged the puck over the line, but the referee mistakenly thought that Murray had covered the puck and waved the goal off immediately.
- The Canucks should have had the opening goal a few minutes later when Wolanin smartly jumped up in the play and took a nifty pass from Joshua for a 2-on-0 with Conor Garland. They played it perfectly with a little give-and-go to get Murray moving, but, like a bad soufflé cook, Wolanin couldn’t get it up.
- The Canucks finally opened the scoring late in the second period on the power play. Andrei “Anti-Tank Missile” Kuzmenko slid into the bumper on the first unit and deflected Quinn Hughes’ point shot for his league-leading 13th tip goal of the season — second behind Kuzmenko is some guy named Bo Horvat with 11.
- The Leafs replied with a power play goal of his own. Joshua lost sight of Tavares and the Leafs captain snuck in the backdoor and Nylander found him with a fantastic pass for the tap-in goal. Perhaps Tavares only felt safe to go to the net because Myers was in the penalty box at the time on a pretty soft hooking call.
- Other than that lapse, the penalty kill was solid but it shows that, like the Great Leap Forward’s campaign to eradicate sparrows causing the Great Chinese Famine, just one mistake can be costly.
- “It’s hard to believe, probably, when we’re in the 60s but I feel like our penalty kill, we’re getting closer,” said Miller. “We do a lot of good but it seems we find a way to give one up a lot of nights. We’ve got to find a way to kill the full two but I feel like we have guys that are willing to kill the right way. It’s just a matter of getting the extra 15-20 seconds out of it to keep it out of our net.”
- The Canucks’ penalty kill actually outscored the Leafs’ power play, coming through with two shorthanded goals in 44 seconds, the shortest time between two shorthanded goals in Canucks history, besting Petri Skriko’s two shorthanded goals in 1:11 back in 1986. Side note: Petri Skriko was my first favourite player, solely because his was the first Canucks hockey card I ever owned.
- It started with a good stick on the penalty kill by Myers to pick off a cross-ice pass. Really, it was foolish for Tavares to try to pass the puck eight feet away from Myers — he would have done better putting the pass in Myers’ skates. Miller took the puck and took off, with Pettersson hot on his heels to create a 2-on-1. Miller slid the puck across to Pettersson and he made a slick move to open up Murray’s five-hole and tuck the puck in.
- Shortly after, Pettersson picked up a ring-around on the boards and sprung Miller on a breakaway with a saucered stretch pass with Miller barely staying onside. Miller protected the puck from the backchecking Auston Matthews and surprised Murray with a quick snap shot. Like the singing pediatrician who vaccinates infants, Miller gave no indication the shot was coming.
- Miller was clearly fired up after the goal. “I was pretty pumped, actually, I haven’t celebrated in a long time, so I kind of lost my mind in disbelief,” said J.T. Miller with a laugh. “I actually thought I was offside, I’m not sure how close it was. It was nice that it went in but it’s nice to see Petey get that pumped up as well.”
- Interesting note at the end there. The emotional Miller was happy to see the quieter Pettersson get just as fired up after his own goal. Maybe they can be a good influence on each other: Miller can get Pettersson a little more emotional and fired up and Pettersson can help chill Miller out a little bit.
- Quinn Hughes got a touch on the puck before Pettersson, giving him his 200th career assist. Shockingly, that makes him the fastest defenceman to 200 career assists in NHL history, faster than Brian Leetch, Bobby Orr, and Paul Coffey. That’s a truly stunning accomplishment.
- Brock Boeser helped the Canucks make it 4-1, a score that is particularly galling for Leafs fans. Boeser won the puck with a smart forecheck on Morgan Rielly, then Di Giuseppe won the puck back after a centring pass went astray. He found Boeser with a pass and he quickly relayed it to Nils Åman for the backdoor tap-in.
- This win could be disastrous for the Canucks when the draft lottery rolls around — they’re getting dangerously close to catching a couple of teams and putting them in danger of sliding out of the top-ten picks — but it just feels so good for the Canucks to beat the Leafs.
- “You hate playing the Leafs but you love playing the Leafs — however you want to look at that — but it’s always a rivalry-type game, even in the other conference,” said Miller. “We really look forward to a game like that.”
