After an amazing come-from-behind win over the Oilers on Wednesday night, it’s back to business for the Canucks. This team has been carrying a new mentality with it since Tocchet took over last year, and it’s one of determination, self-belief, and consistency. Even as people are writing them off, the boys just keep trucking along, and have internalized all those things Tocc has been preaching.
“It’s obviously a good feeling to [get the comeback victory], but we’re on Earth again,” Tocc said. “For me, in the playoffs, you get back to Earth as soon as possible. You enjoy it last night for maybe two seconds and then you’re back because you know what’s ahead and what’s coming your way and you need to be ready for it.”
The team will need to be better and sharper early. They dug themselves a 4-1 deficit, which isn’t a good recipe for victory in the playoffs. But, it wasn’t necessarily due to bad play. After Edmonton’s first two goals the Canucks carried play, relying on their defensive structure to limit the Oilers to just 8 shots over the final 40 minutes. It was another feather in the cap of experience for a young Canucks team – something they’re gaining rapidly that is fueling their postseason progress.
“I think the experience these last two weeks has kind of accelerated (the growth),” Tocc explained. “There's been two weeks of different types of games. And I think that's how you grow from experience. 'Oh, we've been there. Oh, yeah, we saw that. We've done this.' Small sample size, two weeks, three weeks, whatever. But that's why I have a lot of respect for the Tampas, the Colorados, because they've seen it for years. They've done it for five years. We're getting a crash course and guys are starting to get it.”
That inexperience was a talking point of pundits heading into the playoffs – how green the Canucks were – but having such an experienced coaching staff and a few veterans on the team has really helped the boys buy into Tocchet’s mindset.
After both teams were probably not thrilled with their games from game one, there will be adjustments to tactics and personnel – maybe even no Draisaitl as he was missing from practice yesterday with an injury. Either way the Oilers are going to come out hard, and it will be interesting to see how the team responds in kind. There are question marks around the Canucks crease as Silovs didn’t have his best game, but it seems like Tocc is leaning towards him again.
“He’s earned the right, right now, to play, but that doesn’t mean you know, we haven’t officially made a (decision),” Tocchet said in his gamesmanship. “The one thing we have: We have Casey, and Casey competed. You know, he could play tomorrow.”
Silovs has been solid so far for the Canucks as the third stringer, but the Latvian has been struggling off the ice with one thing: getting good sleep. Apparently he asked the team for some blackout curtains for where he’s been holding up.
“We've got to get him blackout blinds,” Tocchet said. “He's staying at an apartment, and I guess there's no blackout blinds. So that's what I'm dealing with. He's been here three, four weeks, and he decides ‘I need blackout blinds.’ Like, get them now, let's go. I'll do the blackout blinds, Clarkie can do the other stuff.”
Hopefully they came through for him. And hopefully the crowd comes through again for the boys, because they notice and they love it:
“The adrenaline was going for hours after the game last night,” Soucy said. “That was probably the loudest building I've ever been a part of — after that fourth and fifth goal. Even on the bench, you couldn't hear a thing. Next whistle, couldn't hear a thing still. And I think we just did a good job of harnessing that, I guess, of just enjoying it. I mean, the crowd being down 4-1, they didn't give up. We didn't give up. It was awesome.”
Keys to the game today:
1. Keep up the defensive work: the Canucks played an excellent back half of the game defensively. They kept McDavid in check (no shots, a first through his 55 playoff games), which is no small feat. They were sound and didn’t break or cheat, they kept to their system. They’re going to have to continue that, and redouble their efforts on McDavid as he’s going to be out for more.
“We just did a good job as a five-man unit and everyone knew what they’re doing and no one was off script,” Hughes said after the victory. “And when everyone is on the same page, it makes it easier to defend a special player like that. So we watched a lot of film and we’ve just got to keep doing that.”
2. Keep up the depth: The Canucks depth is what helped wrestle that game back. The Lindolm line was excellent. Even though he didn’t hit the scoresheet, Petey was way more engaged. He needs his linemates to step up, but he’s turning the corner.
“He's a very underrated two-way hockey player,” Tocchet said. “He's going to score; I don't want him squeezing the stick. I saw him try to hit there in the third period, he ran a couple of guys, he blocked that shot the last minute. I mean, there's enough good things for him to build on. He should go into tomorrow with confidence. Yeah, I played him nine minutes. I have confidence in the kid. If I didn't, I wouldn't play him. I think he knows that, you know, I've got his back, he's got my back. That's the way it works.”
3. Target their depth: The bottom 6 on the Canucks can be what decides this series over the Oilers bottom 6, and especially their bottom D pairings. Harm noted this in his latest Athletic article, and it’s something the Canucks should continue to key on:
Nurse and Ceci were on the ice for four of Vancouver’s five goals. The Canucks pummelled Nurse to the tune of a 12-1 advantage in five-on-five scoring chances.
They were also matched up mainly against the Lindholm line.
Puck drop today is at 7:00 PST.
And comments:
(Quotes from Dayal, MacIntyre, Patrick Johnston, and the Province)
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