The Canucks came out of Toronto with a 3-0 shutout victory on Saturday night. For a tired team playing on back-to-backs, with their flight being delayed overnight and arriving in the city that afternoon… the boys took an early lead and never looked back. Much like Carolina did to them the night before, the Canucks didn’t give much to the Leafs and controlled the play most of the way. If you wanna see their solid victory, you can here:
Lankinen, Hughes, and Petey. The Canucks rode those three player’s excellent nights to a much needed road victory to break their four game losing streak.
Lankinen is probably the team MVP at this moment. Hughes is in the conversation for the league MVP, but if you think of where this team is without Lankinen… it’d be ugly. He was his usual calm and composed self on Saturday, earning his fourth shutout of the season and seventh of his career.
Hughes had yet another impactful game. He was on the ice for all three goals, and had a goal and assist himself. Even with his injured hand still bothering him, he tilts the ice so dramatically it’s impossible not to be amazed at what he brings every night. He’s so consistent at being a game breaker for this team.
“He’s the same way, whether we’re up 5-0 or down 5-0. He’s a true captain,” Tocchet said afterwards.
Coming off a low-key game after coming back from injury, Petey played one of his most complete games this season. He was creating in the offensive zone, and he was dominant on the defensive side. He was clearly engaged for the primetime game, and it’s something the Canucks need more from him in their second-half playoff push. When he’s playing like this, he can help the team dominate games.
“He was amazing,” Hughes said. “A couple guys on the bench were yelling ‘Selke!’ after one of the shifts in the third.”
The bench loved it.
“I said it to Petey, ‘That's a Selke kind of game,’” Sherwood said. “That one shift in the third, he's blocking shots and defending... stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. But that leads to winning hockey.”
It was great to see from Petey, and it impacted the bench. When one of your best players is that engaged, it drags everyone else along as well.
“He battled,” Myers said. “It was very noticeable. He was very engaged, and it's great to see. When he plays like that... that's why he's one of the top players.”
“He was dialed,” Boeser added. “That's the Petey we know, blocking shots and making plays and looking confident out there. When he's playing confident, he's one helluva player.”
And with the hectic travel schedule they had coming into Toronto, it added a little extra.
“I think it becomes a problem when you talk about it and we didn’t talk about it as a group, which is good,” Tocc said of the travel issues. “You are going to have these challenges and you need 20 guys going and we all worked in the right direction. [We showed] a lot of heart. Last couple of years, this is a resilient group. Takes a lot of punches and gets back up, so this is one of those times where we got back up.”
“It was a whirlwind 24 hours here,” Myers said. “Guys stepped up tonight. It was a huge win for the group coming in on a back-to-back with a crazy travel day. It seemed like a lot of guys were going tonight and played the right way. Played real simple and I think it provided more opportunities for us. I think we have to realize that going forward and try to bring that more consistently.”
The Canucks –despite all their struggles – somehow have 4 points from the first 4 road games of this trip so far. They head to Winnipeg for the final game of this trip on Tuesday night. Would be great to head back to Vancouver with 6.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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