Five goals in 4 ½ minutes ain’t too shabby, and that little offensive outburst in the first was good enough to send the Canucks to a 6-2 win over the Ducks. The boys’ playoff chances are extremely slim – basically needing to win out and have the Wild and Flames crash out – but they still have something to play for. If you missed the game, here are your highlights:
Maybe the vets see the writing on the wall, but the young guys on the team are still playing to make an impact. With injuries and some holes in the lineup, the Canucks are getting some of their younger guys in.
“You never know when you get sent down when your next chance is going to come,” Sasson, the late-blooming 24-year-old who is near the end of his second pro season, said after scoring in his first NHL appearance since Jan. 27. “And that's why you've got to just stay focused, work hard, and stick to your details down there (in the AHL) and play well, and give yourself the best chance to get called up.
“When I got that call, I couldn't have been more ready. I think every guy who's gotten called up, I think we all do a really good job of preparing and we're all ready for this moment.”
Sasson’s speed and tenacity were evident. D-Petey scored his first ever goal. Raty went 6-2 in faceoffs to go with 3 hits
“I just got really happy,” Pettersson said of the moment. “A little shocked, but really fun. It was super cool. I've had some good looks. I was hearing it from Brock (for not scoring), but it was fun today.”
“You're a young kid. . . every shift you get is an opportunity,” Tocchet said of the young guys in the lineup. “I mean, everybody's got to think that way, but especially young guys. I thought the young guys, since they've been up, they're giving us all they've got. They're playing hard for us. Yeah, there's mistakes. But the effort from the young guys, to me, has been really outstanding.”
They’re going to need that effort to carry through the rest of this season and into the start of the next. The vets know where this year is unfortunately going, so having the young guys there will hopefully make it a bit more enjoyable for the next six games. But that doesn’t mean they can’t stop instilling things that the team needs to work on.
“It’s been a common theme,” said Tocchet of the inconsistent effort. “I hate to use the word maturity, but we’ve got to understand when we’re up we sometimes just let up. It’s a common nature, but that’s the next level of maturity for us.
“We’re a young team and we have to understand when it’s 5-1 that we just don’t back off. We just don’t dump pucks in or skate with the puck. We have to reverse that mindset.”
Still, it seems like a bit of mountain for this season, especially as the Blues have gone on a heater and the Wild just need to win a couple more games.
“It's hard to catch a team when they win every game,” Boeser said. “I think we've been working really hard, and I feel like our effort level has been there and there's been no quit in our team. Every team in the East seems to be losing in the wild-card spot, and every team in the West seems to be winning. So it's been hard and it’s been frustrating. But I still believe that our team shows up to the rink with a good mindset.
“It definitely feels strange. With all the injuries and stuff, we need those young guys to step up and it's definitely a different feeling (with them in the NHL). But they’ve been working really hard and really trying their best. So it obviously helps when they step up and we're still winning hockey games.”
Vegas is up next, which will be a bit of a different beast than the Ducks. Let’s see how the youngins do then.
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