In a battle of teams at the front of the table, the Canucks came out handily on top Monday night with a 6-3 victory. It was a strong showing against a powerful team, one that will hopefully start to push the Canucks into contender status around the league. After a small setback on the first game of the road trip, the Canucks have scored 12 goals in two games, with the newly reunited Lotto Line leading the way with 17 points in those two games combined. With those two wins, the Canucks now have the opportunity to do something they’ve never done in their history: sweep the NY/NJ teams on a road trip… Here are your worthwhile highlights:
So, the boys passed that litmus test with flying colours. That was a good team victory against a front-running team. Should they be pleased?
"Yeah, you should enjoy this, but to be a really good hockey team, consistent all the time you've got to make sure they stay even-keeled," Tocchet said afer the game. "I've got to give the guys credit, they're really learning to be even-keeled. I don't think we're strutting around, but you should enjoy it and have confidence. The Rangers pressed and we made a couple of nice plays under pressure. That's what I like, not backing off. You can't hold that team for 60 minutes. It's a really good hockey team, and I thought for the most part we did a good job even when they pressed us."
However, should they be too pleased?
“No team, no matter how good you are, ever plays perfect,” Ian Cole stated. “It doesn't happen. How do we fix things, how do we move forward, how do we get better? That's what the mindset is. Are we able to grab it and win hockey games... grab it against the best team in the National Hockey League? Listen, there's a lot of positives. Right now, (the Rangers) are the best team in hockey. But we think we're a good hockey team, too.”
I’m really liking the steady-as-she-goes mindset the team has, from the coaches down to the leadership down to the rest of the team. They’re playing well, and they’re playing structured. Hughes and Hronek had a dominant game, both finishing +4 with two apples for Hronek and one for Hughes. Petey had four points, with back-to-back two-goal games. Hoglander was great, potting a pair and looking confident on his highlight reel second goal, bringing his totally up to 12 so far on the year. Most importantly, their PDO just keeps getting better and better (though the shot totals seem lopsided, the 5-on-5 scoring chances were pretty close.) You can hear and see how much belief they have right now.
“I think with this group, we just go in expecting (to win), just kind of knowing that we can beat anybody,” Soucy said. “Off-nights are still going to happen; they happen with every team. But we put ourselves in a good spot for the first half. Yeah, I think this group just has confidence. And we should. We've got unbelievable players in here up front and on the back end, so we have confidence that we can beat anybody.”
Sitting third overall in the league will help with that. And, through their splits, they’ve been consistent: 13-6-1 in the first 20 games, then 13-5-2 in the next 20. Tonight’s game against the Islanders (and old captain Horvat) marks the halfway mark of the year. Hopefully the boys don’t let the foot off the gas and sweep this little series.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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