For the first time in a month, the Canucks beat a playoff team. And not only any playoff team, the reigning cup champs and their potential first round matchup. After a rocky first 10 minutes, the Canucks were solid the rest of the game, digging themselves out of a two goal deficit. If you missed the game, here are your highlights (though be aware the audio on them is horrible):
It wasn’t a beat down, but a 4-3 come-from-behind win over Vegas is something to help steer the boat towards playoff life. With that victory, the Canucks locked up home ice advantage for the first round. That’s on top of all the other milestones some Canucks hit last night:
- JT Miller hit 100 points, becoming just the seventh player in franchise history to hit the mark, joining Bure, the Sedins, Mogilny, Naslund, and Elias Pettersson
- Brock Boeser notched his 40th goal of the season, becoming just the 10th player to do that, and the first since Daniel Sedin and Kesler did it back in 2010/11
- Quinn Hughes got his 200th assist over a three season span, joining Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey as the only others plays to do that
- Conor Garland played in his 400th career game and scored his 100th (and 101st) goal
But, most importantly, the Canucks won, and they did it as the chatter outside the room was growing.
“It gives us a lot of belief,” Garland said. “We think we’re a good team, and it's nice to beat good teams. We understand we've had a bit of a stretch here, but it's hard to win at this time of year, and it was good to have a game like that. That’s a playoff-type game.”
Garland has come on lately, scoring 10 points in his last 10 outings, and is clearing gearing up his play for the playoffs. He was the well-deserved first star, with the fans chanting his name after the game.
“To have a game like that, it’s a playoff game,” Garland continued. “And it (chanting) is pretty cool for anybody and they did it for Millsy and it’s well deserved. That’s the reward of playing in a Canadian market and a big one like Vancouver. If the environment is anything like this in the playoffs, it’s going to be a pretty cool place to play.”
Asked about the chanting afterwards, Garland had some jokes.
“It might go down as the worst player ever to have their name chanted in a stadium,” he said.
“The (400) games are nice. Obviously, I don't want to take any for granted. I worked very hard to get here, so I enjoy every day of it. And hopefully there's a lot more.”
The day started off on a joke as well, as JTM had tshirts printed for the entire team to commemorate Garland’s 400th game. Apparently Miller and Garland are the pranksters of the team, so it was a good way to lighten the mood amidst this little stretch of play they were having.
(I'll post the image in the thread as I can't seem to format a picture here)
Garland actually came up with the idea to “celebrate” another teammate, but when he told Miller, things turned around on him quickly.
“Within five minutes of him telling me the idea, I was in talking to the equipment guys about getting the T-shirts made,” Miller said after the morning skate. “It was Gar’s idea to do it for someone else and my idea to do it to him. And they turned out perfect.
“He was one of the last to arrive (for the morning skate) and when he walked in the room there were 18 guys wearing Garland shirts. It was perfect. My only regret is we didn’t have one for every single person in the organization.”
“I wish it wasn't me on it,” Garland said of the shirts after the game. “But, you know, that's what Millsy does so well for us. It's nice to come in and everybody has a laugh in the morning. It's a big game for us tonight and (you) relieve some stress. I know one guy wore it to the game. That was uncalled for. But it's nice. It is, it is. It's a long year and when you're in a bit of a (difficult) stretch, you can use something like that. That's what makes Millsy Millsy.”
A three assist night, 100 point season also makes Millsy Millsy. The Canucks leading scorer doesn’t take much stock in personal accolades, but admitted after the game this one might be a little different.
“I downplay everything but it is pretty special,” Miller said. “We have a lot of work to do and I’ll have an extra beer tonight and it’s something I can enjoy in the summer. It’s hard to do. I’m playing with really good players on a really good team.”
Overall on the game, the Canucks held their own against a team they haven’t been good against lately. They were dominant at times, and outside of letting in two goals on the first two shots, they responded as you’d hope they would.
“There wasn’t any panic on the bench and the power play got us back in the game and it was great,” Tocchet said after the win. “This was a good test and these are the moments you look for. When the pressure hits, you’ve got to be calm. There were tense moments but we did a nice job.”
“It was a test for us, I guess, the way things have been going lately,” Miller added. “And for them to come out and get a couple (of goals) on a couple of shots, we easily could have sat back and said: 'We're in (the playoffs), we'll try again next game.’ But it was a very serious and professional mindset on the bench, and it's nice to have the power play be timely for us to get us back in the game. We haven't had that in a while.
“We understand who we're playing against and what might happen in the future.”
Last night’s game felt like a game they might be able to rally around. We’ll see as their next challenge comes Wednesday against the Coyotes, before their biggest test for the rest of the season on Saturday against the Oilers.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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