After a tightly contested game five loss, the Canucks and Preds are back in Nashville for tonight's pivotal game six. Win and move on for the good guy, lose and it’s a flight back to Vancouver for a winner-take-all matchup on Sunday. It’s understandable if the boys are a bit tight, a little nervous as a lot of them are getting their first real playoff experience trying to close out a team. But that’s where your veterans step in, with sage advice from your Coles, or mood-lightening pranks from your Millers:
Miller took to practice yesterday in Silovs’ paisley pink dress shirt, which drew laughter and groans from the team and onlookers.
“It's a terrible shirt and it fit perfectly over my shoulder pads,” Miller said after practice. “And you just hope he never wears it again. Obviously, if I've got a chance to crack at a young guy, that was a good opportunity. But it gave the guys a laugh.”
“Well, I mean, he’s got to know better,” Zadorov said, weighing in on Silovs’ shirt. “It’s not a nightclub in Riga, Latvia.”
Tocchet was able to muster an “Oof” about it.
But, Silovs took it in stride and was a good sport about it. “I guess they like it so much they wanted to bring it on the ice,” he laughed.
The Canucks are facing a tough test, rebounding after losing a chance to eliminate a team, but things like that will keep them a bit more relaxed and in the moment.
“Loosens the guys,” Tocchet said of the prank. “I think that's a big thing because it's high pressure. This is high pressure, and you have to stay loose. Even on the bench, you know, you've got to make sure that you stay loose. Because the last thing you need is a tight bench.”
While the bench is keeping loose, on thing looming over Tocc and Ian Clark is the goaltending decision for tonight. Silovs has looked solid, but DeSmith has been the capable veteran backup all year who played very well in the game three win.
“Health-wise, what's the percentage?” Tocchet explained Thursday when asked about his reasoning. “Practise — how many times he has practised is a big thing? Are you tentative or not on a post-to-post save? Things like that come into play.
“Casey is one of the best guys you'll ever coach, unreal guy in the room. But, you know, I make my decision on the crest. It's a team thing.”
DeSmith doesn’t love sitting on the bench – especially as he was healthy enough to backup but apparently not start the last game. But, he understands overall.
“It might be frustrating for me,” he said, “but my job as a good teammate and a member of this organization is to support every decision that's made as long as it's in the best interest of the team. And I think everybody who's making those decisions, that's what they're thinking about. They're thinking about the long run. They're thinking about the team as a whole and the success that we're looking to have for the next four weeks, not just one week.”
It will probably boil down to another “game time decision”, just to keep the air of mystery for the Preds.
Keys to the game today:
1. Depth scoring: the Canucks are having a tough time scoring. Outside of one line, the depth that was displayed throughout the regular season has been drying up. A massive part of that is Pettersson, though he shouldn’t really count as depth scoring. But, maybe he’s finally coming to:
“[Pettersson] came up to me — we did a video today — he said, ‘Toc, I've got to move my feet,’” Tocchet told reporters after practice. “So I told him: ‘I don't care what you say after that, just do that.’ He knows how to play the game. He knows how to play defence. He knows our system. That was music to my ears. He said it; I didn't have to tell him.”
"I know what I need to do," Pettersson said. "The game is so fast out there and they're doing a good job. They're a tough team to play against.
"I think probably I was a bit too emotionally fired up and I wanted to do too much the first two games. The atmosphere at Rogers was amazing. I got away from my game and wanted to do too much instead of just playing the game.
"Live and learn. It's in the past, can only move forward."
2. Play like it’s game 7: yes, the Canucks are up 3-2, but playing with that “oh we have one more shot at this” mindset can put you on the back foot from the start. The Canucks need to come out like they did in the first period of the last game and carry that for a full 60. Play disciplined, play your system and don’t try to overexert, but play hard.
“To withstand and reciprocate physicality is huge,” stressed Cole. ‘I’m not saying you need to go and blow somebody up every shift. But if you can play a guy hard in the corner or take a hit while you’re making a play, there’s a definite advantage.”
3. Get more shots: the Canucks are at historic levels for numbers of shots in the series. Saros has played well, but he hasn’t faced more than 21 shots in a game thus far. The Canucks need to get more pucks to the net and get greasy goals. Tocc admitted the boys had been instructed to shoot for tips and redirections after game two when the Preds blocked everything their way (18 shots on 84 attempts). They definitely over-corrected. Now it’s time to be a bit more direct.
Puck drop today is at 4:00 PST.
Aaaand comments:
(Quotes from Kuzma, MacIntyre, the Province, NHL.com)
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