It wasn’t pretty – and lately they haven’t been for the Canucks – but two points and two points after the Canucks gutted out an OT win in Buffalo Friday afternoon. If you missed it, you can see the highlights:
The Canucks are facing some adversity… mmm… the Canucks are facing a lot of adversity. A lot more than last year anyways. Hronek was the latest Canuck to hit the injury list after taking a hard hit in the Pittsburgh game and will be out for a while. What was an already shaky backend took a big dip on that. But for one game, the team powered through and found a way to win: mainly on the backs of Lankinen, Garland, and Hughes.
“Lanks with that save in overtime, those are big-time plays for you. Obviously, Gars and Hughes – Hughes had the puck the whole time in overtime – you’re always looking for key moments from guys and those are key moments,” Tocchet said. “The overall game, there’s ebbs and flows. I thought we hung in there and it was a good road game, but the key moments are the big things that stick out for me.”
The Canucks are 3-1-0 on this road trip so far, and are 9-2-0 away from home this year. That’s pretty pretty, pretty good.
While not a convincing game, the Canucks were able to build up a 3-1 lead through two (after giving up the first goal, again) before a third period onslaught from the Sabers had them heading to OT. From there, the Canucks (namely Hughes) had the puck on a string for basically the whole of extra time, before Garland scored a sweet between the legs back post shovel-it-in goal. It was Garland’s second of the game – after a powerplay goal in the second – and his third point – after a massive shot block led to Sutter’s breakaway tally. Garland was exceptional last night when the team needed him to be, given their circumstances.
“We're missing guys, it seems, every game,” Garland said. “So we're just fighting right now, and we've got some guys playing some really good hockey for us. We're just a pack mentality right now. A lot of teams go through it, and we're going through it right now. We've just got to fight each and every game. We know how we've got to win in this league.”
One way to win is to have exceptional goaltending, which thankfully the Canucks have right now with Lankinen. It seems I’m writing this every other game with him, but the Canucks would probably be a shell of themselves right now without him in net. The team knows it, especially after his massive OT save to keep the team alive.
“His game speaks for itself,” DeBrusk said of Lankinen. “Even that save on [Tage] Thompson (in overtime), I got a front-row view, I’m behind the net for some reason and he saved me there and us, and obviously has throughout the whole year. We just want to give him some more run support, with either of our goalies in general, but he gives us such a boost obviously. When those saves are made, you need timely saves in this League, and he’s been there all year.”
“The guy’s on the doorstep, they had two or three chances and what I like about Lanks, he just stood tall, looked big, he wasn’t flipping. You could tell that he was seeing the puck really well,” Tocchet said.
Overall, a solid team effort to get across the finish line and carry on on the road trip. Their next game goes tomorrow afternoon in Detroit.
Til then:
Quotes from the NHL.com, Canucks.com, and Sportsnet.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»