For the first time since December 1, the Canucks have won consecutive games. What a time to be alive. In what seemed like a performance from last season, the Canucks came out hot and were assertive the entire game… the kind of performance that begs the question: what the hell have they been doing all year? If you missed the game, here ya are:
Top to bottom it was a great team performance. Hughes did his thing, Myers was strong coming back from suspension, Miller was assertive, Petey was shooting, Garland potted a pair, Lankinen was solid as always… but I think the biggest impact on this streak has to be Elias Pettersson II: D-Petey is now 2-0 in his Canucks career and clearly is the key the team has been missing. Overall, wins make teams happy.
“A big game, a four-pointer, and we’re both going for playoff spots, and obviously a good start,” said Tocchet. “We started on time and the first period really set us up for the game. A nice win. And with Garly, even when it’s a good time or bad, he tries to be consistent. And that’s what we’re looking for. He drags people into the fight.
“And I thought Tyler Myers (back from three-game suspension) was one of the best players on the ice. He was terrific. When he’s out, you really miss a guy like that. His breakouts were great. Really proud of him.”
We shouldn’t all get ahead of ourselves, but two solid outings in a row for the Canucks is refreshing. One hopes they can take this and build some momentum for a playoff push.
“We played good defence in the third and were ready to go in the first and lots to like about tonight,” said Hughes,. “The way we won tonight felt sustainable and we’ve just got to keep going.”
The team is the second-lowest shot generating team in the league, averaging 25.2 shots a game, but were able to break the 30 plateau last night. Petey had seven shots himself – which is great to see as he’d been shooting at a career-worst rate coming into the game. There was a thread on Reddit where someone wrote about the knee tendinitis he’s been dealing with, and compared it to the data from the NBA on that injury recovery timeline. Basically, it took about a year to recover, and there wasn’t any long-term impact. So, hopefully we’re starting to see Petey on the up.
The Canucks are still in the hunt, as they sit one point back of Calgary at the moment. Beating the Blues was a great separator as they’re both vying for the wild card.
“It's a big game for a lot of reasons,” Miller said after the win. “We're trying to put multiple good games back to back for us as a group, and this is a road trip where we can come together and maybe separate ourselves from some of the teams and gain some ground.”
The Canucks have been good on the road this season. They’re sitting 13-7-4 away from Rogers, so getting their poop together on this trip may be a little blessing. They travel to Nashville for a game on Wednesday – and though Nashville are below them in the standings, they’re also 7-3 in their last 10. Hopefully the Canucks have the same kind of start as they did last night.
“We’re just trying to get a consistent effort from our group,” said Garland. “It’s nice to win a couple in a row but we’re going into another tough building in Nashville (Wednesday) and we’ve got to be ready for them.”
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