Make that three in a row for the Canucks. After teetering back and forth between wins and losses, the Canucks beat the Lightning 4-1 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to 3. A hat-trick by Boeser (now tied for the league lead!) and a monkey-off-the-back goal by Kuzy lead the team.
Here are your highlights:
The Canucks turned in a top-to-bottom team effort. They started a little flat, giving up a pretty passing play goal just 1:25 into the game on the type of cross-ice play they’ve been trying to eliminate from their game. But after that, they tightened up and played to the level they want from themselves. The penalty kill was great all night, blanking the Lightning on their three chances.
Tocchet seemed pleased with the night: “It was a solid win. We were a little rusty early, but settled in and the penalty kill was great. All four lines and six defence contributed and it was a good team effort.”
The Canucks are now up to 16-0-0 when leading after two periods, which is a real testament to how far they’ve come from last year, when they gave up 3 goal leads 8 times in the first 40 games of the season. That’s a huge turnaround!
It was a feel-good night for the top end players. Kuzy got off his schneid, Hughes picked up 3 points to tie for 3rd in points, Miller picked up a couple points to move into 2nd, but the big star is Boes getting the natural hatty to move into a tie for the goals lead with 21.
“It’s obviously really awesome, especially after last season,” said Boeser, who only potted 18 goals all of last season. “That being said, if I focus on that too much, I feel I get away from my game. I have to continue to focus on what’s giving me success. My main focus every day is working hard and helping my team win.”
It seems like everyone is in Boeser’s corner. He’s been through a lot the last couple seasons, so seeing his dedication and hard work pay off means a lot to his teammates.
“It’s good to see,” Demko said. “Brock and I are really tight. We’ve been really good friends for pretty much our whole career. It’s awesome to see. I know how much work he’s put in, physically, mentally, spiritually, trying to get to his full potential. And obviously we’ve seen him take huge steps in that direction, so it’s awesome.”
“Brock is just a smart guy and knows the spots to go at. And he has sharpened up his defensive game and still wants to get better, but it’s night and day from last year,” Tocchet added on.
“I don't know, I just feel like deep down I knew I was capable of scoring a lot of goals in this league. Mentally, the last couple of years, it was just kind of a barrier. It feels like I'm past that now,” Boeser said. The Canucks are sure as hell thankful for that. I hope he keeps this pace up all year and challenges for the Rocket down the stretch.
A couple fun little notes: The Canucks are currently 1st in scoring and 4th in goals-against. As well, it was Boeser's second natural hat trick of his NHL career (also Oct. 11). The only other player in Canucks history with as many is Petri Skriko (Nov. 18 and 21, 1986).
Next game up is the Panthers on Thursday, which is when Roberto Luongo will join the Ring of Honour. I know how many of you love that sweet sweet Ring of Honour. Talk about it in the comments:
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