Oh baby the barn was electric. After a long layoff playoff hockey was back in Vancouver, and the fans delivered. The team also delivered, using a third period two-goals-in-12-seconds comeback to beat the Preds 4-2 on Sunday night after a tentative start to the game. If you missed it all, here are the very worthwhile highlights:
Not much says playoff hockey in Vancouver like the boys skating out to U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name”. Maybe it’s not the best starting song in the league, but it’s become intertwined with April hockey in Vancouver: white towels waving and electricity in the air.
"Goosebumps for sure,” Lindholm said of skating out for game one. “Obviously, just being in the warm-ups, people are standing up, you’re kind of fired up, kind of have to control your emotions a little bit during the warm-up. It’s great to have playoff hockey. Obviously it’s a lot of fun.”
“My head was on a different planet tonight,” Miller added. “That atmosphere was incredible. I mean, when we came out on the ice today it was probably one of the more special things I’ve been a part of, other than the birth of my children and my wedding. And I guarantee you they (playoff rookies) always will, too. We have better in us. But I just thought we looked pretty good for the most part.
“I think I got a different perspective on what hockey means to the people here. It was awesome.”
The team delivered on it too, eventually. The first period was a bit nervous: passes weren’t crisp, the forecheck was off, things just weren’t aligning, and they only managed four shots on net. But, that’s how the first period of the playoffs go, everyone is a bit on edge until you can settle into the flow of the game. The Canucks fell behind 1-0, and 2-1 throughout the game, but never really strayed from their system – something Tocchet has drilled into them the past year and a half.
“It's part of us maturing as a group,” Myers said after his rock solid performance. “When things don't go well, maybe before we would have tried to open things up and get out of our system and play shinny hockey. We're working hard to play the same way no matter what goes on. I thought we displayed that tonight.”
“I think we just stayed patient the entire game and didn’t really push too hard or give anything up when we were down going into the third," Hughes said. "We got our looks and we knew we were going to get our looks.”
Then, the Canucks took over in the third. Two goals in a span of 12 seconds sent the arena wild. They hadn’t even finished announcing Suter’s tipped goal from a Hughes shot when silky-mitts Joshua potted the go-ahead tally. People didn’t even need to stand back up because they hadn’t sat down yet.
“I’ll never forget it," Joshua said after scoring his first of two on the night. "And it makes you want to keep doing it.” He called it a special moment for him, adding the atmosphere in the rink was a spectacle.
The Canucks closed out the third with some strong defense and great saves from Demko, and iced the game with a minute and a half left on an empty netter. It wasn’t a perfect game from the boys – they have a lot more to give – but this seemed more like the floor of what they’re capable of… which is a good sign going forward.
There are some areas that need attention: the powerplay struggled which is going to be a factor this series, the Pettersson line needs to step it up… but rather than focus on those, let’s highlight some great performances from game one.
Lindholm came to play. He’s had a rough start to his Canucks tenure, but the team got him for their playoff run, not to close out the regular season. Between and instant road trip, moving cities, and getting hurt, there was a lot of chatter outside the dressing room about him. But inside? Nah.
"These are the games why you acquire Lindholm," Tocchet said. "He had a really good 200-foot game, really good."
"He's a great player so none of us really doubted the offence would come from him," Joshua said of Lindholm.
"It was a great goal to get us going. And then he showed some of his hockey IQ getting in on the forecheck and creating that goal. He just makes you feel a lot more confident in your own game knowing that if you make a mistake, he's right there to back you up."
That line was great all night. Playing them as a third line shows the depth the Canucks have at forward, and can be a line that has an outsized impact on the series. They’re not going to be going against top pairing defensemen, so they can really turn the tide as they did last night.
Another line that had a beast of a night was Miller’s line. They potted the first goal, and were dominant in their underlying numbers when paired up with Hughes. Drance touched on that in his Athletic article this morning: “Miller and Hughes, for example, logged 4:54 together in the first two periods on Sunday, and Vancouver out-attempted the Predators 9-1 in those minutes, outshot them 6-0 and controlled a preposterous 99 percent of expected goals.” Nashville outshot and out-attempted the Canucks with Miller off the ice, but with him on the rink was tilted in Vancouver’s favour. It’s something that line will need to cash in on regularly for the team to go forward.
The Canucks’ PK let in one goal, but overall were really solid as a group. The team ran into some penalty trouble in the second, and the game could have gotten away from them had they let one of the team’s hottest post-All Star power plays get to work. After Nashville scored on their first chance, the team tightened it up and didn't allow another. Myers was a standout on the unit.
Hitting: the boys were physical, as was expected of two team near the top of the league in the regular season for hits. The Canucks registered 39 hits, the Preds 32. Expect those numbers to go up as the series goes on.
Demko. That is all. He's back.
Overall, a great first home game for a team without a ton of playoff experience. They’re only going to settle in more from here as their comfortability and confidence grows. I’ll leave it with this Hughes quote, as someone we don’t often see to much emotion from it’s nice to hear him talk about the atmosphere.
“I couldn’t really believe how loud the fans were. I’ve seen some playoff games, you know, went to New Jersey and the Garden last year but it wasn’t anything like what we just witnessed,” Hughes said. The fans were a huge factor in keeping the Canucks energized, even when they fell behind.
“Pretty special. Especially for me being here for five years and seeing some of the lows that we’ve had but be able to come out here and see the support and see how much it means the city and the people here is pretty special.”
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(Quotes from MacIntyre, Johston, Drance, and NHL.com)
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