Post-Game Talk: [GM28] Canucks defeat Panthers | 4-0 | Soucy, Heinen, Boeser, & DeBrusk | Best Game of the Season

[Vector]

Tonight’s Game

• Everybody contributed; good team identity
• Lots of good efforts from a lot of different lines; defencemen were scrappy; Lankinen had a great game
• A start in the right direction
• Was able to get guys into the right situations and match-ups
• Made a switch in the 2nd period that helped
• Need to stay even-keel
• Adversity has hit this team and likes the fact they are 7 games over .500

4th Line

• Heinen was really good tonight; one of his best games of the year
• Sasson did a hell of a job holding pucks
• Getting Miller back slots everyone in the right spot
• Loves the fact that Sasson wants to stay up and is doing everything that he’s been asked to do; if he can hold on to pucks and be good defensively there’s a spot for him

Team Depth

• Every team goes through some type of adversity
• Handle injuries with depth
• Sasson, Heinen, Friedman, and Forbort gave the team good minutes

Defencemen

• Really good at boxing out the Panthers
• Panthers are one of the best teams in the league at getting to the net
• When there was a save to be made, Lankinen was there
• Defencemen were really sharp tonight
• Were good against the Panther’s rimming the puck around the boards

Friedman

• He drags people into the fight
• Is a good skater
• Tocchet is a Righty-Lefty coach and Friedman is a righty
• When you play teams that rim the puck around a lot, you need the defencemen to be on the right side of their forehand

Penalty Kill

• Panthers like to get the puck to the net with a lot of people around the net
• Did a good job at being aggressive at the right time

Strong Start

• This week, a lot of the players were talking about the start of games
• There was a bit of a buzz amongst the players; they weren’t happy about the way they’ve been starting games
• Individual thing and need to show up at the right time
• Need to do something early in the game

Soucy

• Struggled earlier in the season
• Foote and Gonchar have been talking to him about a couple aspects of his game
• The last month he’s been one of their better players
• His situational play has improved
• Not running around and has a good stick
• This month, has more bite to his game

Guts of the Ice

• Commitment to playing without the puck was more “Canucks hockey” tonight
• Canucks asserted themselves instead of flybys
• Defencemen boxed out really well

Internal Competition

• If a player is scratched that does not mean they aren’t playing well
• Have the luxury of rotating between players
• Keeps the players on their toes
• Play well and you stay in

Players’ Attitude

• *Malhotra told the reporter that when players are sent to Abbotsford they are coming down with great attitudes. Not sulking. They are working hard to get called back up*
• Attitude is a big thing in the organization
• If you get sent down and have a good attitude, that checks a box
• Malhotra is helping the attitude down there and it permeate up
• Brannstrom was high-fiving guys
• When that guys aren’t playing are excited for their teammates, that’s what a real team does

Miller

• Arguably one of the best players in the league
• Big part of the Canucks
• Hard to not play for a month and jump back in
• Did a good job against Barkov

Hoglander

• Can play with Miller & Boeser
• Needs to really forecheck and come up with loose pucks
• Needs to know where to go in his own end; doesn’t have to be great and will something he’s always going to have to work on
• If he can be consistent on the forecheck he’ll have a spot

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Best game of the year from start to finish. Feel great for Miller and Forbort, who both played big parts in things going well tonight. Boeser scoring in his 500th game was fantastic too. And another shutout for Bargain of the Year Lankinen, too.

Feels good, man. Hope we can follow it up with another good game on Saturday.

Woo!

 

[kanucks25]

Very nice feel good win for the team and the fans, hit all the right notes.

You hope that this is the "turning point" of the season where perhaps the lineup can stay healthy, lock in, and start stringing together stretches of solid performances like they did last season.

Schedule is going to get tougher but (assuming Demko regains his form) this goalie tandem should be able to strongly hold the fort for the remainder of the season.

 

[David71]

Awful signing and we all knew it.

hell be gone by next week before the christmas roster freeze

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Probably in the top 3 games of the year for me.

There's still something slightly off from last year but Lankinen and Debrusk have been huge to keep the team in it.

 

[Regal]

Internal Competition

• If a player is scratched that does not mean they aren’t playing well
• Have the luxury of rotating between players
• Keeps the players on their toes
• Play well and you stay in

Checks out

 

[Regal]

Hughes should be neck and neck with Kucherov for the Hart, but I don't really give a shit if he wins individual awards and I just want to watch him kick ass for our team.

Do you mean Kaprizov? Tampa has so many guys with good starts I don’t see him being as valuable as Hughes right now

 

[lawrence]

man I love this team. I'm gonna put a sling back on the foot after jumping off the bandwagon and injuring me ankle.

 

[Leif Rohlin]

Easily the best game of the season, maybe as good as any last season too. The Panthers are honestly my favorite team to watch right now other than the Canucks, I've watched probably half their games this year. Really wish I could have gone to this one.

Both teams came out with lots of jump, we were opportunistic (and a bit lucky tbh) and the Panthers started to look a bit tired in the 2nd half of the game.

I kinda had a feeling late in the 2nd that this would end up being a shutout... could just tell from the way it was going and the way Lankinen was playing. Panthers were probably unlucky not to score on one of those scrambles but we also did a really good job poking pucks away and tying up sticks, and again I thought they were showing some fatigue. Their power play did not look sharp at all, we definitely dodged a bullet there.

And once again, THANK f*** for Kevin Lankinen. Literally, where would we be right now without this guy.

Also Iain MacIntyre asks a lot of terrible questions in the media scrums.

 

[orcatown]

Scrappy effort. Canucks came out to battle in this one and while they were not showing much finesse (other than Hughes) they took adavantage of their chances and covered up well in their end. It was all hands to wheel in this one.

Good

Lankanin - right now you could say that's good to have Demko back so he can spell off Lakinen and give Lankain a rest now and then. .912 goals against going into this one and playing about as well as any goalie in recent history (maybe outside of Demko in the bubble). Story of the year probably.

Hughes - missed the Tampa game so not really sure why he's wearing the mask but not slowing him down. Another outstanding effort

Myers - played hard against the big forwards Florida has and was important in forcing them off the puck around the net. Boxed out well and stopped them from getting into position for more tips and such. Also big on the penalty kill. Not pretty at times, but he was strong deep in his end. Against this team, that was critical. Would say that Juulsen is more than reaching any expectations people had for him in this area of the game.

Soucy - not perfect but another who protected his net and got the puck cleared out of his zone. Nice shot on his goal and was supporting the play up ice for a lot of the game.

Blueger - another good game killing penalties. Thought he helped Sassons have a good game and made some critical plays in his zone to get the puck out of his crease. Better player than he is given credit for.

Sassons - probably the most important aspect of the game for the Canucks was that Sassons looks like he can play at this level. Shows good speed and enough vision to see the play. Getting a legit NHL player is absolutely important for any team. Maybe he'll will never be a star but just finding someone who can contribute and play at this level is huge. Need to see more but this was a big step in the right direction. Play of the 4th line allowed Tocchet to even out the minutes played in this game.

Heinen - another solid game. One thing that he lacked early was getting back on plays and picking up rushers. Has improved immensely here. Nice to see him score and help his line to a good game.

Others

Forbert - was OK and looked much better than Desharnais has. Desharnais should see little ice if Forbert can play this way on a consistent basis.

Freidman - had the Panthers agitated which might have helped throw them off their game and was decent at moving the puck forward or in the offensive end. But again was unable to hold his blue line at all and got backed off all game. Also, again got bumped around in his crease. Not sure why Brannstrom is not playing since he is a lot better than Friedman

Miller - has to get legs under him and make the simple play. Looked to me like he was still fighting it some.

Pettersson - it's depressing watching him in games such as this. There was simply nothing about his play that was elite. Barkov controls shifts while Pettersson tries to stay in the play. In this one, as well, his line was too often left flundering in their end with Pettersson thrashing away just trying to get the puck away from the front of the net. You end up asking yourself - what the hell happened??

This game was one for the grinders and it's good to see the team can wins in games like this.