‘There are moments when you need a guy to make a play. We need more consistency from a lot of guys to stay in the moment.’ — Rick Tocchet’s plea before big win Monday.
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When/where: Wednesday, 7 p.m., Delta Center
TV: SN Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650
The buzz: Rick Tocchet kept his positive post-game address short and to the point Monday. It was quite the departure.
After days and weeks of lecturing players on how to embrace the hard stuff during a rollercoaster six-game homestand — even suggesting four of five weren’t pulling hard enough on the competitive rope — the Canucks head coach didn’t play that card Monday night.
An impressive 3-1 triumph over the high-octane Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Arena was the latest episode in the consistently inconsistent drama that has played out for too long on home ice where the Canucks are 6-7-4.
Blanking the Stanley Cup champions Thursday and then getting bullied by the Bruins on Saturday was hard for fans to stomach, and empty seats in the lower bowl are showing up on a more regular basis.
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However, Monday was different. The pace, push, resiliency and ruggedness had that playoff feel.
“I liked a lot of things and Demmer (Thatcher Demko) is a good goaltender, just to remind everybody,” started Tocchet. “And (J.T.) Miller’s line was great shutting down (Nathan) MacKinnon, Petey’s (Elias Pettersson) line was really good and (Kiefer) Sherwood’s line, too, and he was unreal.”
Tocchet kept lauding players and a 4-for-4 penalty kill performance. He said he would take just take two questions “and be out of here”, which could mean many things.
The flu bug has hit the club. And everything that had to be said in advance of Monday night probably didn’t need to be repeated.
What Tocchet did say Monday morning had an immediate effect, and maybe that’s where he’s leaving the critiquing for now. After all, the Canucks are 10-2-1 on the road and a two-game trip to Salt Lake City and Las Vegas is easy to embrace.
“There are moments when you need a guy to make a play, whether it’s a blocked shot or making sure you stay with your guy, and the inconsistency comes with losing focus,” he said.
“You miss a guy twice and it (the puck) is in your net. We need more consistency from a lot of guys to stay in the moment. If you have a chance to go on a 3-on-1, take that moment and go do something about it.”
The Canucks have to be wary of Dylan Guenther. The Utah right winger was the first-round pick the Canucks surrendered to Arizona in 2021 as part of a multi-player and picks transaction that landed Conor Garland.
Guenther went ninth overall in that draft and leads Utah with 29 points (13-16) in 30 games, including five on the power play.
The history: The Canucks had a pair of 2-1 triumphs last season before Arizona relocated to Salt Lake City. On Jan. 18 at home, Pettersson and Dakota Joshua scored. Joshua also had six hits while Miller won 17 of 19 draws (89 per cent). On April 3 in Arizona, Garland scored the winner against his former club with 1:59 remaining in regulation time.
The hope: Jake DeBrusk has 14 goals and is third overall for road markers with 11. He had a string of eight goals in six away games, including a hat-trick, and his big presence down low is effective for screens, tips, deflections and pouncing on rebounds.
The fear: With the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights on the road radar, there’s always a danger. Even though Utah is banged up, the relocated club has won two straight and is on a 6-2-2 run. But they are also just 4-5-3 at home.
The top guns: Sherwood had a career-high 10 goals with the Predators last season. His first career NHL hat-trick Monday vaulted the gritty winger to 11 and his stats line told the story of his worth: Three goals, seven shots, three hits, blocked shot.
The wounded: Canucks: Filip Hronek (lower, upper body, LTIR), Kevin Lankinen (flu, day-to-day), Derek Forbort (flu, day-to-day). Utah: John Marino (back, IR), Sean Durzi (shoulder, IR), Connor Ingram (upper body, IR), Maveric Lamoureaux (upper body, IR), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body, day-to-day).
The quote: “There’s no secret to it. We need some guys to play more consistent. You have to teach them and tell them what’s at stake.” — Rick Tocchet before 3-1 win Monday.
The possible lineup:
*Di Giuseppe-Miller-Boeser
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Garland
Heinen-Suter-Sherwood
Joshua-Blueger-Hoglander
Hughes-Myers
Soucy-Juulsen
Brannstrom-Desharnais
Demko
(*Di Giuseppe, Linus Karlsson recalled from Abbotsford. Mark Friedman, Arturs Silovs assigned to AHL)
The prediction: The Canucks take advantage of a banged-up Utah to win the special-teams battle. They strike twice on the power play and prevail 4-2.
(FAN FORUM: Do you have a specific question for a player? Pass it along to @provincesports and we’ll get it in a future edition.)
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