Ryan Miller couldn’t have picked a better time to get injured. No, really.
If he’d have gone down back in November, when the Vancouver Canucks were a vulnerable club that really wasn’t sure what kind of team they had, losing their starting goalie could have led to the mental ‘tap on the brakes’ that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy for bubble teams like the Canucks.
They weren’t sure they were good enough with Ryan Miller. “So how can we be good enough without him?” goes the storyline. Fortunately for the Canucks, they’ve been through more injuries this season than in any season in recent memory, and have become the team their general manager Jim Benning described as “resilient,” at least three times in a press briefing Monday in Boston.
“Credit to the organization,” winger Jannik Hansen told the Vancouver Sun after Sunday’s impressive 4-0 victory on Long Island, “because I don’t think we’ve seen this before where we could run this deep on injuries and still have the same kind of push.
“The biggest thing is the young guys coming in and pulling their weight and more.”
Bo Horvat’s development has come right on time, with points in 10 of his past 13 games (6-4-10). Latvian Ronalds Kenins has arrived with some much-need net drive and the requisite work ethic, chipping in seven points (3-4-7) in his first 11 NHL games. A defence that has seen extended injuries to veterans Dan Hamhuis, Kevin Bieksa, Alex Edler and now Chris Tanev, has somehow survived, with Ryan Stanton playing a season-high 22:52 in Sunday’s shutout.
“We’re playing better now than we were early in the season when we were winning games, too. We’re playing way better now,” Daniel Sedin told the Sun. “This is the toughest time of the year to win games and we’re doing it the right way and using everyone. It’s a great feeling in the room. We believe in here that we can do it.”
Head coach Willie Desjardins needed some time to instill his game plan. To De-Torts the club mentally. Miller has given the Canucks that time to find their new selves, and there is no reason that Lack can’t give Vancouver adequate goaltending down the stretch. He’s not as good as Miller. Nor is the Lack-Jacob Markstrom duo a preferred alternative to Miller and a No. 2.
But we trust Lack has learned from his stint as a No. 1 last season, and Markstrom is a pro who will have something to prove in the two or three starts he’ll see if Miller’s absence lasts longer than three weeks.
The goaltending question we are comfortable with in Vancouver. It is not the only question, however:
Zack Kassian — He has been a healthy scratch nine times since Christmas, and it is near impossible for a head coach to scratch a player that many times and not lose him. Somehow Willie Desjardins has done just that with the enigmatic Kassian, and the big power forward is back with three goals in his past two games since replacing the injured Alex Burrows with the Sedins.
The question with Kassian, for me, is this: he is only 24, and lots of players (especially big ones) take longer to figure things out. Or, will he continue to fade off again, as is his history? One thing is for sure: Kassian can’t only be valuable and productive when playing with the Sedins. No one lasts with the twins — not even Burrows — and Kassian won’t be a complete player until he can be productive on a second or third line as well.
Nick Bonino — Bonino had seven goals in his first 14 games as a Canuck. He has four goals in the 38 games since. Vancouver’s overriding issue up front is the Sedins are their best players, and the twins game is waning and, of late, able to be eliminated come playoff time. Vancouver desperately needs a second line, and a productive Bonino (expected back from injury in a game or two) will make everyone better, including the Sedins.
As for Desjardins, it took him three or four months to fumigate the dressing room post-Tortorella, but the job seems to be complete. Dealing with adversity is the irrevocable sign of a good team, and Vancouver has been winning with far from its best lineup for some time now.
“That’s what I said in the room: ‘Guys, that was a big game to help us believe in what we’re trying to do.’ We have guys out and (the Islanders) are a real good hockey team,” Desjardins told the Sun. “These are just real hard games to win, and we’ve won so many real hard games. I’m just impressed that they found a way to do it.
“Sometimes you don’t know how it’s going to get done. The only thing you know is if you go out and work hard, you’ve got a chance. That’s kind of the way we’re approaching it.”
They have a chance. A pretty good one, I’d say, regardless of the goaltending.
