NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An awful day ended beautifully for the Vancouver Canucks.
The National Hockey League team, gutted by confirmation in the morning that winger Derek Dorsett’s career was over at age 30 due to back injuries, channelled all their emotion into beating the powerful Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
They did it by Daniel Sedin scoring the tying goal for his 1,000th point in the NHL, which made him only the second Canuck after his brother, Henrik, to reach that milestone. They did it with a gorgeous winner from 20-year-old rookie Brock Boeser, set up by Nikolay Goldobin in his first NHL game this season.
They did it by scoring three times in the third period, at the end of a six-game road trip, to erase a 3-2 deficit and beat a Nashville team that had been 10-1-1 at home and 12-1-1 in its last 14 games.
The Canucks did all of this by playing with the intensity and conviction that allowed Dorsett to build a 10-year career by physically battling opponents who were bigger and more talented.
It’s hard to imagine all those conflicting emotions cursing through one team in one day. But that’s part of the wonder of sports, isn’t it?
“It’s been an up-and-down day for us with the news of Dorse and then Danny reaching 1,000 points,” Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson summarzied. “I think it was the hockey gods on our side and it was almost meant for us to have two points.”
It was an up-and-down night for Nilsson, who looked leaky on two of the three Predators goals that beat him in the second period, but was then bulletproof in the third. Twice pucks clanged off the iron behind Nilsson when the Canucks trailed 3-2. Hockey gods.
“I think we all were a little more emotional today,” Boeser said after his two-goal, three-point game raised his total to 13 goals and 25 points in 23 games. “It was heartbreaking for everyone in the room. (Dorsett) was a leader to me and he was a really good role model, so it’s heartbreaking. But we wanted to come out here tonight and play this game for him. Keep playing the rest of the season for him.”
“One of the ways we can honour Derek is to play hard,” Daniel Sedin said. “He deserves that. He played that way each and every night.”
After getting his 999th point on a second-period assist, Sedin hit 1,000 with a power-play goal that tied the game 3-3 at 10:22 of the third period. It was followed less than four minutes later by Boeser’s winner as the Calder Trophy candidate badly fooled Rinne on a deke after a nice setup by Goldobin on a 2-on-1.
Sedin’s shot rattled through Rinne’s pads.
“In my head it went in top shelf,” Daniel said, smiling. “But it hit one of their guys’ sticks and went five-hole. I don’t think it would have beaten him if it didn’t hit his stick. I wanted it to be a goal in a big win, and we got both. I’m extremely proud of the group. To be a part of this group, it’s amazing.”
When Henrik reached his 1,000th point with a goal last January against old friend Roberto Luongo, Canucks players streamed off the bench to celebrate in Vancouver. The home crowd gave him an extended standing ovation.
Thursday’s milestone was greeted with a simple PA announcement in Nashville that was lost amid the Predators’ push to win the game.
But all the Canucks players knew what it meant.
“I’m very excited for him, very happy,” Nilsson said. “I’m happy I was able to be a part of it. I’ve been watching the Sedins ever since I was a teenager. It was fun to be a part of this.”
It was a big night for the Swedish Canucks. The Sedins’ linemate, Loui Eriksson, scored twice, including an empty-netter, and has 10 points in 10 games since returning from a knee injury. And defenceman Alex Edler had one of his best games of the season, stapling Predators’ Viktor Arvidsson with a hard check along the boards about 15 seconds after the opening faceoff.
It was obvious then this was no ordinary game for the Canucks, coming at the end of an extraordinary day.
“Talking about Dorse this morning and how unfortunate it was, it was a real nice response from our team tonight,” Canucks coach Travis Green said. “Put the Dorsett situation aside and what he means to our group; we talked about that this was a good test for us. I liked that we were playing Nashville tonight — one of the hottest teams in the league right now. We needed a response. We got it.”
Back in Vancouver, maybe even Derek Dorsett was able to smile.
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