VANCOUVER – Apparently, you can lead a Panther to water but you can’t make him fight. Something like that.
The Vancouver Canucks tried Sunday to engage Panther defenceman Mike Matheson for injuring star rookie Elias Pettersson on a bodyslam behind the play Oct. 13 in Florida.
Matheson, whose subsequent two-game suspension by the National Hockey League was only one-third the time Pettersson missed due to a concussion, refused in the first 10 minutes of the rematch — exactly three months later — to fight Canucks Jake Virtanen or Antoine Roussel.
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Virtanen was assessed the only minor penalty at 9:26 of the first period when he crashed into a post-whistle scrum in which Roussel already had hold of Matheson, who reiterated before Sunday’s game that he never intended to injure Pettersson.
The Canucks were excoriated on social media for not attacking Matheson three months ago, when his takedown of Pettersson occurred largely unwitnessed in the third period of a game Vancouver coach Travis Green ordered his players to focus on winning.
At this stage of NHL’s evolution, no one fights if he doesn’t want to and many players no longer abide by quaint code – if they’re aware of it at all – that you should make yourself available to some degree to back up your actions if you play tough against a skilled opponent and injure him.
Matheson is a 24-year-old who has played 207 NHL games and fought once. He wasn’t going to double that total on Sunday.
The Canucks came to this conclusion early and sought a more achievable revenge, beating the Panthers 5-1 to back up the 3-2 victory in Sunrise, Fla., that sparked the over-the-top criticism about Vancouver’s team toughness and willingness to protect a young teammate.
“I thought our emotions were pretty under control,” Canuck defenceman Ben Hutton said Sunday after scoring the winner on a rebound at 7:20 of the third period. “Early on, a couple of guys challenged Matheson and he didn’t want it. It is what it is. You can’t do anything about it.
“There were a couple of scrums and guys were sticking up for each other, which is good to see. (But) nobody wants to go out there and just punch a guy in the face as many times as you can before the ref gets in. You’ll be killing a penalty for seven minutes. And they’ve got a strong power play. He didn’t want to answer the bell. I think we handled it pretty well.”
Pettersson, the Canucks’ leading scorer and a heavy favourite to win the Calder Trophy this season, was unable to participate in the “payback.” He is out day-to-day with a sprained knee, suffered Jan. 3 in Montreal on another unpenalized takedown. Canadiens’ rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi pulled him over behind the play in the Canucks’ 2-0 loss.
“I know Petey would have had a big night and wanted to play in this game,” Canuck centre Bo Horvat said. “We did it for him.
“I thought that was a great character builder, a great team effort tonight. We knew it was going to be a high-emotion game. (Matheson) was challenged a couple of times and he didn’t want any part of it. I think the best way to get back at him was to win, and we did that both times we faced him.”
An old-school fight between Canuck Erik Gudbranson and Panther Micheal Haley late in the first period was an outlet for the hostility. The Canucks took over the game after that, outshooting the Panthers 27-15 in the first 40 minutes before outscoring them 4-1 in the third period.
Much of the emotion inside Rogers Arena was positive, as there was an outpouring of love for Florida goalie Roberto Luongo, the former Canuck who was making possibly his final appearance in Vancouver.
It looked like the 39-year-old was going to be the difference in the game until Hutton, on a planned play from an offensive-zone faceoff won by Canuck Jay Beagle, banged a rebound past Luongo to break a 1-1 tie after defenceman Troy Stecher shot purposefully to Luongo’s far pad.
“Me and Stechie talked before the draw and he told me to go back door,” Hutton said. “I kind of laughed and he was, like “no, seriously.’ I was: ‘Alright, let’s do it.’ I went back door and he put it right on a platter for me.”
Brock Boeser and Beagle added empty-net goals for the Canucks before Markus Granlund beat Luongo with 10.8 seconds remaining.
Florida coach Bob Boughner, who kept Matheson on the bench for the final 2 ½ minutes, thought it would be appropriate after Granlund’s goal to wake Haley and send him back on the ice with 10 seconds to go in a 5-1 game. Haley grabbed Canuck Josh Leivo as linesmen and other players, including Gudbranson, rushed to interve.
“I don’t think there’s any business with that kind of stuff,” Horvat said. “The game’s over and the fights have been had. I don’t think there’s any reason for them to go stir the pot even more. We stuck together as a team again, and that’s what you have to do.”
“I think we’ve shown that all year long, really,” Gudbranson said.
Canuck Loui Eriksson’s opening goal, on a ghastly defensive-zone turnover by Mike Hoffman, was offset at 5:29 of third when Panther Frank Vatrano beat Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom with a backhand into the top corner one second after Nikolay Goldobin’s lazy hooking penalty expired.
That single second on the ice as Vatrano scored was Goldobin’s final shift of the night. We’ll see if he gets to play at all Wednesday when the Edmonton Oilers visit Vancouver and Pettersson could be in the Canuck lineup.
“Just another hockey game,” Stecher said. “(Revenge) wasn’t something we ever talked about in this room. It was just more the media and the fans bringing it to attention. We’re all hockey players; we understand what goes on. I know Petey would want to score some goals and go out there and get a win, so that’s what we did tonight.”
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