PITTSBURGH – If you projected last month what the Vancouver Canucks might be this season, almost nobody would have predicted a winning team, and fewer still an offensive one.
But two weeks into a season in which they are expected to finish at the bottom of the National Hockey League, the Canucks are 4-2. Making that more impressive, Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins gave Vancouver three straight road wins, two of them against teams regarded as Stanley Cup contenders.
What’s truly remarkable, however, is that the Canucks, 26th in the NHL in scoring last season and 29th the previous two years, have generated at least three goals in each of their six games. They haven’t sustained that kind of offence since October of 2014.
And Tuesday, they did it without leading scorer and top player Elias Pettersson, the teenage sensation who missed his first game due to a concussion suffered Saturday when he was body-slammed to the ice by Florida Panthers defenceman Mike Matheson.
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The Canucks’ lack of a physical response in the third period against Matheson – instead, Vancouver merely won a difficult hockey game 3-2 – generated a hurricane of anger and debate on the West Coast about priorities and culture.
But some of the value in that victory was reflected in Tuesday’s win against Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, as the Canucks attacked early with confidence and conviction. You see, Canucks players don’t view their rebuilding team as hopelessly destined to be one of the worst in the NHL. And the culture they’re trying to build includes winning and playing quickly, playing with discipline and consistency.
And in this regard, their culture is much stronger now than when the Canucks left Vancouver 12 days ago, even with the external outrage over the Matheson hit and how the team responded to it.
"We want to win – that’s our main goal here," Canucks forward Bo Horvat said. "We know what people are saying about us and we know where we’re at. (But) we’re just going to continue to keep getting better game by game and try to win as many hockey games as we can. Our ultimate goal is to win and make the playoffs, and that’s what we’re going to try to do."
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It’s easy to scoff at that goal as spectacularly naïve, but would you want players who believed otherwise?
"Coming into this year, we didn’t really know what we were going to be about," forward Brandon Sutter said. "We’re finding out here as we go. The expectation from outside was pretty low, and that’s perfect for us. We’re just coming in and playing and don’t have anything to lose right now.
"We’ve got some younger guys playing and they’ve got some confidence right now."
In each city the team visits, the opposing coach is asked at the morning skate what he makes of the Canucks. And each answer on this trip has been a variation of: a lot of good young players, plenty of speed, and they really push the pace.
Winnipeg Jets’ coach Paul Maurice will probably say something similar before the Canucks end their six-game road trip in Manitoba on Thursday.
"You’ve got to have guys who can skate, but it’s not just skating that makes you a fast team," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "It’s being on the same page and knowing where pucks are going and supporting each other. When you do that, you can do some nice things.
"I think we’re starting to figure out how we need to play as a group. I remember about two weeks ago talking about identity, talking to our group about it. We’re learning how to win hockey games and how we have to play to be successful."
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Green said he urged his team to start quickly against the Penguins and force the game down into their zone, which is precisely what the Canucks did in a first period that was probably their best of the season.
They generated the first six shots on net. And even when Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson, outstanding during the winning streak, allowed Jake Guentzel’s sharp-angle shot to rattle through him on a two-on-one to make it 1-0 for Pittsburgh at 6:24, Vancouver was undeterred and hammered back.
With his first goal in a year-and-a-half, defenceman Ben Hutton buried Markus Granlund’s centring pass to make it 1-1 at 8:55, and Tim Schaller reversed the puck through the goal crease to set up Sutter’s goal that gave the Canucks the lead at 18:56.
And again, after Penguin Phil Kessel beautifully set up Carl Hagelin’s tying goal at 16:46 of the third period after a turnover by Hutton, the Canucks soon responded as Brock Boeser shot off goalie Casey DeSmith to win it for Vancouver 34 seconds into overtime.
Please remember there are 76 games to go. But wherever the Canucks finish – and it is still far more likely that they will win the draft lottery than a playoff spot – it’s hard to envision the start of the season going any more positively than it has for a young team building self-belief.
"Everyone from the top guys, olders guys, younger guys, everyone’s buying in so it’s fun to watch," Schaller said. "We definitely know we have the talent in the room here. We have the good leadership. We have everything it takes, so it’s just a matter of putting every piece together."
"What a road game that was," Green said.
What a road trip it is turning out to be.
• Pettersson completed an off-ice workout Tuesday slightly more strenuous than the one he did without after-effects the day before. There remains no timeline for his return, but the 19-year-old’s initial recovery from Saturday’s concussion appears to be going well.
