VANCOUVER — Eddie Lack had the nets for this Vancouver Canucks team last season too, but the circumstances were entirely different.
Roberto Luongo had been dealt away, and the Canucks were in shambles. Head coach John Tortorella threw Lack in net for the entire failed stretch run in Vancouver, and like everything else Torts tried here, it didn’t work out real well.
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As soon as the new coach and general manager came in, they went shopping for Ryan Miller, an obvious sign that GM Jim Benning simply did not see a future No. 1 goalie in Lack.
Today, after two solid starts, a 1.50 playoff goals-against average, and a feisty performance in the Canucks’ dominant Game 2 victory Friday, Lack is back in charge of the nets in Vancouver. It’s his job now, and this spring, the Vancouver Canucks are starting to feel like Eddie Lack’s team
“I’ve always felt like it’s Ryan’s team, when I was the backup. We’ve always supported each other,” he said. “I felt like last year, when Luongo got traded, I felt like I didn’t play well enough.
“(This year) I have been as good as I want to be. But it can go fast in this business as well.”
There isn’t a coach in the league who would replace Lack with Miller now, until Lack fails. It’s his club that goes back to Calgary in a 1-1 series tie, after an impressive 4-1 win that left even Flames head coach Bob Hartley to admit, “The Canucks played a great game tonight and they deserved the win.”
Game 2 ended in a five-on-five brawl that produced 132 minutes in penalties, with seven game misconducts handed out. People will be talking about “the brawl” throughout the weekend, but you’ll have to forgive me if I do not dwell. It was a nice bit of playoff boil-over, but nothing worthy of suspension or fine (though there likely will be some).
And we won’t go down the who-started-it road. There are five games left for the players to sort that out, and I can’t wait to watch them try.
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This was just boys being boys, but if it is true what they say about good, physical hockey — that it brings hockey teammates closer together — then this was a game where some trust was forged. In Calgary’s room, where young Michael Ferland continues to build up his cred, and in the Canucks crease, where Lack got physically involved twice with Flames players.
“I’ll do whatever I can for these guys. I’ll stick up for my teammates,” said Ferland, a menacing, broth of a lad who will come in handy for a coach like Hartley, who likes some intimidation in his game plan. “My job is to give them hard minutes. I want (the Canucks) to know when I’m out there.”
On an extended delayed penalty, Lack and Ferland’s paths crossed on their way to the benches, and neither gave way. Lack gave as good as he got when the two big men met, a small thing, but a sign to his teammates that he’s in this thing, and he’s not about to give an inch.
“As long as it doesn’t take him away from the game, I’m fine with that,” said Daniel Sedin. “Since Miler got injured he’s played well. He’s a guy you can trust back there. That’s not a worry for us. We trust him 100 percent.”
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In this town, the backup goalie is like the backup quarterback in Regina. Everyone on the talk show airwaves thinks he should be the starter.
Factor in Lack’s jovial personality, his sharp sense of humour, his Swedish good looks — and the fact he’s making every save right now — and he could own this town. With his mother on Twitter, and Lack’s willingness to sit and kibitz with reporters on a game day, after a game, after a practice, his aura is getting out to the fans in a direct way that @Strombone1 found only too late in his time as a Canuck.
“He’s care free. Nothing really rattles him, or gets to him,” said Burrows, after a cool, 22-save night by Lack. “I don’t know if I like him when he gets too angry. That’s probably a part of their game plan to get to him. I like it when goalies normally stay calm and composed.”
Burrows, ever the peacemaker, steered Lack to the bench as the final tussle erupted. “I just told him to be careful. You never know in these kinds of games. There is a lot of intensity, a lot of emotions. I just told him to get away from it, we need him for next game.”
And likely the game after that, and the game after that.
If Lack keeps playing this well, Miller’s next start may come some time next October — as a member of the San Jose Sharks.
