Since their injury crisis reached Code Red two weeks ago, the Vancouver Canucks have played in National Hockey League survival mode, desperately trying to find points. On Monday, they played like a team desperate not to squander them.
In what for 50 minutes was one of their best games of the season, the Canucks lost a two-goal lead late in the third period against the Nashville Predators only to collect both points on Brock Boeser’s overtime buzzer beater that gave Vancouver a 5-4 road win.
With seconds ticking down on the extra three-on-three session controlled and slow-played by the Canucks, who smartly recognize their chances of winning a shootout are excellent with either Thatcher Demko or Kevin Lankinen in their net, Boeser and Elias Pettersson outbattled Predators Ryan O’Reilly and Brady Skjei for the puck in the Nashville corner.
Pettersson knocked it off O’Reilly’s stick to Boeser, who beat Skjei out of the corner and Predator goalie Juuse Saros with a blocker-side backhand with less than two ticks remaining.
Boeser, who frequently celebrates goals like an accountant closing an audit, raised his arms in jubilation before the normally stoic Pettersson hugged him and looked as happy as he has since signing his contract extension 20 months ago.
It was a redemptive goal for Vancouver after Nashville, outshot 34-19 halfway through the third period, scored twice in the last eight minutes. Nick Blankenburg tied it 4-4 on a power play with 3:22 remaining after a dubious high-sticking penalty against Canuck Evander Kane by referee Francis Charron.
But Boeser, who had been thrown heavily to the ice behind the play without penalty by Michael Bunting just before the Nashville power play, capped his three-point game with his second goal.
The victory gave the Canucks a 2-1 record for their road trip and, importantly, has the potential to provide the scuffling team some traction.
Captain and star defenceman Quinn Hughes, who had been one of nine skaters missing due to injury, returned to the Canuck lineup after sitting out four games. He had six shots on net and nine attempts, but did not collect a point. Hughes did, however, finish plus-two over 28:05 of ice time that included 3:10 in overtime when the 2024 Norris Trophy winner pretty much owned the puck.
The win also evened the team’s record at 7-7-0 amid their staffing shortage. The Canucks are now 4-0-0 after falling a game below .500 this season, indicative of their resolve and resilience as they cling to the Western Conference playoff race.
Those R-words were evident in overtime.
“We were all over them,” coach Adam Foote said of the game. “We could have easily been up four or five goals. (The referees) missed a couple calls, and especially Kaner’s; it wasn't a penalty at all. I liked the way we hung in there. We were resilient.”
Several other components of the victory could provide energy.
Kane preceded his ninth minor penalty — the same number of penalties he has drawn — with his first two goals as a Canuck.
In Game 14, the winger tied the game 1-1 late in the first period with a power-play one-timer that ticked off Predator Tyson Jost, and Kane put Vancouver ahead 4-2 on a delayed penalty at 3:02 of the third when he finished clinically from Linus Karlsson’s blind, back-pass from the front of the net that stranded Saros.
Another struggling forward, winger Jake DeBrusk, scored his third goal of the season and first point in five games on a night when he played 21:03 and matched Hughes’ six shots on net.
Praised by Foote before the game for his defensive work, centre Elias Pettersson did some offensive work, too, collecting a pair of assists after going pointless the previous three games.
And 20-year-old rookie callup Tom Willander not only stayed in the lineup despite Hughes’ return, but earned his first NHL point in his fourth NHL game, when he attacked the net with the puck before his centring pass caromed to Boeser in the slot late in the second period.
Paired with fellow Swedish prospect Elias Pettersson (Junior), Willander’s ice time of 10:52 was his lowest so far but the smooth-skating defenceman led the Canucks with expected goals-for of 76 per cent.
Winning on a night when Demko allowed four goals was another big positive for Vancouver.
Obviously, there is lots to work on, like the late-game defending and penalties that stressed one of the poorest penalty-killing units in the NHL. The Predators’ power play went 2-for-3.
But, overall, with the schedule and the injuries the Canucks have faced, returning to Vancouver at .500 and opening a four-game homestand Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, with a couple of other injured players close to returning, feels like momentum for the organization.
“Guys have been hanging on,” Foote told reporters in Nashville before the game. “It’s no secret what's been going on with our team, and we're getting through it. Guys are getting better through the process. We get Huggy back, I know Garley's close (Conor Garland), and then (Teddy) Blueger’s the next one probably back. And it's nice that we're getting guys playing good minutes for us and getting reps.”
THE LINEUP
Forwards
Kane-Pettersson-Sherwood
DeBrusk-Reichel-Boeser
O’Connor-Raty-MacEachern
Bains-Sasson-Karlsson
Defencemen
Hughes-Myers
M. Pettersson-Hronek
Pettersson (Junior)-Willander
Goalie
Demko
