<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The disappointment of Tuesday’s 3-2 Vancouver Canucks loss to the Buffalo Sabres clearly carried over after practice on Wednesday at Rogers Arena. A sullen Quinn Hughes met the media for all of 90 seconds and the captain didn’t seem in the mood to answer many questions about the Sabres loss or what to expect in a highly-anticipated showdown in Edmonton on Thursday night.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rick Tocchet called the third period letdown against the Sabres one of the most disappointing defeats of his two years on the job. And today just happens to be the second anniversary of Tocchet replacing Bruce Boudreau behind the Canucks bench on January 22, 2003.</span></p>
<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we saw</span></h1>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">noon practice starting a few minutes early. Skate and fly day for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a>. All available bodies on the ice. Lankinen back from illness. Still no Juulsen or Joshua <a href="https://t.co/8bq2W4cAyr">pic.twitter.com/8bq2W4cAyr</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1882155947046707302?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks skated today in the same line combinations they’ve used the past two games. The suspended Tyler Myers was on the ice with the group but isn’t eligible to play until next Monday in St. Louis. So it’s expected the Canucks will run with the same six defenders they used against the Sabres.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kevin Lankinen returned to practice after missing last night’s game with an illness. Arturs Silovs was called up on an emergency basis, but was returned to Abbotsford earlier in the day Wednesday.</span></p>
<p>Noah Juulsen, who hasn&#8217;t played since the 6-1 loss in Winnipeg last Tuesday, remains out and was not on the ice with the group. Neither was Dakota Joshua who has not played since January 3rd against Nashville. No update on either player was provided today.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The team was on the ice for 30 minutes in the noon hour before catching a 2 pm charter flight to the Alberta capital.</span></p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">in 12 games since Christmas, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> are tops in league in shots allowed (23.4). Only one opponent (WPG) has crested 30 shots vs Nux. <br />However they are 31st in shots for (23.7) and have been outscored 39-23</p>
<p>&mdash; Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1882121859917021243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we heard</span></h1>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Quinn Hughes on the kind of atmosphere he expects in Edmonton on Thursday after late-game fireworks on Saturday: “It’s a great fan base and it’s always a great crowd, they’re always energetic, so yeah, I expect that.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Conor Garland on his junior days when opposing fan bases got on him on a regular basis: “Well, that was when I was a good player. I don’t think teams are having meetings about me anymore. It’s a little different. Whatever happened, happened. I didn’t hurt him. I didn’t slewfoot him or hit him in the head. I guess they’re upset about the hold, but I didn’t try to injure him, but whatever comes of that, comes of that.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rick Tocchet on whether some of his players defer too much to Quinn Hughes: “You don’t stop playing because you play with a great player. That’s asinine. You want to use that great player to your advantage. So I don’t know about that theory. If you have a great player, you should to embrace the fact that I get to play with this player. How can I be better for this player and the team? You should utilize that great player as much as you can for your benefit.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tocchet on whether Quinn Hughes is trying to do too much on his own in an effort to swing games in the Canucks favour: “I thought last night he did. I think for the most part he’s had an unreal year, he’s been great. I thought last night was too much ‘I want to put the team on my back’ and we had a talk today. He likes to talk after games and we talked about that. That’s the one thing he has to guard himself (against) is trying to take the (other) team on himself. And I think that’s when he gets in trouble.”</span></p>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">The disappointment of Tuesday’s 3-2 Vancouver Canucks loss to the Buffalo Sabres clearly carried over after practice on Wednesday at Rogers Arena. A sullen Quinn Hughes met the media for all of 90 seconds and the captain didn’t seem in the mood to answer many questions about the Sabres loss or what to expect in a highly-anticipated showdown in Edmonton on Thursday night.</span>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Rick Tocchet called the third period letdown against the Sabres one of the most disappointing defeats of his two years on the job. And today just happens to be the second anniversary of Tocchet replacing Bruce Boudreau behind the Canucks bench on January 22, 2003.</span>
<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we saw</span></h1>
https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1882155947046707302

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Canucks skated today in the same line combinations they’ve used the past two games. The suspended Tyler Myers was on the ice with the group but isn’t eligible to play until next Monday in St. Louis. So it’s expected the Canucks will run with the same six defenders they used against the Sabres.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Kevin Lankinen returned to practice after missing last night’s game with an illness. Arturs Silovs was called up on an emergency basis, but was returned to Abbotsford earlier in the day Wednesday.</span>

Noah Juulsen, who hasn't played since the 6-1 loss in Winnipeg last Tuesday, remains out and was not on the ice with the group. Neither was Dakota Joshua who has not played since January 3rd against Nashville. No update on either player was provided today.

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The team was on the ice for 30 minutes in the noon hour before catching a 2 pm charter flight to the Alberta capital.</span>

https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1882121859917021243
<h1><span style="font-weight: 400;">What we heard</span></h1>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Quinn Hughes on the kind of atmosphere he expects in Edmonton on Thursday after late-game fireworks on Saturday: “It’s a great fan base and it’s always a great crowd, they’re always energetic, so yeah, I expect that.”</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Conor Garland on his junior days when opposing fan bases got on him on a regular basis: “Well, that was when I was a good player. I don’t think teams are having meetings about me anymore. It’s a little different. Whatever happened, happened. I didn’t hurt him. I didn’t slewfoot him or hit him in the head. I guess they’re upset about the hold, but I didn’t try to injure him, but whatever comes of that, comes of that.”</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Rick Tocchet on whether some of his players defer too much to Quinn Hughes: “You don’t stop playing because you play with a great player. That’s asinine. You want to use that great player to your advantage. So I don’t know about that theory. If you have a great player, you should to embrace the fact that I get to play with this player. How can I be better for this player and the team? You should utilize that great player as much as you can for your benefit.”</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Tocchet on whether Quinn Hughes is trying to do too much on his own in an effort to swing games in the Canucks favour: “I thought last night he did. I think for the most part he’s had an unreal year, he’s been great. I thought last night was too much ‘I want to put the team on my back’ and we had a talk today. He likes to talk after games and we talked about that. That’s the one thing he has to guard himself (against) is trying to take the (other) team on himself. And I think that’s when he gets in trouble.”</span>

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