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CanucksArmy Postgame: Tyler, the win creator! Tyler Toffoli shines in his return and the Vancouver Canucks win 5-2
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Photo credit: Gerry Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Faber
By Faber
Aug 26, 2020, 00:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 26, 2020, 00:58 EDT
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The Canucks got a huge boost in game two with their big trade deadline acquisition Tyler Toffoli back in the lineup.
All eyes were on number 73 when he took to the ice for the pregame skate. Toffoli took rushes with Tanner Pearson and Elias Pettersson. Meaning that the top six now featured six players who are legitimate top-six producers.
No Jake Virtanen needed for the top six and no Loui Eriksson needed for the game as he was the odd forward sitting out after having a tough game one against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Canucks Twitter was buzzing with Toffoli being back in the lineup and the team found a spark with Toffoli back in the lineup.
Jacob Markstrom was between the pipes for the Canucks while Robin Lehner patrolled the blue paint for the Knights.
Lines
The lines projected lines looked strong and the Canucks needed to match that strength on the ice. After a 5-0 ass-whooping the team needed a real response game.
It was time to drop the puck in Edmonton, Alberta.
Let’s go!
First Period
It didn’t take long for Tyler Toffoli to make his mark on this game. During his first shift, he stepped on the ice and skated right to the crease as Pettersson rounded the net. Pettersson’s efforts generated the chance for him to play the puck cross-crease right on Toffoli’s stick with a wide-open net. He made no mistake and buried it. The Canucks were up 1-0 just 1:28 into the game.
Pettersson and Quinn Hughes both had assists on the Toffoli goal and the Canucks got the good start that they needed. The goalless streak was over and the Canucks were in the driver’s seat early on in this game.
They followed up the Toffoli goal with more great play as the Canucks top six lines were clicking and the bottom six group looked good defensively as well. The Canucks were able to limit the Knights to only six shots on net in the first period. The Canucks blocked 11 shots in the period, led by Chris Tanev who blocked three in the period.
The Canucks had two powerplay opportunities in the period. Their first powerplay finished with a pretty passing play from Pettersson and Toffoli that finished with a quick shot from Horvat in the slot that ended in the back of the net. The Canucks were up 2-0 after the Horvat powerplay goal.
The second powerplay struggled to get set up but the Canucks continued to have pressure throughout the period at even strength.
Vancouver took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission and should be damn proud of how they responded in the first 20 minutes after a 60-minute shellacking in game one.
Aside from the big stars, Adam Gaudette looked strong in this period. His line continued to be able to control the puck in the offensive zone and make exits from their own zone with relative ease. It seems as though we have found the soft spot in the Knights lineups. If the Sutter-Gaudette-Roussel line can win the goal share throughout these next few games it means a lot for the Canucks chances in this series.
Second Period
The Knights came out to play in the second period. They drove play for a majority of the period and it looked a bit like game one where the just had continued control of the puck in the Canucks zone. For a good portion of the period, the Canucks were simply trying to get the puck past centre so that they could dump and change.
The early pressure brought with it some powerplays chances for the Knights. The Knights had two powerplays in that period but the Canucks were able to kill both penalties. They actually had two scoring chances of their own while shorthanded.
The Knights finally struck gold in the period after a relentless attack. They pulled the old Jackie Moon move and made an alley-oop pass to Nicolas Roy. Roy made a quick spin and found Alex Tuch flying into the zone and he quickly fired one past Markstrom. 2-1 Canucks.
The Canucks were getting severely outshot in this period. The shots ended up being 22-7 in the period. The Canucks were heavily outplayed and it felt like the Knights may be able to come back and tie the game in the period.
That’s when The Alien came down and said no.
Pettersson caught a pass from Alex Edler in tight and made a great move to his forehand before burying it past Lehner and returning the two-goal lead to the Canucks.
Markstrom kept the Canucks in this period. He made a couple of big saves that kept this game close. The Canucks were dominated in the second period but the recipe for a win was there.
They were getting timely scoring from their top guys, they were winning the special teams battle and Jacob Markstrom was there to keep the Canucks in this game by slamming the door shut.
With a two-goal lead, the Canucks needed to just ride out the pressure and counterpunch with some offence of their own. The Canucks best defence is a strong offence so let’s see what they did in the third period.
Third Period
Just 18 seconds into the period the Canucks were able to get that much-needed insurance goal.
Boeser was in tight when he made a great spinning pass to Horvat as he buried his second goal of the game and league-leading 8th goal of the playoffs. 4-1 Canucks.
After the fourth goal, the Canucks were ready to skate with the Knights in the third period. This effort level kept them even in shots with the Knights in the final period, both teams had 12 shots in the third.
The Knights got a small push late and even got a goal from Max Pacioretty to make it 4-2 Canucks. 
It was just too little, too late as Tanner Pearson got on the ice and scored an empty-net goal faster than Ricky Bobby drives a race car.
The insurance line was missing Loui Eriksson but they did not need him and the final score was 5-2 after the empty-net goal.
The Fancies
Top Performers
Elias Pettersson was the top performer in Tuesday’s game. Pettersson dominated throughout this game. His five-on-five game was excellent, he had a goal and two assists in the game and attempted six shots on goal. His skating speed looks accelerated and he made good passes when he wasn’t dancing with goaltenders in tight.
A shoutout needs to be given to Toffoli as well. He scored a goal just nine seconds into his night and the Canucks top-six looked much better with him in the lineup. More on Toffoli in the wrap-up.
Wrap-Up
Tyler Toffoli was a major boost for the Canucks on Tuesday night. He talked postgame about what watching his team go through the Blues series: “they were winning games, it gave me more time to rest up and heal to get back in the lineup”.
Toffoli makes the powerplay unit so much more dynamic. He is a playmaker down low and with the Knights throwing so much pressure on the top end of the Canucks powerplay with Pettersson, Hughes and Miller there — it opened up more room for Horvat and Toffoli in tight. They capitalized when Horvat scored his first goal of the game.
Markstrom was excellent once again, this is the not so secret ingredient in the Canucks playoff victory recipe. Markstrom stopped 38 of 40 shots fired at him. He faced 93 attempted shots from the Knights tonight and they had 42 scoring chances in this game.
Markstrom was excellent but so were the Canucks in their own zone, they set a playoff franchise record by blocking 40 shots. All but two Canucks blocked shots tonight step your game up Gaudette and Boeser.
The Canucks will need to get this type of goaltending and scoring to continue to be in this series against the Knights. Toffoli’s return meant a lot and this is a whole new best of five series now.
The Canucks are undefeated in five-game series so far this year…
The Canuck will be back in action on Thursday night and I am on vacation for the next two games. Stephan Roget will have Thursday nights postgame covered and then David Quadrelli will come off of his 27-month vacation to cover the postgame on Saturday.
I’ll be enjoying the games with a beer in hand for the first time all playoffs. Enjoy folks! See you in a few days.

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