The winds of change blew through Rogers Arena the after the Vancouver Canucks struggled in a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.
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Rick Tocchet had his team back on the ice in the noon hour on Sunday and had new looks to both his forward lines and his defence pairings.
<h1>What we saw</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
new look lines for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> Garland-Miller-Boeser DeBrusk-EP40-Sasson Heinen-Suter-Sherwood Joshua-Blueger-Höglander
Hughes-Juulsen Soucy-Myers Forbort-Friedman Brännström-Desharnais
&mdash; Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) <a href="https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1868389458556653808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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A day after scoring his first NHL goal, Max Sasson was bumped into a top-six role on the right side with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. The Canucks are hoping the rookie’s speed and energy can provide a spark to the other two, who have struggled to generate at even strength on the homestand.
Conor Garland was back with JT Miller and Brock Boeser. He was promoted to that spot late in the first period against the Bruins. 
That left the bottom six with a new look: Pius Suter between Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood while Teddy Blueger skated between Dakota Joshua and Nils Höglander.
It wasn’t just the forward groups that got a makeover on Sunday. Derek Forbort was back with the group after missing Saturday’s game with the flu. Forbort skated with Mark Friedman while Quinn Hughes had Noah Juulsen as his partner. Sunday also saw a reunion of Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers, who struggled together earlier in the season.
Erik Brännström and Vincent Desharnais were an extra pair at practice.
Kevin Lankinen missed his second straight day of action while under the weather. It’s unlikely he’ll be ready to go on Monday night against Colorado. That means Thatcher Demko is slated to make his first set of consecutive starts of the season. Rick Tocchet wouldn’t name his starting goalie on Sunday afternoon but hinted it would be a lot to ask of Lankinen, who has been off the ice and away from the rink since Thursday (the team had a full day off on Friday).
The Canucks close out their six-game homestand with a 7:30 pm start against Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. The game will also feature the first of three Quinn Hughes vs Cale Makar showdowns of the season.
<h1>What we heard</h1>
Rick Tocchet on needing more from a handful of players: “Sometimes guys aren’t going to have their A game, we understand that. Some guys were just not engaged. We don’t have the team to have three or four or five passengers. We just don’t have it. Edmonton, they can have four or five guys sleeping. They have guys that can win the game for them. We are a team that needs everybody to play. That was the thing that was most disheartening yesterday was we had some guys that weren’t ready to play.”
Tocchet on giving Max Sasson a shot in the top six: “He has to play his game. Sometimes when guys go to a different line, they find they have to do something different. If he stays to his identity, moves his feet, play good defensive hockey and be good on the forecheck he has a better chance for success. If he tries to dipsy-doodle because he’s on a line that has some offensive skill, that’s when you get in trouble.”
Thatcher Demko on the inconsistency he’s seen from the team in his return to action: “This is going to happen. It’s normal. I think the media, this is how it is in a Canadian market. Live by the sword, die by the sword. The season is longer than one night at a time. Obviously we’d like to be more consistent. We’d like to be more consistent at home. I know that’s the narrative that is out there for sure and it’s not wrong. We’re addressing it and it’s something we talk about a lot. Unfortunately we haven’t seen what we’ve been preaching come to fruition just yet. But I think it’s coming. Obviously it’s a disappointing game last night, but back on the ice today and keep moving forward.”
Demko on racing out to play puck away from David Pastrnak in the second period last night: “I’m not typically doing that. That’s something that’s definitely out of my comfort zone. I don’t know why I did that (laughs). That’s not typically something I’d do. I guess it was just spur of the moment. It got the lungs going if anything. Usually goalies aren’t sprinting around the rink.”
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The winds of change blew through Rogers Arena the after the Vancouver Canucks struggled in a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins.
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Rick Tocchet had his team back on the ice in the noon hour on Sunday and had new looks to both his forward lines and his defence pairings.
<h1>What we saw</h1>
https://twitter.com/patersonjeff/status/1868389458556653808

A day after scoring his first NHL goal, Max Sasson was bumped into a top-six role on the right side with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. The Canucks are hoping the rookie’s speed and energy can provide a spark to the other two, who have struggled to generate at even strength on the homestand.

Conor Garland was back with JT Miller and Brock Boeser. He was promoted to that spot late in the first period against the Bruins. 

That left the bottom six with a new look: Pius Suter between Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood while Teddy Blueger skated between Dakota Joshua and Nils Höglander.

It wasn’t just the forward groups that got a makeover on Sunday. Derek Forbort was back with the group after missing Saturday’s game with the flu. Forbort skated with Mark Friedman while Quinn Hughes had Noah Juulsen as his partner. Sunday also saw a reunion of Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers, who struggled together earlier in the season.

Erik Brännström and Vincent Desharnais were an extra pair at practice.

Kevin Lankinen missed his second straight day of action while under the weather. It’s unlikely he’ll be ready to go on Monday night against Colorado. That means Thatcher Demko is slated to make his first set of consecutive starts of the season. Rick Tocchet wouldn’t name his starting goalie on Sunday afternoon but hinted it would be a lot to ask of Lankinen, who has been off the ice and away from the rink since Thursday (the team had a full day off on Friday).

The Canucks close out their six-game homestand with a 7:30 pm start against Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. The game will also feature the first of three Quinn Hughes vs Cale Makar showdowns of the season.
<h1>What we heard</h1>
Rick Tocchet on needing more from a handful of players: “Sometimes guys aren’t going to have their A game, we understand that. Some guys were just not engaged. We don’t have the team to have three or four or five passengers. We just don’t have it. Edmonton, they can have four or five guys sleeping. They have guys that can win the game for them. We are a team that needs everybody to play. That was the thing that was most disheartening yesterday was we had some guys that weren’t ready to play.”

Tocchet on giving Max Sasson a shot in the top six: “He has to play his game. Sometimes when guys go to a different line, they find they have to do something different. If he stays to his identity, moves his feet, play good defensive hockey and be good on the forecheck he has a better chance for success. If he tries to dipsy-doodle because he’s on a line that has some offensive skill, that’s when you get in trouble.”

Thatcher Demko on the inconsistency he’s seen from the team in his return to action: “This is going to happen. It’s normal. I think the media, this is how it is in a Canadian market. Live by the sword, die by the sword. The season is longer than one night at a time. Obviously we’d like to be more consistent. We’d like to be more consistent at home. I know that’s the narrative that is out there for sure and it’s not wrong. We’re addressing it and it’s something we talk about a lot. Unfortunately we haven’t seen what we’ve been preaching come to fruition just yet. But I think it’s coming. Obviously it’s a disappointing game last night, but back on the ice today and keep moving forward.”

Demko on racing out to play puck away from David Pastrnak in the second period last night: “I’m not typically doing that. That’s something that’s definitely out of my comfort zone. I don’t know why I did that (laughs). That’s not typically something I’d do. I guess it was just spur of the moment. It got the lungs going if anything. Usually goalies aren’t sprinting around the rink.”

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Scenes from practice: Canucks roll out new-look lines after loss to Bruins

Sawyer Mynio during the Vancouver Canucks' 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the 2024 Young Stars Classic from Penticton, BC.

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