From world beaters against the Florida Panthers to getting embarrassed against the Boston Bruins to putting on an absolute clinic Monday night against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, the Vancouver Canucks are certainly keeping things interesting as of late.
And you couldn’t have come up with a better blueprint for a bounce-back game for Vancouver than the one they deployed against Colorado. They were rock solid defensively, but with the added bonus of having an efficient forecheck that actually created some high-danger scoring chances. If not for some misfires in the slot, this game could have easily been four or five, with nothing heading into the third period.
So by the time the Canucks resorted to full-on Tocchet hockey in the third period with dump and line change offence, it didn’t feel forced or unwanted. You welcomed it with both arms and even listened to its boring work stories because that’s what you do as a guest when the host has put on a good party.
And with the Canucks battling an illness that could be sweeping through the locker room, and with Elliotte Friedman going full TMZ and hypothesizing EA Sports influenced trade proposals for Elias Pettersson, it makes the performance all the more impressive.
We’re basically at the point where the fan fiction for Elias Pettersson vs. JT Miller has reached Game of Thrones levels of intrigue and attention, and the team was still able to keep their composure and deliver. Who’s Hodor, you ask? Fantastic question, I’m working on it.
And on a night in which the team had one of their best games of the season, none were better than Kiefer Sherwood, whose natural hat trick powered the Canucks 3-1 victory past the finish line. It was a performance that earned Kiefer resounding chants of his name throughout the night, an honour usually mainly reserved for JT Miller at the arena or standing in line at Safeway.
Second, right behind that performance was Thatcher Demko, who not only recorded his first win of the season but was minutes away from stopping every shot he faced on the night until you thought the word “shutout” late in the third period. Yes, you. I know it was you, we all know it was you Dave and/or Beth. Shame on you both.
But regardless of the late goal, it was a complete game from a team that has struggled to put forth 60 minute efforts. It was the kind of game where you nodded with respect at the defensive night Noah Juulsen had, or you found yourself giving a couple of claps for the physical play of Vinnie Desharnais in which he didn’t travel 10 miles to try and land a hit. He simply hit what was given to him.
At one point, Erik Brännström and Desharnais were defending the blue paint, and they both took their own man and boxed out the crease instead of chasing after the same guy, and it was like, “yes, this is what good hockey looks like, I remember this.”
So enjoy this game and enjoy this result. For all we know, Friedman will drop a new podcast tomorrow where he ponders trading Quinn Hughes to New Jersey, and the world will be on fire again. Or maybe JT Miller will be caught on camera looking slightly past Elias Pettersson and it will be proof positive that he hates him, all because they recently got into a fight at the Roxy about the ending of Inception.
All we know is that right now, the Canucks played a hell of a game, and Kiefer Sherwood had a hell of a night. So let’s break that down for now, shall we?
Best coming out hot
JT Miller, or “Hot Miller,” as my phone desperately tried to auto-correct “JHT Miller,” was indeed playing with some fire in his boots on this night. We, in fact, saw it on the very first shift of the game when he dashed hard around Nate Dogg Mackinnon and dragged the puck to the net like it was NHL ’95:
We joke, but in some games, it feels like it takes until the second period before the Canucks get a dangerous look on the net. No offence to Tyler Myers dumping the puck in for a line change. I know that can be a pretty exciting play, but sometimes it’s nice to see traditional offensive hockey on display.
And if you enjoy putting narratives onto hockey games for no other reason than your own amusement, then tonight was your night to shine, as it was a game of Elias Pettersson and JT Miller taking turns producing high-level offensive plays.
In other words, that sneaking suspicion you had that Elias and JT were constantly trying to one-up each Monday night was clearly true, as moments after JT’s rush to the net, Elias Pettersson hit the post on a rush chance:
Putting my House of Pettersson vs House of Miller fan fiction aside, my main takeaway from this shift and game was that Max Sasson didn’t look out of place on EP40’s line. We’ve joked for years about Elias having to play with AHL players, but, like, this might be a good one.
Just watch the clip and see how Quinn Hughes has the confidence to hit Max in stride and, better yet, how Max once again holds onto the puck and creates space for Elias to skate into. That has been the main thing about Sasson’s game I have loved, his ability to hold onto the puck and make a smart play.
He isn’t running into the zone with piss running down his legs, screaming, “Oh god why won’t they leave me alone” as he ices the puck or forces a pass into a turnover. Instead, he uses his speed and is getting better and better each game at making smart, measured plays with the puck. By doing this, he extends zone time on the offensive side of the ice, which leads to scoring chances.
All of which is to say that clearly, we have to call him Maximus now because Gladiator references are just sitting right there for us. He will have his revenge. On this shift or the next.
I was also going to use Corolla Garland’s board work as proof the Canucks were locked in early, but this guy is like that every game. He probably shows up to charity games, and everyone is laughing and having a good time, and then there’s Garland dominating in a corner battle, dragging Mike Bublé to victory:
It was a great start from a team that didn’t literally sh*t the bed against Boston but also kind of did? All I will say is they haven’t scientifically ruled out that there wasn’t fecal matter on the ice after the Bruins game, so it was a very strong start from a team that allowed Brad Marchand to do the “I can’t hear you taunt” on home ice.
Best Maximus is for real-us
Again, the main thing I appreciate about Max’s game is his ability to extend plays. Once again, Quinn Hughes trusts Max to get to a puck, and once again, Max not only gets possession of said puck, but he pulls up and uses that to say it with class and finds time and space for a linemate:
It’s just solid hockey from a guy who wasn’t on a lot of radars heading into this season. We have, and will continue to see, many an AHL player have a cup of coffee with the Canucks. Usually, they get a few games and end up being featured in the jersey Botch section of this article. And between you and I, Max still has a long way to go to prove he’s going to be anything but that.
But just in terms of those kinds of AHL-level players, Maximus is one of the first skaters in a while that’s gotten my ears to perk up, and I wonder if he might be able to drag multiple NHL seasons out of this.
What he does echoes in eternity, after all.
Aside from that, though, he’s really fun to talk to in media scrums? He’s not all jaded, he actually looks happy to talk to us? I know, it’s super weird. He isn’t guarded and he actually looks like he’s enjoying himself, it’s very unsettling.
I look forward to him being a seasoned vet with 3-5 NHL years under his belt, staring at the floor while he grinds out another scrum where one of us asks him what he thinks went wrong with the penalty kill that night.
Best high praise
It was the kind of night where Noah Juulsen was doing slap passes to find a wide-open Pius Suter in the slot; that’s how you know the team was feeling it:
And not to bring up that Boston game again, but this kind of offensive threat early on was nice because it didn’t make you feel like the team despised you and wanted you to suffer for ever having thought that hockey might be a fun sport to partake in? You didn’t actively think that the Canucks were playing a sick joke on you by forcing you to pay hundreds of dollars to watch Nikita Zadorov smirk with pleasure?
Best full throttle offense
The best way to describe Kiefer Sherwood’s play Monday Night is that it is what I imagine it would have looked like watching Wile E. Coyote on a day in which all of his schemes actually worked. If Kiefer Sherwood had painted a tunnel along the boards during this game, I would have naturally assumed he could have skated down it, while Cale Makar would have run face-first into the glass.
It just felt like a night in which he stepped up to make sure the Canucks didn’t let this game slip away, once again causing us to ask Nashville the Hugh Grant question, what the hell were you thinking?
Up first for Kiefer was his opening goal on the night, in which his bread and butter of hard work in the corners paid off with a goal so greasy McDonald’s is turning it into a feature item:
Kiefer essentially is so annoying in the corner that the Avalanche send two guys to deal with him, which allows Pius Suter to get the puck down to Danton Heinen, who gets the puck on net, which leaves Kiefer the honour of tapping in all that grease.
It’s one of my favourite types of goals because that’s my bread and butter in hockey. Finding the trash around the crease and poking it in, and seeing the goalie’s eyes dim as the sadness takes over.
I also feel like it’s the kind of goal Rick Tocchet would make into spaghetti. Snap it in half, pour some tomato sauce on it, and just go to town on it. Hard-working as it gets.
Best supportive Jeff Paterson
Jeff isn’t all about sobering, depressing stat tweets; he saves some cheerful ones for December!
Best boom boom Jake JT
JT Miller hasn’t looked fully up to speed since his return, which is fair considering he is returning from a personal leave and half the city is writing novels about his supposed hatred and/or dislike of Elias Pettersson, but the game against the Avs felt like a vintage JT night.
Not only was he setting up teammates for good scoring chances, not only was he faring quite well in a defensive shutdown role, he was also playing a very physical brand of hockey on the night:
In other words, he was very much emotionally invested in this game. If this game was a first date, he would have called and asked for a follow-up dinner. That’s how invested he was in this game emotionally.
Best proof is in the pudding
The penalty kill deserves a lot of praise on the night. Carson Soucy and Noah Juulsen especially seemed to be emotionally invested in making the Avalanche players feel bad about themselves and their inability to be good at playing hockey.
Best Thatcher the Snatcher
While it’s true the Canucks played a very, very good game of hockey, the Avalanche have a lot of offensive weapons, so Demko still had to make some high-level saves:
The second I saw Makar pick up speed, I knew Tyler Myers was in trouble. Hell, it could have been any defenseman that wasn’t Quinn Hughes and I would already have been preparing the eulogy.
But as Rick Tocchet said upon entering the post-game media room, people need to remember that Demko is a very good goaltender. Monday night was the first game since he’s been back where you had that Hook moment and saw Peter Pan again.
Best smart hockey
Vinnie Desharnais has struggled to find a fit with Vancouver while also dealing with the rumours that the Canucks might be looking to trade him to greener pastures. At least his rumours don’t involve a death feud with Elias Pettersson, but it still has to be hard to come onto a new team and have to fight to stay in the lineup.
And while one game won’t turn around his fortunes, I will say I liked his game on Monday. He just kept things simple and actually used his size to box out the crease, and as is the case here, dish out big hits when they were available:
That’s picking your spot right there. That’s using a hit to make a defensive shutdown play and not just chasing a hit because you want to know what it feels like to hunt the most dangerous sport there is: Man itself.
It was just a night of a collection of players from Vancouver playing very tight, smart hockey. Protecting the GOTI, staying in their tracks, having the juice, use all of the Rick Tocchet metaphors you have on hand because the Canucks used all of them Monday night.
Best he is risen
You have to be lucky to be good, and good to be lucky:
Demko employed the vaunted “I think I’ll just lie down over here and have a nap” save technique that Eddie Lack often used, except Thatcher didn’t ruin the Winter Classic for Roberto Luongo when he did it.
Best making it too easy
There is a world in which it makes perfect sense for JT Miller to deploy on the second unit power play. When JT left the team for a few weeks, Conor Garland stepped up, and it felt like it was a more dynamic PP1, with Corolla, Elias and Quinn Hughes cycling the puck while Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk stacked the blue paint.
So hey, why fix what isn’t broken and instead see if you can get a serviceable second unit power play in Vancouver for the first time since 1993?
But there is also a world in which JT, being on a separate unit from Elias Pettersson, makes the jokes almost too easy for us. Especially when you add in the fact Quinn Hughes played the entire two minutes of two separate power plays, which meant EP40 and JT split custody of their young child, Quinn, into special teams. It’s like when my parents separated, I got two Christmas celebrations, so this is a good thing.
Again, we probably only know 5% of what is actually happening in NHL locker rooms, but you have to admit the optics are delightfully amusing right now.
And while the Canucks didn’t score, at least their power play resembled that power play fueled by anger in the St. Louis game. Quinn Hughes was unloading his cannon with PURPOSE:
At no point did it feel like the Canucks were going to lose this game.
Best engine light is on
JT Miller didn’t have any points on the night, but he could have had a couple were it not for his All-American Line failing to come through for him:
Look, I get it; I am as confused as you are. Corolla doesn’t miss these things. Sure, he might not snipe it top corner, but usually, he at least hits the net and then kicks the puck to the boards and grinds out a solid thirty seconds.
But Monday night, the puck just wasn’t landing for Conor. It was a rare night in which the Corolla needed an oil change, or whatever car repair metaphor you want to use.
Best Chaotic energy
At one point, Tyler Myers tried to play better than Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar  and ALMOST PULLED IT OFF:
The guy just danced the blue line and then finds a wide-open Elias Pettersson like it’s nothing. Yet the next shift, you have no idea if he’s going to cross-check someone through the glass or try and go bar down on his own net. The Chaos Giraffe is such a wild ride.
And depending on your view of Elias, he either tried a slick five-hole shot and was barely denied, or you sneered and made a derisive comment about how 11.6 million dollars apparently doesn’t buy you a top-shelf shot nowadays.
Best game of inches
Quinn Hughes was spending his summer holiday at JT Miller’s power play unit condo when he set up Kiefer Sherwood for a glorious chance in front:
Please keep in mind that it was Danton Heinen who sauced it to Quinn Hughes on that entry. This is what I am saying when I tell you that the Canucks were absolutely locked in and emotionally invested in this game.
Best the boss is right
Sometimes hockey is a team effort, and sometimes you just go out there and do everything yourself:
If the first goal was Wile E. Coyote inspired, then this goal was straight-up Jack Bauer mode, as Kiefer is just a straight-up killer on this short-handed tally.
We all know he has one of the most active sticks in the NHL (not a weird sexual metaphor), and he once again puts this to good use to break up a power play rush and counter-attack the other way.
He also knows how to shoot the puck, so he doesn’t go full Tyler Motte here. Rick Tocchet has mentioned a story about him calling up Kiefer and Sherwood telling him he’s shooting pucks on Sunday because he knows he has a lot more to offer on offense. It’s not quite the Summer of Kesler story, but it comes from the same DNA, and we are seeing the results.
Again, Nashville, what the heck were you thinking?
Best stone cold facts
Best popping collars
JT Miller finishing off his cheques like me on pay day, am I right?
Best great save, Demlongo
I am still not quite sure what a popliteus is, nor what it is used for, but it looked fine Monday night:
Not quite the reverse VH Ian Clark was expecting, but this isn’t Ian’s world anymore. We’re allowed to have colored pads and occasionally grow our hair long.
Best assumptions
I feel like JT Miller is going to be ok with Garland not scoring here, but hey, add it to the lore:
Miller’s skating looked good, his physicality looked good, his passing was good. The only thing missing from a full vintage JT Miller game was seeing him get some shots on net. It still feels like he’s been stuck in playmaker mode and hasn’t really unleashed his shot yet.
Also we haven’t seen a 1 mph no-look pass to Quinn Hughes on the power play yet, but I assume that’s because of the Elias divorce. Lawyers make everything so messy.
Best user name checks out
This play stood out to me as one of those big “oh they are emotionally invested in this game” moments.
On a bad night, JT Miller (or whomever) would do the infamous “fly by” that Rick Tocchet loathes with every fibre of his being. You want to see Rick get riled up? Get him talking about fly-by defeece, where a skater just stabs at a puck as they skate by. It’s a sloppy play because if that fly-by fails, you’re no longer in position, and you no longer have the puck, so most times, you’ve just given up an odd-man rush.
On Monday, this would have been a perfect place to try the fly by:
JT makes a pretty aggressive play on the puck, but instead of just doing the fly-by, he cuts back and cuts off Makar. He hits him into the boards and shuts down his skating lane, and thus ends the play.
That’s what Rick is talking about when he speaks about the team having to play in their positions and make the right plays. We have seen a lot of fly-by defence this season, and while it can pay off when it works, it’s a very loose defensive style.
When you’re locked in and committed to guarding the GOTI, this is the kind of play you make. You stick with your man and you play physical hockey.
Best the battle continues
The EP40 vs JT America battle continued in the third period, and Elias almost got on the scoreboard with a fantastic setup to Jake DeBrusk, who, again, my mind constantly assures me is actually Louie DeBrusk:
Hey, you know who got to that puck first? Maximus Sasson. He then finds Elias who turns and finds Jake with the perfect pass, only to see DeBrusk rip off his jersey to reveal a “Team Miller” shirt underneath.
Best spicy Soucy
Remember how at one point, it felt like every goal was a backdoor tap-in against the Canucks? Soucy is on the case:
This might have been one of Soucy’s best games of the season. Not once did I scream out loud, “what is Carson doing?” while looking at my dog for answers. Once again, Soucy was an anchor.
A good anchor. Not the bad kind that drags you down in a negative way. But one that is needed to keep your boat from drifting away.
Most of my nautical knowledge comes from Below Deck, so I should probably stick to other metaphors.
Are JT Miller and Elias Pettersson the Daisy and Gary of the yachting world? Let’s dive into it.
Best go for broke
As much as I am in dire need of seeing someone score on an empty net from their own end on a clap bomb ever since Tyler Myers went for it, I will settle for the post and in wrister:
Was it risky shooting the puck in that spot and potentially getting an icing call? Should he have passed it over to Danton?
Maybe.
But on a night when Kiefer was playing the way he was, you let him take that shot every single time.
Game, blouses.
Best oh yeah this happened
Colorado scored. Good job, Colorado.
Best summary
The Canucks won and made it look good. If this team wasn’t so maddingly inconsistent, you could probably talk about the team building off of this win and riding some momentum, but we’re still in a spot where we truly don’t know what kind of team this is.
And with the chaos of the market surrounding this team, with the team president talking about the team needing a couple of pieces to contend, and with the white noise of the Pettersson/Miller divorce taking on a mind of its own, we should probably just be thankful we get to head to bed without any more drama unfolding.
At least for one night, anyways.
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