Last year’s leading scorer for the Vancouver Canucks, Brock Boeser, has been struggling as of late. And it wasn’t just as simple as him getting unlucky.

As a sniper, it’s not uncommon for players to go stretches without scoring, but as long as they’re still shooting and generating chances with rebounds, that would eventually even out. However, in Boeser’s case, he wasn’t shooting, he wasn’t generating, and because of that, he definitely wasn’t scoring.

Now, it has been a pretty interesting year for Boeser.

For starters, he received a cheap shot elbow to the head that left him out of the Canucks lineup with a concussion. Then, his long-time centreman, JT Miller, was traded. And then, the NHL Trade Deadline was fast approaching, and his name came up in trade rumours.

That’s a lot for anybody to go through. And those issues can translate to a player’s game. But in the crunch time of a playoff push, there isn’t much time to wait; the Canucks need Boeser to perform if they want to keep their hopes alive.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the league-leading Winnipeg Jets, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet discussed what he’s been seeing out of Boeser’s recent struggles and what could potentially help him:

“It’s more of a mental thing. He’s Brock’s a reactor, and he’s waiting. If you’re even watching the power play, [he’s] just kind of waiting around. If he even makes the wrong read, I’ll take it right now, because he’s he’s just kind of like in a state of mind where he’s just kind of waiting. And I think he’s got to almost just attack. Whatever he does, whether he’s the second man on the forecheck or whether you’re the slack guy, attack. I think that will help. His pace has to get a little higher. That will help him in all aspects of his game.”

Tocchet paired Boeser back up with Elias Pettersson for this tough contest against the Jets. While Pettersson looks to be rounding back into form, you don’t have to look far back to see him being in the same position as Boeser. Here’s what the coach had to say regarding the pair and what he wanted to see out of them against Winnipeg:

“I think they are guilty sometimes of waiting. Don’t wait. You gotta go. If Winnipeg’s got a two press, we get the puck, that’s two less guys, you gotta go. Don’t take the puck back. Those two guys are guilty of getting the puck and giving it back to our defencemen. We want to go forward, play north, play fast. If they do that early on, I think it’s a psychology thing for them. They get in the game quicker. For those two guys, play north. That’s the one thing for them to get back in their game.”

Boeser was well aware of his struggles but knew the areas he and the team needed to focus on ahead of such a big game:

“Yeah, I think we got to start shooting more pucks. Obviously, that’s a key we talked about a lot. We don’t get enough shots and traffic to the net. I think there’s some times we go low-to-high, and we could probably put it on net with some bodies there, and we don’t. So I think we just got to get back to that and go from there.”

We all know how Boeser finished this game. He got the monkey off his back, breaking his 12-game goalless streak by potting two goals and adding an assist off the rush. But let’s take a closer look at how Boeser translated Tocchet’s comments into his on-ice production in our series called, The Tape:

We start off with a few clips from Boeser where he showed exactly what Tocchet was talking about.

In the first clip, Boeser grabs the puck in the offensive zone. He can’t quite corral the puck to get it into a shooting position, but he throws it toward the net. That part is good. But then, after he gets in a position to get a tip on net and Nils Höglander has the puck behind the net, Boeser just stays stagnant in the slot.

He doesn’t put himself in a position where Höglander can feed a pass to him with a defender out in front and one pinching down to the slot. This leaves Höglander with no passing lane, and he just fires a backhand to try to go low-to-high, and the Jets forward is there to intercept it.

We would have liked to see Boeser move his feet and try and get into a position where he could help Höglander.

On the same shift here, the Canucks regain possession off the Jets dump-in. Filip Hronek sends a pass around the far-end boards to Höglander. Look at Boeser at the top of the screen. This is what Tocchet was talking about when he said that Boeser needs to go. There is a lot of open ice in front of him to skate hard up the ice and there’s a lane for Höglander to feed him the puck.

And that’s kind of what happens.

Boeser takes two strides up ice but then opens up his stance and loses all of his momentum. Höglander makes the pass as if Boeser is still skating up ice. But now, he’s out of position, and the puck goes in between him and the defender, and the Jets take over possession.

It wasn’t filled with this type of effort from Boeser. But just wanted to highlight some examples of what Tocchet was talking about in Boeser’s game.

Who knows if he was given a reminder to ‘go’ or if he noticed his missed opportunity from his previous shift, but Boeser doesn’t let it happen again.

This happens quickly, but as soon as Boeser sees Höglander skating toward the loose puck, Boeser is quickly off the screen and skating up ice. Höglander doesn’t have a clear passing lane to get it to Boeser, but he sends it high enough in hopes Boeser can skate onto it.

That pass went a little too far, but at least the idea was there, and Boeser went up ice.

The Burnsville, Minnesota native followed that up with something he talked about pre-game. Boeser mentioned the team had to shoot more and they had to get traffic to the net.

After getting a skate on the Jets’ pass attempt in the neutral zone, Elias Pettersson takes control and heads back into the offensive zone. As the trailer, Boeser receives the pass, skates into a shooting lane and fires one on net. While it didn’t fully get through, the deflection finds itself in the traffic at the front of the net, and it causes chaos.

This didn’t result in a goal, but eventually, those bounces are going to lead to a threatening scoring chance.

Well, that aforementioned monkey was taken off his back late in the first period here.

Tocchet mentioned pre-game that Boeser just kind of waits around on the power play. But earlier on this power play, Boeser was moving around the natural zone nicely to give different looks on the man-advantage. He continues that by going to the front of the net and then parking himself in the bumper spot.

Being in that position, Boeser opened up the cross-ice pass to Lekkerimäki, who then drew in the forward supposed to be covering the point. This leaves Boeser with an uncontested look at the Hughes shot to get a tip on it. And he makes no mistake about it to score his 19th of the season and first in 12 games.

And would you just look at that excitement – or should I say relief? – after potting that one.

Just when the Jets thought they were walking into the first intermission down one, Boeser had other ideas.

Coming off the bench with under 20 seconds remaining, Boeser is in prime position to intercept the pass in the neutral zone.

Boeser does defer and take the puck back, but he had no choice because of the Canucks forward deep in the zone.

After sending a pass back to Tyler Myers, Boeser picks up speed down the right wing, heads north and is on the attack. He receives the pass and performs a quick give-and-go with Pettersson to draw the attention away from a streaking Höglander. Boeser fires a quick pass to the front of the net for Höglander to get a stick on, and it squeaks by Connor Hellebuyck with just two seconds remaining in the opening frame.

That’s the kind of player Tocchet was talking about. Don’t hesitate, don’t wait, just go up ice. That’s what Boeser and his linemates needed to do with the seconds dying down in the period, and they were rewarded because of it.

Now, that’s the level of excitement after a goal Canucks fans want to see more of.

Just a small clip here, and it’s more highlighting the entire line than just Boeser.

Pettersson puts his head down and skates hard after the puck on the forecheck. After a bad pass from Hellebuyck, Pettersson’s speed overwhelms the Jets defender with the support from Höglander. The puck is sent around the back of the net, where Boeser continues to chase after it. He then lands a hit along the boards and forces Hadyn Fleury to ice the puck.

That persistent forechecking from this line led to an offensive faceoff for the Canucks.

The Höglander-Pettersson-Boeser line was at it again later in the period.

With Höglander in a board battle deep in the zone, Pettersson and Boeser come gliding in on either side to be able to support on both sides. The puck goes behind the net to Boeser, who runs out of space and has no choice but to defer back to the point.

Sorry, Tocchet, but that ended up working out in this case.

Marcus Pettersson unloads a shot toward the net. Boeser doesn’t wait. He goes to the net and is able to find the loose puck before Hellebuyck can cover it and sends it through his five-hole and in the net for his 20th goal of the season and second on the night.

Boeser showed two examples of him not waiting by helping behind the net on the forecheck and hitting the net after the shot, and he got rewarded for it. This isn’t going to be a highlight reel goal that Boeser’s going to put on his trophy wall, but this was, to a tee, what his coach wanted from him.

Now that’s a Boeser smile.

We fast forward to the third period, which was mostly filled with the Canucks playing defence and protecting the 5-2 lead, but there are some clips to show.

This is another example of not waiting and just going.

Pettersson loses the foot race but wins the puck as he chops the puck past the Jets defender, with Boeser already heading up ice. That springs Höglander and Boeser on a two-on-one.

You could tell Boeser was feeling it, as once they crossed the blueline, he tapped his stick on the ice to call for the pass. Höglander obliged, and Boeser rips a shot – which was unfortunately blocked. But showing the confidence to call for the puck and rip his vintage shot was something Canucks fans haven’t seen in a while.

This is less about Boeser moving north up the ice but just a nice play.

Now, it’s hard to tell whether or not Boeser turns his head to notice Pettersson streaming up ice or if Pettersson called for the bank pass. Nonetheless, the pass off the boards is just far enough for Pettersson to skate onto it and send a one-touch pass back to Höglander’s tape.

The play results in a robbery from Hellebuyck, but this was a creative play from a line that’s building chemistry, and it all started with the great pass from Boeser.

Boeser still has a long way to go, but indications from this game are that he got better as the game went on. His confidence looked to be returning, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he scores again. Boeser has been a bit of a streaky scorer this season. His last two goals came in a span of three games, and during the span of four games at the end of December, Boeser tallied six goals.

The Canucks are going to need Boeser to continue this momentum and contribute to the goal department moving forward. The club is in a competitive battle for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, so it would be a perfect time for last year’s 40-goal scorer to round back into form.