It was hard to tell what was bigger news Thursday night, the return of JT Miller to the lineup or the fact the Vancouver Canucks put in a full 60-minute effort.
Yes, the Canucks entire game white unicorn effort has finally been captured, as Vancouver had their best home game of the season in the form of a 4-0 victory over the Florida Panthers. Not once was Kevin James used in a video to pump up the crowd and urge them to come from behind late in the game, a rare feat as of late. Nor was Nearly Neil needed to reassure the fans that all would be okay leading into the third period.
Did Fin dress up as Freddy Mercury in what many are calling the worst thing to happen in sports history? To put it bluntly, yes.
But aside from that, the Canucks did the unthinkable on home ice by scoring two goals in the first period and never looking back.
Make no mistake about it: the return of JT Miller was a welcome sight for a team that has struggled to find consistency. His two assists in 14 minutes of ice time as he eased himself back into the lineup was an unexpected bonus from a player who hasn’t played in weeks. But it was a total team effort that allowed the Canucks to ride into the sunset with two points in hand.
You know how you know it was a total team effort? I am going to rant and rave about how good Max Sasson and Mark Friedman played in this article. Like, Max Sasson was the difference in the first period, and I am not even making that up. If housing was even remotely affordable, I would tell him to find an apartment in Vancouver because if he keeps playing like this, he’s never going to have to pretend to drive back to Abbotsford ever again. Castle Fun Park might have just lost one of their best customers.*
*I have no knowledge or facts that Max goes to Castle Fun Park, but I want to believe he does.
You know how you know it was a total team effort? I haven’t even mentioned Kevin Lankinen’s shutout yet. The best part of the post-game media scrum was when Dan Murphy asked Kevin if he knew about the nickname “Blankinen,” to which he professed to not know, except a sparkle in his eye made me believe he knew all along, and of course, also spends weekends at Castle Fun Park.*
*Once again, I have no knowledge or facts about Kevin’s love of Castle Fun Park, but I choose to believe he does.
You know how you know it was a total team effort? Not once did Rick Tocchet berate the media for asking about Elias Pettersson or his love of Castle Fun Park.* In fact, zero questions were asked about Petey, which is either a sign that everyone is scared to ask about EP40 ever again or, more likely, because the team played so well that EP40 didn’t matter.
*Again, no facts, but you can’t tell me EP40 doesn’t clean up at the batting cages.
Now, was it an exciting game? Not really. But was it an efficient game? You’re goddamn right it was.
If we’re being honest, a perfect Rick Tocchet game involves as little excitement as possible. Forecheck hard, score a couple of goals, protect the GOTI, and then score a few more when needed. Don’t get fancy with your rushes and your east/west hockey; just protect your zones on the ice and take the offence when it appears.
You want final proof that it was a total team effort? Quinn Hughes didn’t have to carry the team on his back to drag his team past the finish line. I don’t have a Jeff Paterson stat of doom on hand where it showcases something insane like Quinn Hughes held the puck for 97% longer than any of his teammates, was part of 84% of the scoring chances, and played 53 minutes, a new modern NHL record.
Instead of having to be Thanos with all of the Infinity Stones, Quinn got to take the glove off and play a pedestrian 22 minutes on the night.
Now, will the Canucks continue to build on this game? We shall see. Home ice has not been friendly to the team this year; we all know that.
But in terms of cliches, softballs being our best friend in sports media, “Can you guys build off a performance like that?” at least has a game that it makes sense to ask that about it.
Best you reap what you sow
Much like Kevin McCallister, if you leave Carson Soucy home alone, he will burn you:
I don’t think many people had “Carson Soucy snipes home the first goal of the game” on their bingo card, but that’s where we find ourselves right now.
And it’s to Spicy’s credit that he’s rounded his game back into form. In the post-game scrum, Rick Tocchet spoke highly of Carson’s recovery after a rough start to the season and how he’s settled back into more of the Soucy we saw last season. And let me tell you, a reliable Soucy is a vital part of this team’s ability to field a functional defensive unit.
Obviously, goals are a nice bonus from #7, but getting back to the point where the coach can trust him to eat up almost 22 minutes of ice time is what they need from him. Sure, throw in a random crosscheck into Connor McDavid’s face here and there, and you can’t forget where you came from, but Soucy has to make sure his identity is the “super boring efficient reliable guy,” aka the Dan Hamhuis, on this team.
If this team was a family, Soucy has to be the stepdad, the guy who stepped up when Nikita Zadorov left to get cigarettes and never came back. But he also knows he isn’t your father so he won’t tell you how to live your life, but he ends up being the first guy you ask for a ride after you’ve had too much to drink because you know he’ll be there for you without judgement.
Because when Soucy is locked in, you can get these kinds of performances where you aren’t asking Quinn to play 28 minutes in a game, and you can balance the ice time with a lot more efficiency.
You’ll also notice that Max Sasson got the primary assist on this goal, which, along with his assist later in the game, gives him four points in nine games on the season. He got this assist much how he got his other apples: entering the zone with speed, driving the defence back onto its heels, and then stopping up and finding an open man. His quick cutback on that rush is what allowed him to find Soucy entering the zone with time and space.
Now it’s a small sample size, and hockey is a hell of a drug, so something you say today can make you look like an idiot tomorrow. I learned this lesson when I screamed about the team losing Aaron Volpatti on waivers because I was sure it was a horrendous mistake, how can you throw away the next Raffi Torres.
That being said, I have to say Max Sasson intrigues me a whole hell of a lot. Not in a “This kid is never playing in the AHL ever again” kind of way, but just in terms of how he plays the game. I think he can carve out a solid run in the NHL if he keeps this up.
Comparing him to another call-up in Arshdeep Bains, I have seen more from Max than I have from Arshdeep. I know Bains has the NHL shot, and things can change, and he can evolve his game, and he’s still young, etc. But Max’s game just feels more intriguing to me. His ability to use his speed is great, but it’s also how he holds onto the puck longer and tries to find open teammates that I like, especially on a team that has struggled to produce offence.
It was actually something Sasson referenced himself after the game, where he said he feels like he can take an extra second with the puck and make a play and not panic, as he’s gotten more comfortable playing games in the NHL.
And it’s not like holding onto the puck comes at the expense of defence. I think Max is making smart offensive decisions, and even when he makes mistakes, he uses his speed to make sure he’s trying to stay on top of the puck. Not once did he attempt to use my turnover strategy of coming to a stop and looking left and right while simultaneously handing out bewildered looks while also making “wtf” gestures with my arms. Instead, he just skates at the guy with the puck.
All of which is to say this was the best NHL game of Max’s career. The first period it truly felt like he was making plays every time he was on the ice.
Best making your Mark
Erik Brännström remained in exile for yet another game, but Vincent Desharnais also did not dress for the game. This meant we got the Mark Friedman/Derek Forbort pairing, whom your hard-of-hearing Grandpa thinks of as ‘Bark Friedman and Derek Yogurt.’
And while I still think there is a long-term spot in the lineup for Brännström, I also know the bottom pairing of any team is a work in progress and will often involve rotations in the lineup.
So rather than get worked up over the Canucks not putting in a potential puck mover in Brännström on the ice, at least take solace in the fact that Mark Friedman played like a real a**hole against the Panthers, and I mean that in the best possible way:
I actually really liked Friedman’s game at the start of last year before he, too, was exiled to the AHL for what I can only assume was due to an unintended slight against House Lannister.
He has a bit of that Ian Cole in him where he knows his limitations and plays within them. He’s the guy who puts in $20 at the slots and calls it a night no matter what after he’s spent $20.
And with that Ian Cole-style game comes a guy who plays hard around his net, doesn’t go out of his way to throw a huge hit but has no problem finishing one offered up to him, and seems to take pride in trying to box guys out of the crease – something this team dearly needs.
In short, his performance on Thursday felt like a guy trying to keep his spot in the lineup, which is pretty much how he needs to play every game. It felt like after every whistle Mark was up in someone’s grill, letting them know that it wasn’t going to be an easy ride for the night. He played a**hole hockey, and it was great.
Best they’re more guidelines than rules
Look, sometimes you let things go until an undetermined amount of time passes by, and then you start calling random tripping penalties; that’s just how it works. Sometimes, “you gotta let the players decide the game,” and sometimes, you have to hand out sticking infractions like Tim Peel bet on the games. Sometimes, Colin Campbell might have angrily e-mailed your boss, so maybe one team needs to be punished more than another.
So sure, could these have been penalties?
Yeah, but that would ruin the fun of calling tripping penalties on the same plays later in the game.
You’ve got to keep people on their toes.
Best slow burn
You want another sign that the Canucks played really good Tocchet GOTI hockey? I don’t have a lot of clips from this game. Winning sells, I get that, but you know what doesn’t sell in terms of gifs?
  • Clips of efficient board work
  • Clips of dump-ins
  • Clips of jamming up the middle of the ice
  • Clips of keeping the team to the outside
  • Clips of working hard to get the puck past the blue line
  • Clips of Tyler Myers holding out his hand like Owen Grady to keep opposition players from getting too close to Kevin Lankinen after the whistle has gone
All of this is to say Vancouver played really well Thursday, even if that doesn’t exactly translate in a visually sexually appealing way. Less Salma Hayek and more durable dependable Ikea chair for a reasonable price.
But if you want some clips of Corolla Garland forechecking hard to cause a turnover and then spinning a few times before setting up a teammate for a shot? I’m your guy:
Best vroom vroom vrooom
I hear that Max kid is pretty fast:
I could almost hear him picking up the golden mushroom along the boards before jetting off towards Rainbow Road.
His speed actually reminds me of Jeff Tambellini, which is a comparison I don’t hand out lightly. We all know Tambo had the greatest Canucks backcheck of all time, and tell me you don’t see a bit of that speed in Max’s game.
Now, I realize there is a big difference between “greatest backcheck of all time” and “Hey, that kid has some real Tyler Motte energy,” but I remain firm in my belief that Max will continue to show more as the season progresses.
Best Max factor
Speaking of Vidal Sassoon energy, here is Max almost scoring his first NHL goal off the rush:
Max chose the perfect blend of “pass or shot” where the puck either gets tapped in by Danton Heinen or goes into the net, so he can claim either one afterwards. “Totally looking for the pass or rebound there bro” or “Totally picked corner bro.”
I just assume he would say “bro” after every goal explanation, I don’t know why.
Danton Heinen ends up touching the puck last, so he was the official scorer, but Max admitted after the game that he thought for a split second that it might have been his goal.
How good was Max’s first period? He had five scoring chances for, compared to zero against. That, my friends, is called winning your matchups, and that’s how you stay in the coach’s good books — that and complimenting the coach’s pants.
Best big boy hockey
Noah is correct, Mark Friedman once again showcased his a**hole hockey front and center, this time by landing a crunching hit on Eetu Luostarinen:
See, who wants to play against that guy? Sometimes, you just want a nice, easy play along the boards, but here comes Mark, taking things too seriously trying to send you through the glass, even though you both have to work in the morning.
And as that shift continued, JT Miller drove the puck into the zone and made a nifty pass over to Brock Boeser, who took a shot and then let Jesus take the wheel:
Clearly, a bit of luck is involved in that goal, but we just saw Brock miss a wide-open net last game, so sometimes you just embrace the hockey gods not spitting in your face and shoving you down an elevator shaft.
The takeaway from this goal is that even a rusty JT Miller has the elite hockey offensive ability to help create offence, which is why he was very much missed by this team.
And yes, Elias Pettersson had zero points and didn’t create much in this game, thus confirming your suspicions that only one of JT Miller or Elias Pettersson is allowed to play at a high level at a time.
Best Kevin Blankinen a tale as old as time
Kevin made some key saves in this game, but for the most part, his team was dialled in front of him.
Like, one of the best chances Florida got in the entire second period was when they found the trailer for a shot in the slot:
Even then the Canucks were all there to collect the rebound and get the puck out of the zone.
You know how you know Kevin Lankinen had an easy night? Not once did Kevin Woodley have to come over and explain to me the improbability of a save Lankinen just made. Instead, we just sat and watched in silence, both of us soaking in the fact that the better Kevin was coasting to a shutout.
Best Quinn-tessential hockey
In case you were panicking about the fact you hadn’t seen a Quinn Hughes clip this far into the article, worry not, for he still exists and he is still better than you at hockey:
Quinn Hughes plays hockey like how I play EA Sports hockey, and that is absolutely wild to me. He’s me out there just trying to use one player to beat the entire team, and he’s actually doing it. He just effortlessly skates the puck into the zone, then cuts back to draw in two players so he can find the open man.
You want him to create a shot on net with ease? Here you go:
I’m pretty sure two Panthers just said, “F*** this,” and just stopped skating at one point. Quinn is moving left and right so quickly that your best bet is to probably fake an injury and lay on the ice until the bad man goes away.
And it’s really easy to get too used to this, it is. I think sometimes Rick Tocchet’s GOTI system relies on Quinn Hughes far too heavily, and one day we are going to have to talk about how close the Canucks would be to Tocchet’s old Coyotes team without Quinn Hughes.
But for now, just remember to enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that Ed Jovanovski would do one rush in an entire season like Quinn Hughes, and we almost built statues for him. Hughes does five or six of those in a game.
Best don’t question the system
Okay, hear me out, he wasn’t trying to do too much:
See, this is what I mean when I say the Canucks were locked in.
Sure, Tyler Myers tried to dangle a guy, and it failed. Maybe you want him to rim it around the boards there instead.
But the key part here is that he didn’t pull off the deke and still got back defensively. He stayed with his man and the puck the entire time and made sure to clean up his own mess.
On a real Chaos Giraffe night, Tyler would have followed that turnover up by sprinting back down the ice, superman diving to try and deflect the puck and taking a penalty, all while belting out the lyrics to Espresso, before getting up and demanding someone fight him, only to turn and see a small child in the crowd looking disappointed in him. This would have sent him into an existential crisis about what his life has turned into, leading to a career change where he exclusively repairs wooden dolls from the 1920s. “Every doll has a story” he’d tell his customers, a smile in his eyes as he pulled out his toolkit, “and it’s my job to get them talking again…” he’d whisper in an unsettling way, leaving enough ambiguity to make you uncomfortable.
So no, Tyler Myers was not trying to do too much; he was doing just enough.
Best signs of anger
You know who doesn’t like being down 3-0 in a game? Jesper Boqvist:
Noah Juulsen touched Jesper, but that was very clearly an “oh whoops, you pushed me so hard I flew into your teammate and belted him in the stomach, tee hee” move.
Carson Soucy wasn’t even looking Jesper’s way as the period had come to an end, which is why he got flattened like he did. I think Noah’s glove grazed Jesper, which gave him the go-ahead to launch himself into Soucy.
“How could I avoid Soucy, bro, you shoved me so hard bro.”
I just realized I make every hockey player sound like Vince Russo in my head, that’s what’s going on bro.
Best just out there having fun
You know what you do when the Canucks are playing efficient hockey that isn’t visually stimulating? Just grab a clip of Quinn Hughes skating:
Ah, that’s the good stuff.
Best Kevin planting his flag
My favourite part about Kevin’s game is even when he’s scrambling in his crease, he never gets too chaotic, and he always manages to calm things down quickly:
We’re in the timeline where Thatcher Demko is recovering his superpowers, which in a perfect world means we are in line for some great goaltending splits from the Canucks. If Demko plays like he can, and Kevin continues like he has, there’s going to be some fun times ahead.
It reminds me a bit of when Montreal had Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak, and all you could do was enjoy it while it lasted. Because let me tell you, with his third shutout of the season, and if his numbers continue the way they have, Kevin is going to get absolutely paid this off-season.
Which also sets up the ever-popular sports scenario of one-and-done seasons in which a player leaves after a peak performance, and people wistfully talk about you forever.
“Remember Kevin? Man he was good. I wish he was still here.”
Best exaggeration 
The Panthers’ best chance to ruin the shutout was near the end of the game when they got a small breakaway chance:
Nikko Mikkola – who I naturally assumed was a cell phone – tries his best to deke Lankinen, but Kevin doesn’t bite at all. Not once does he believe anything cousin Nikko is throwing his way, which I have to assume just deflated Mikkola emotionally. Not even the offer of bowling would cheer him up at this point.
Even the follow-up shot from a pass behind the net does absolutely nothing to fluster Kevin. I’m not even sure if he moved for it. He just sort of stared at the follow-up shot as if to say, “Oh, that was it? You’re done now? Okay.”
We’re going to miss you, Kevin.
Best first string quarterback
Jake DeBrusk iced the game away on a late power play, giving him 14 on the year and officially putting him in the top 20 for NHL goal scorers:
Jake just goes full Dumpster Droese here and cleans up the trash, as one does. We’ve said it before and we will say it again, the guy has the best blue paint game on the Canucks right now.
I like how the puck went in initially, but even after Sergei Bobrovsky tried to hide the evidence, the puck just sort of found its way back into the net again.
And that was it. Game over, man, game over.
I wish I had more clips to show, but I don’t. The Canucks were just too damn efficient. They played too well. They won too well.
Now, all they need to do is bring that same heat to the returning Nikita Zadorov and friends on Saturday.
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