Canucks vs. Flames Game Day Update: It's not Cirque du Soleil ...

'When the puck is in a scramble, you're supposed to find the body and then the puck. We're concentrating on where the puck is. Just turn around and take a guy.' — Rick Tocchet on defending better

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Published Nov 12, 2024  •  Last updated 19 hours ago  •  5 minute read

Leon Draisaitl finishes off a wild scramble in front of Kevin Lankinen on Saturday at Rogers Arena. Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck /THE CANADIAN PRESS

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When/where: Tuesday, 7 p.m., Rogers Arena

TV: SN Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650

The buzz: The defence should never rest. You can’t outscore your problems.

Those well-worn axioms are echoed by Rick Tocchet. The Vancouver Canucks bench boss knows bleeding odd-man rushes, being lax on the back check, suspect in positioning and boxing out is a recipe for disaster.

Putting on a show is what Cirque du Soleil is doing across from Rogers Arena with its acrobatic extravaganza. Being prudent without the puck is what the Canucks are supposed to be doing on a more-regular basis.

It’s why they concentrated on positional play a year ago at training camp and in the pre-season. It was the foundation for a defining 27-9-5 home-domain dominance and 23-14-4 road resilience last season. A 109-point campaign and nearly advancing to the Western Conference final was supposed to be the stepping-stone to this season.

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However, the Canucks are tripping over themselves. It’s early, but a 1-2-3 record at home is alarming because the confusing club is 6-1-0 on the road with a pair of three-game win streaks to show for forgetting fatigue and embracing systems.

Whether it was adding four free-agent wingers in the off-season, or believing they would pick up where they left off, the Canucks put an accent on picking up the pace and doing more off the rush. That’s OK if there’s collective attention to defending.

Newcomers Vincent Desharnais and Derek Forbort were supposed to be big third-pairing deterrents. Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers weren’t expected to have sour shifts, but their numbers aren’t pretty.

So, what does this mean for Tuesday against the Flames? The Canucks dropped a 6-5 overtime track meet to Calgary in their Oct. 9 season-opener at home. A 3-0 lead was overshadowed by coughing up four-straight goals.

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Then again, the Flames hosted the Los Angeles Kings on Monday and will have trouble finding their legs.

“Sometimes, it’s bounces and sometimes it’s technique,” Tocchet said of bothersome back-end play. “We have a habit of puck watching. When the puck is in a scramble, you’re supposed to find the body and then the puck. We’re concentrating on where the puck is.

“Just turn around and take a guy. We have a big defence. Don’t let them (the opposition) through the blue paint in the crease. Let the goalie handle the bouncing puck. That’s a technical thing.

“Sometimes, when the pressure hits, you lose your focus. We’ve got to turn that in our favour.”

The latest: There were two schools of thought for Tocchet to decide his starting goalie Tuesday. One was to give Arturs Silovs, who backstopped a 4-2 AHL win in Abbotsford on Sunday, the net for the first time since Oct. 30.

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The second was to get workhorse Kevin Lankinen back in the cage to regain his ‘A’ game after allowing four third-period goals on a dozen shots Saturday in a 7-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in which he got the mercy hook. Sillovs then mopped up.

“He has got to play,” Tocchet said of Silovs. “He’s had couple of tough starts and a solid effort in Abbotsford and practises is butt off. He’s a possibility for Thursday. “It’s November. We’ve got to give guys confidence and sitting a guy on the bench isn’t confidence. We’ll spot him when he’s ready to go.

“Lankinen deserves to play, but we’ve got to make sure he’s fresh, too. We can’t keep grinding him. Two practices and playing Sunday in Abbotsford was probably too quick a turnaround for Silovs. Lankinen wants to get back in there and I’m not blaming last game on him at all.

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“He hung in there when it was 3-2 and then Edmonton took the game over.”

The hope: Recalled right-winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki, 20, looks comfortable in his first NHL regular-season game with Miller and Pius Suter. He has a great shot and better game awareness that resulted in five goals in his first seven AHL games this season.

“I don’t like to throw too much at him,” Tocchet said following an optional game-day skate Tuesday. “We have some systems stuff we want to give him, but I’m not going to sit him down and overload him. Let him enjoy the day.

“You hope J.T. or Quinn grabs him and tells him how to handle certain situations. The only advice I’ll give him — and we had a 2-on-1 drill yesterday where he tried to pass — and I just said: ‘Just shoot it man. You’re the shooter. I’m not going to be mad if you shoot the puck.’

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The fear: Don’t take the bait and try to put on another show before another raucous home crowd. And starting strong would help. The Canucks have surrendered the first goal in seven straight outings, a sure sign they’re not ready to play at puck drop. They have to dictate and not retreat.

The history: The Canucks swept the 2023-24 season series. In a 4-3 road triumph on Dec. 2, Ilya Mikheyev scored and had five shots, while Sam Lafferty, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes also struck.

In a 4-2 win at home on March 23, Nils Hoglander had two goals, four shots and six attempts, while Elias Lindholm and J.T. Miller had the other markers. And in a 4-1 dominance on April 16 at home, Dakota Joshua, Myers, Hoglander and Miller did the scoring.

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The top guns: Hughes had a day off Sunday to rest after a strong stretch. Seven points in a five-game span (1-6) have vaulted the slick blueliner into the team lead with 15 points (3-12). He also leads in shots with 49. Conor Garland is in a three-way tie with 11 points (4-7) for second, while Jake DeBrusk has scored in three of his last four games.

The wounded: Canucks: Brock Boeser (upper body, indefinite), Dakota Joshua (testicular cancer, day-to-day, IR), Thatcher Demko (knee, week-to-week, IR). Flames: Anthony Mantha (lower body, IR).

The quote: “Some guys were tired and we got home late, but you’ve got to learn to play tired. You shorten your shifts and you stick to the game plan.” — Rick Tocchet on the 7-3 home-ice loss Saturday after sweeping three-game trip.

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The projected lineup: 

Suter-Miller-Lekkerimaki

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Garland

Heinen-Blueger-Sherwood

Hoglander-Raty-Bains*

*(Recalled. Joshua may play Thursday)

Hughes-Hronek

Soucy-Myers

Brannstrom-Desharnais

Lankinen

The prediction: The Canucks take advantage of the Flames struggling on the penalty kill at just 72.3 per cent efficiency (27th) and strike for two power-play goals en route to a 5-2 triumph.

(FAN FORUM: Do you have a specific question for a player? Pass it along to @provincesports and we’ll get it in a future edition.)

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