BOSTON – Like Babe Ruth raising his bat towards the outfield bleachers, Vancouver Canuck Brock Boeser pointed Saturday night in Boston to call the winning shot. For teammate Liam Ohgren.
“Boes kept looking at me and pointing at Liam,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said, explaining his surprising shooter selection in the seventh round of a marathon tie-breaker against the Boston Bruins. “At that point, it was going to be Liam or Marco (Rossi). But Boes is pointing at Liam, so I’m looking at (assistant coach) Brett McLean, and he says: ‘Well, Liam’s been hot.’”
Yes, he has.
The 21-year-old National Hockey League rookie, who did not have a point in 18 games for the Minnesota Wild before his inclusion in the Quinn Hughes trade, beat Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman with a delayed deke to finally end the shootout and give the Canucks a 5-4 win.
Vancouver is 4-0 since last Friday’s gigantic trade, and, besides his shootout winner
— on his first attempt as an NHL player — Ohgren has two goals and an assist during the four wins.
“I am always thinking shot, I think, at first,” Ohgren said of a shootout attempt in which he smartly disguised his deke before dragging the puck past Swayman. “And then if I don’t see anything, I’ll go either way. It was my first penalty shot here in the NHL, so nice to get that going.
“I wanted to make a good first impression. It feels like I’ve done that, and I’ve just got to keep working and, yeah, keep building on this.”
Ohgren’s impression Friday included a third-period deflection goal from Marcus Pettersson’s point shot as the Canucks executed a faceoff play, and a first-period setup of Max Sasson that allowed Vancouver to escape the opening 20 minutes tied 1-1 despite being outshot 13-4.
Another Swedish rookie, Linus Karlsson, started that play by knocking Boston defenceman Hampus Lindholm off the puck, then scored himself in the second and third periods on nice plays from Evander Kane and Rossi, another of the Wild boys.
And after Boston defenceman Andrew Peeke’s point shot hit the post and bounced in off Kevin Lankinen to tie it 4-4 with 3:44 remaining in the third period, Vancouver’s goalie stopped six shots in overtime and then stared down all seven Bruins in the shootout. In his career, Lankinen has been beaten only six times on 51 breakaways in the NHL’s tie-breaker.
If you need a thumbnail summary of how much the landscape has suddenly shifted for the Canucks since the Hughes’ blockbuster, consider Saturday night’s win came on two goals from Karlsson, one each from Sasson and Ohgren, another from Ohgren in the shootout, and a 42-save (plus) night from Lankinen, the backup goalie who had lost six starts in five weeks since last winning on Nov. 16.
“Just sticking with it,” Lankinen said of the four-game win streak, which in this one road trip has generated as many points as Vancouver amassed the previous month. “We don’t really have any magic tricks. I wish I could reveal one, but we don’t. I think the past few games we’ve been playing really well. Tonight was a battle, but sometimes that’s what it takes to win games in this league.”
The magic, of course, is the mix of players energized by the Minnesota Three, as well as the clarity the massive trade brought regarding the Canucks’ future.
“They’re coming in with good confidence, with good swagger, and that’s what we like to see,” Lankinen said of Ohgren, Rossi and defenceman Zeev Buium, who had the Canucks’ best scoring chance in OT. “They’re all great guys, and we have a great group of guys in this locker room, and I’m happy we’ve been able to stack a few wins here and hopefully keep the momentum going.”
“They bring the energy when you’re playing back to back,” Foote said of the youth movement. “You know, our veterans early in the game weren’t quite there, but I understand that because there’s been a lot going on lately and they’ve been carrying a load for a long time. It’s nice to see that, when maybe they weren’t at their best in the first period. . . some of these young guys were pushing the pace for us, and that’s being a team.”
Sasson was just rewarded with a two-year, one-way contract extension by Vancouver. Management better find one also for Karlsson, another late-blooming graduate of the Canucks’ championship minor-league team, who has seven goals in 32 games while averaging a little over 10 minutes of nightly ice time.
“It’s nice, it’s fun,” Karlsson said. “I think I’ve played pretty good lately, too, even if I haven’t scored. So it’s nice to see the puck go in, for sure.
“We have a lot of energy and I think that’s helped us a lot. I think everyone is contributing in a way that’s helping the team. That’s huge for us right now. We’ve got some new, fresh guys in here that have been really good for us. And, I mean, they have helped the group a lot. We’ve come together.”
“They’re really good, all the young guys,” veteran Conor Garland said. “They’ve probably been our best players on this trip. They’re pushing the pace and playing well on both sides of the puck, scoring big goals. I’m really happy they’re a big part of the team. Winning is enjoyable.”
Four points out of a playoff spot as they left Boston post-game, the Canucks have a chance to sweep their five-game, pre-Christmas road trip Monday in Philadelphia against Rick Tocchet’s Flyers.
ICE CHIPS – Energy winger Nils Hoglander was a healthy scratch Saturday, five pointless games into his return from pre-season ankle surgery. With the Canucks halfway through three games in four nights, Foote said he wanted to manage Hoglander’s workload after being off so long due to injury. . . In his return to the lineup after sitting out three games, centre Aatu Raty was noticeable with eight hits and a 9-3 faceoff record. . . Top centre Elias Pettersson missed his seventh straight game with an undisclosed injury that has been considered day-to-day since the trip began last Sunday.
