EDMONTON – Like an architect who sees his impressive building nearly finished after years of construction, general manager Jim Benning looks proudly at the Vancouver Canucks because he sees talented players who put winning above all else.
“They’re such good young players, but they want to win, right?” Benning said Friday of the Canucks’ young core headlined by Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson and Bo Horvat. “This is their first experience being in the playoffs, but at certain times we’ve seen them take over games. They do the right things for winning. That was my biggest fear as a manager. You can draft good players, but part of building winning teams is making sure you develop them correctly so they do the things they have to do to win.
“I know I spent maybe a little more money (on veterans) to help those young players learn how to play the right way. But once they learn the right way to play and get this playoff experience, they’re going to do the right things. They’re always going to score a lot of points in this league. But there’s a difference between putting up a lot of points and not having success as a team, and putting up maybe not as many points but doing the right things to win.”
The Canucks, picked by very few last fall to even make the National Hockey League playoffs, have improbably forced Game 7 tonight against the formidable Vegas Golden Knights and the chance to move into the final four of the Stanley Cup tournament.
In the 4-0 win in Game 6 on Thursday, Hughes flew all over the ice, scoring one goal and setting up another, while Pettersson didn’t register a point but was crucial to the victory. Pettersson jammed the front of the net on two Canucks goals, which Knights goalie Robin Lehner never saw, and also hustled back to disrupt Mark Stone’s shot on a short-handed breakaway. Horvat’s empty-net goal was his playoffs-leading 10th.
“Our guys, they work and compete every shift of every game,” Benning, who has been watching his team inside the Edmonton bubble, said. “They’re playing for each other, playing together. We’ve had different guys step up through this whole process. Everybody is playing hard every night, every shift.
“We’ve worked hard for the last six years and to see the things that we’ve tried to do come to fruition a little bit, it’s exciting. I’m happy for our fans. With everything going on right now with the pandemic and stuff, I’m happy our fans in B.C. have a team to cheer for and hopefully we can bring some happiness in their lives.”
It’s a shame there are no fans in the arena to see this.
The Canucks have already won two playoff series the summer of COVID-19, after winning none since 2011, and if they beat the Knights on Friday night will advance to the conference final for just the fourth time in franchise history.
In each of their three runs to the final, in 1982, 1994 and 2011, they relied almost entirely on one goalie to carry them. But an injury last weekend to starter Jacob Markstrom forced the Canucks to turn to backup Thatcher Demko, who hadn’t started a game in nearly six months, but has stopped 90 of 91 Vegas shots in two must-win games to get his team to Game 7.
“I’m not as surprised as everybody else,” Benning said. “This is the course of action as you go through in the playoffs. You’re going to run into injuries. And in this environment, we’re playing every other night. Tonight it will be five games in seven nights. Marky played really well for us, helped us along, and when he was unfit to play, Thatcher came in and stepped up, too. That’s what you need to win in the playoffs.”
Asked if Demko’s amazing week has changed any plans or priorities for Vancouver goaltending – Markstrom is eligible for unrestricted free agency and Benning has said numerous times he wants to re-sign him – the Canucks architect said he is thinking only about Game 7 and those discussions will occur when the season is over.
“I think each Game 7 (has) a life of its own,” coach Travis Green said. “I think with a younger group, there’s a lot of excitement. A lot of belief in our team. I think at 3-1, a lot of people probably didn’t think we’d be in this position. But within our group, I think there was confidence we could get it to this point. And they’re excited to play tonight.”
