VANCOUVER — Defenceman Carson Soucy reminded reporters on Thursday that Vancouver Canuck players had a lot of self-belief before the Stanley Cup Playoffs began. But less than three weeks in, what the Canucks have added is proof.
The Edmonton Oilers, who were trampled in the third period by the Canucks in Wednesday’s stunning 5-4 win for Vancouver, are in their seventh National Hockey League playoff series in just over two years. Half of the Canucks have played only seven real playoff games.
But the experiences they have packed into those seven games have made the Canucks a much stronger, more confident and resolute group. Their beliefs have been validated.
Through six games of their opening-round win against the Nashville Predators and Game 1 of their Stanley Cup quarterfinal against the Oilers, the Canucks have:
• churned through three goalies and kept winning
• scored twice in 12 seconds of the third period to win Game 1 against Nashville
• dominated Game 2 but lost
• were dominated in Game 3, but won
• scored twice with their goalie out late in the third period before winning Game 4 in overtime
• calmly closed out the Predators by winning 1-0 on the road in Game 6, scoring with 99 seconds remaining
• overcome a 4-1 deficit to win Game 1 against Edmonton, holding the potent Oilers to 18 shots, none of them by Connor McDavid
Even in springtime, nothing has grown more than the Canucks in the last 2 ½ weeks.
“Yeah, there’s a lot,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet told reporters during Thursday’s “day off” for the Canucks. “I think the experience these last two weeks has kind of accelerated (the growth). There’s been two weeks of different types of games. And I think that’s how you grow from experience. ‘Oh, we’ve been there. Oh, yeah, we saw that. We’ve done this.’ Small sample size, two weeks, three weeks, whatever. But that’s why I have a lot of respect for the Tampas, the Colorados, because they’ve seen it for years. They’ve done it for five years. We’re getting a crash course and guys are starting to get it.”
Ten of the 22 players who have dressed for the Canucks since the regular season ended had never experienced a full-throttle NHL playoff game.
“It helps getting this experience,” Soucy said, “and I think it helps just kind of some of the games we’ve played — coming from behind, holding leads — we’ve kind of experienced a lot of different ways to win. And I think that’s huge early in these playoffs for us.”
HELLO IRMA
The only Canuck who grew up in Alberta, Soucy said his childhood school, the eponymously-named Irma School in the village of about 500 people a two-hour drive southeast of Edmonton, had a “Jersey Day” on Wednesday.
“They had a big Oilers section, a Vancouver section,” the 29-year-old said of the K-12 school. “Little more Oilers jerseys that I would have liked to see, but I understand that that’s hard for lifetime Oilers fans to give up to root for the Canucks this post-season. But I’ll be taking notes on who’s wearing the Vancouver jerseys. Obviously, I’ve got a lot of relatives back home repping the Canucks jerseys. A little, maybe, extra motivation (for me) but I understand. . . the Oilers mean a lot to that part of Alberta.”
Soucy played his earliest hockey for the Irma Aces in Sutter country. The slightly bigger town of Viking, which gave the NHL the six Sutter brothers, is a half-hour up Highway 14 from Irma.
ARTY CRAFTY
Despite rookie goalie Arturs Silovs having the poorest of his four games since being recalled from the American Hockey League, the 23-year-old has “earned the right to play,” Tocchet said, without actually naming his starter for Game 2 on Friday night.
Presumably, the Latvian will be coming off a great night’s sleep after telling Canucks staff on Thursday that he could really use some blackout blinds in the apartment he has been lodging in since his unexpected promotion to the NHL.
“We’ve got to get him blackout blinds,” Tocchet said. “He’s staying at an apartment, and I guess there’s no blackout blinds. So that’s what I’m dealing with. He’s been here three, four weeks, and he decides ‘I need blackout blinds.’ Like, get them now, let’s go. I’ll do the blackout blinds, Clarkie can do the other stuff.”
Clarkie is goaltending coach Ian Clark, who has been one of the most valuable members of the Canuck organization this season.
PALM PIRATE
Tocchet was sheepish when asked about exuberantly high-fiving a couple of Canuck fans as the coach walked from the bench to the dressing room at the end of Game 1.
“Yeah, I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “I usually kind of try not to do that stuff. I don’t know, I saw a couple of fans. Feel sorry for that one guy; I smacked his hand pretty hard. But I usually don’t do that. I try to be even keel. Like, I hate the roller coaster ride. Yeah, I just let it out, I don’t know.”
THE SOUND OF PLAYOFFS
Soucy on the Rogers Arena crowd as the Canucks scored three times in five minutes of Wednesday’s third period: “The adrenaline was going for hours after the game last night. That was probably the loudest building I’ve ever been a part of — after that fourth and fifth goal. Even on the bench, you couldn’t hear a thing. Next whistle, couldn’t hear a thing still. And I think we just did a good job of harnessing that, I guess, of just enjoying it. I mean, the crowd being down 4-1, they didn’t give up. We didn’t give up. It was awesome.”
PETEY PROGRESS
A never-ending source of discussion in Canucks Nation, Elias Pettersson’s playoff goal-less streak continued against the Oilers. But the $92.8-million-US centre had an encouraging game, finishing with three shots on net and registering a season-high four hits.
Tocchet rewarded Pettersson with 8:41 of ice time in the third period, using the 25-year-old to both chase and protect the lead.
“He’s a very underrated two-way hockey player,” Tocchet said. “He’s going to score; I don’t want him squeezing the stick. I saw him try to hit there in the third period, he ran a couple of guys, he blocked that shot the last minute. I mean, there’s enough good things for him to build on. He should go into tomorrow with confidence. Yeah, I played him nine minutes. I have confidence in the kid. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t play him. I think he knows that, you know, I’ve got his back, he’s got my back. That’s the way it works.”
