SEATTLE – It had been so long since the Vancouver Canucks won a hockey game, they’d forgotten what dressing-room music sounded like. On Thursday, finally, it sounded like David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.”
Yes, a song released long before any of their players were born is the Canucks’ victory tune. They waited nearly six months and eight games to hear it again, but earned it by ending a season-opening, seven-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken that was both ugly and gritty.
It was the 600th National Hockey League coaching victory for Bruce Boudreau. The way the season started, we were starting to wonder if that milestone would come with the Canucks.
“Honest to God, I haven’t been thinking about that since about the third game,” Boudreau told reporters after the Canucks became the last team in the NHL to record a victory. “I just wanted to get the win for the guys and let them feel better. And hopefully, this sort of little streak doesn’t happen again.
“It hasn’t set in yet; like, it was a pretty exhausting game. But the one thing I can say is the guys, they let it all out there. I mean, blocking shots. I know it’s difficult when you haven’t won, and you’ve got the lead at the end. But they certainly wanted to win it.”
They wanted it badly enough that Conor Garland celebrated his empty-net goal from his own blueline, which made it 5-3 with 1:25 remaining, like it was a playoff winner.
And after Jaden Schwarz scored six-against-four for Seattle with 29.7 seconds remaining – because, well, this is the Canuck way – Vancouver wanted it badly enough that J.T. Miller got his ankle in front of Andre Burakovsky’s shot in the dying seconds.
The group victory hug was really a healing circle around Miller, as players rushed off the bench to celebrate while one of their leaders lay on the ice in pain.
“A lot of guys were saying ‘get up,’” defenceman Tyler Myers smiled. “It took us longer than we wanted (to win). But we got the first one in a hard-fought battle. They had the momentum; we had the momentum. Like you said, there are things to improve on. But we stayed in the fight and came out in the third the way we wanted to, and we’ll keep building.”
“It’s unbelievable what it took to win,” Miller said. “It’s crazy. It literally took every ounce (of energy) we had to win. In that way, it was a great lesson for us. Winning is hard in the NHL. This is what it takes.”
Losing is merely hard to take, and it got harder as the Canucks dropped to 0-5-2 despite six times starting a third period with the lead or tied.
They started the final 20 minutes against Seattle 3-3, but at 1:16 Elias Pettersson reached behind him as he cruised to the net to locate Luke Schenn’s bouncing point shot and, on the fly, bunt it past Kraken goalie Martin Jones.
By then, the Canucks had already squandered a 1-0 lead in the first period and a 3-2 advantage in the second. But they managed to protect their lead in the third when goalie Thatcher Demko, who was leaky on a couple of goals, made 13 saves and did his best work.
“I saw Schenner was going to shoot it,” Pettersson said of his tie-breaker. “Then it bounced off someone and I just tried to redirect it over the goalie, and it went in. It was kind of like a tip goal. Obviously, we have had some bad bounces against us. It was nice to get one for us today.”
Ilya Mikheyev scored the first two Vancouver goals on broken plays – his first goals since signing a four-year, $19-million-US contract as a free agent in the summer.
The Canucks’ other new Russian, Andrei Kuzmenko, scored his first goal since opening night when he converted Miller’s shot-pass in the second period, on a night as Vancouver’s struggling power play went two-for-two.
There were plenty of mistakes, too, outnumbered rushes for the Kraken and misplays with the puck. Truthfully, the Canucks probably played better in three or four of the games they lost. But they were tenacious on Thursday, and overdue whatever bounces went their way. And the only thing that really matters when you’re 0-5-2 is getting a win.
“Obviously, a lot of emotion in the game,” Miller said. “We’ll take whatever we can get at this point.”
To make sure his team was engaged, Miller fought Seattle defenceman Carson Soucy early in the first period, a minute after Canuck Tanner Pearson challenged Adam Larsson for a heavy hit on Vancouver winger Nils Hoglander.
“Just to hear that music in the room. . . and know how hard they’ve practised,” Boudreau said. “And they’ve never given up hope. It’s only one game but, I mean, the spirit has never been down where we’ve gone into a game and go: ‘Oh, woe is me.’ So I think this was a great reward for them.”
“And the nice thing,” Myers said, “is we get to play again tomorrow night and go for a second.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins visit Rogers Arena on Friday. The Canucks are on a winning streak.
TRADE CHIP – The Canucks announced before the game that they had acquired depth centre Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins in exchange for minor-league goalie Mikey DiPietro and Swedish prospect Jonathan Myrenberg.
A second-round pick in 2017, Studnicka, 23, dressed for just one game for the Bruins this season but has been close to a point-per-game player in the minors since leaving the Ontario Hockey League.
“He’s been in a good organization there in Boston (but) having a tough time to break through,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said. “Hopefully we can give him an opportunity here to see if he can find his potential. He’s an intriguing player and sometimes those guys need a second or third team to get going.”
Allvin said DiPietro, once one of the Canucks’ top prospects but passed by others on the goaltending depth chart last season, deserved a chance to play somewhere else. He had been the Canucks’ No. 3 goalie in the American League.
