NEWARK, N.J. — Given the chance to decide a game the Vancouver Canucks needed to win to keep their playoff dreams from fading to nothing, Jonathan Lekkerimaki said he wasn’t nervous about getting picked for the shootout Monday night.
“I was excited,” the 20-year-old rookie said.
Youth.
With a child-like twirl of his stick as he picked up the puck, then a flick of his wrists as he sent it past New Jersey Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom, Lekkerimaki gave the Canucks an improbable 4-3 shootout victory that nudged the desperate team back within three points of a National Hockey League playoff spot with 11 games remaining.
A healthy scratch in three of the last six games, Lekkerimaki also scored from the slot from Derek Forbort’s pass in the third period for the Swede’s first NHL goal since Jan. 6.
The Canucks trailed twice in the final period but forced overtime when Pius Suter continued his career season by jamming in the rebound from Quinn Hughes’ deflected shot with 36 seconds remaining in regulation time, though the goal was later awarded to Conor Garland.
In OT, goalie Thatcher Demko, playing for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury on Feb. 8, made the save of the game against Paul Cotter on a New Jersey two-on-one. Demko then stopped three of four Devils in the shootout before Lekkerimaki decided the tie-breaker in the fourth round with his first shootout attempt in the NHL.
After weaving right, Lekkerimaki angled back across the slot, hesitated briefly and then slung a shot just inside the left post. It looked like a shot the American Hockey League callup might have used in other shootouts.
“Can’t tell you; maybe after the season,” he deadpanned, although Lekkerimaki is so soft-spoken his humour in English is still difficult to gauge. “I try to go to my strengths to shoot the puck and, yeah, take what he gives me.”
And the stick twirl as he approached the puck — the same twirl with which he began an overtime shift at three-on-three?
“I don’t know what that is,” he said. “Just superstitious.”
Well, goodness knows the Canucks could use some luck.
-
-
NHL on Sportsnet
Livestream Hockey Night in Canada, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, the Oilers, Flames, Canucks, out-of-market matchups, the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the NHL Draft.
After losing 5-3 to the New York Rangers on Saturday despite outshooting the home team 39-12 at Madison Square Garden, the Canucks faced the Devils at the Prudential Center without first-line centre Elias Pettersson and linemate Nils Hoglander, who were sent back to Vancouver on Monday and will miss the second half of Vancouver’s six game trip.
The Canucks are already indefinitely without second-line centre Filip Chytil due to a concussion.
Which means not only is Suter, who has matched his career-high with 36 points, now the first-line centre, but checking centre Teddy Blueger is on the second line and the third-line pivot is Nils Aman, who has one goal in 15 games this season. Freshly-recalled minor-league centre Aatu Raty has two goals in 22 NHL games.
“We’re going through some adversity with some guys out,” senior defenceman Tyler Myers said. “A chance for other guys to step up, and guys are working hard — working hard to play the right way. Demmer played an unbelievable game coming back after a while, and we showed a lot of resilience.”
“I just said it to Mysie, I’ve never seen a team that’s so pesky and resilient coming back,” Canucks winger Kiefer Sherwood said. “Because I was on the other side of it last year in Nashville. It just seems the team finds a way to come from behind. It’s a lot of resolve from a lot of guys, and it’s just a good character.
“We’ve been hit with a ton of adversity this year. And it shows, like I said, the character of the group to continue to persevere. We’ve just got to continue to stick with it and find ways.”
Not all losses are created equal, and the way the Canucks manufactured Saturday’s defeat despite dominating the Rangers was one of the most crushing setbacks of the season. It got worse Sunday when the St. Louis Blues, the team Vancouver is chasing for the last wild-card spot, won their sixth straight game.
The Canucks, who scored a tying goal with 3.7 seconds remaining in St. Louis on Thursday, are the only team to take a point off the Blues during their winning streak.
Monday’s game inflated morale immensely, but Vancouver still probably needs to win another seven or eight times, starting Wednesday against the New York Islanders.
“If we just play our game and find a way to win games, the rest will take care of itself,” Sherwood said. “That’s all you can ask for. We’re just focused on getting two points. It doesn’t matter what anyone else does. I mean, it does, but it doesn’t, right? You can only control what you can control. So if we just continue to get two points and stack them up, then we’re going to get help along the way. We’re going to find our way in.”
They’ll have a better chance if Demko stays healthy and can somehow build back his Vezina Trophy-caliber form in the next three weeks.
He made 22 saves on Monday, beaten by unlucky bounces on the first two New Jersey goals before Demko left a rebound for Erik Haula to put the Devils up 3-2 with 6:35 remaining in regulation.
“Maybe not 100 per cent yet,” Demko smiled, “but, you know, that’s how it goes with coming back (from injury). This time of year, there’s not a lot of practices, and things can change quick with lineups and whatever else is going on. You’ve just got to kind of trust yourself, trust the guys are going to play a good game and they did tonight.
“You want to come in and contribute. The guys have been doing so well competing every night, and you certainly don’t want to come in and contribute the wrong way. So, a huge fight for us, coming down to the last minute there and getting the extra point. So again, just super proud of the team.”
The Canucks are missing a lot right now. But they’ve got plenty of effort and belief.
ICE CHIPS – Arturs Silovs backed up Demko because Kevin Lankinen, who has been struggling with either illness or an injury, got another full day off. Coach Rick Tocchet said he wasn’t sure if Lankinen will be available for Wednesday’s game. . . The thinness of the lineup up front was reflected in ice times: 23:02 for Suter, 22:58 for Brock Boeser, and 21:48 for Jake DeBrusk. And defenceman Quinn Hughes merely logged another 32:13, put six shots on a target and nearly won it in overtime after bursting past the Devils on breakaway.
