Testy Roussel drags his Canucks mates into the battle lines
Feisty forward Roussel knows what it takes to make playoffs and shares that with teammates
Some dogs bark. Some dogs bite.
The pit bull that is Antoine Roussel does both and for all the good or grating that provides on any given night, he usually makes a lasting impression. In an improbable run to a possible Western Conference wild-card playoff spot, the Vancouver Canucks winger has sunk his teeth into being more than a Derek Dorsett clone.
He’s the emotional barometer. He measures the pressure of a game, drags teammates into the fight and doing the right in his mind can lead to the wrong result. But he’s also like an assistant coach on the bench and a voice of reason in the room. Old school in a new-age game.
On Sunday, Roussel took an early tripping minor and then a third-period high-sticking penalty with the Canucks locked in a 2-2 struggle with the Detroit Red Wings. However, he also bolted from the penalty box and was stopped on a breakaway before deflecting a Jake Virtanen shot for the winning goal.
On both occasions, there was plenty of chirping.
The Red Wings stuck it to him on the failed breakaway.
He got them back with a few choice words as he breezed by their bench after an animated stick-breaking goal celebration. Did he drop some F-bombs?
“I can’t tell you that,” said Roussel. “I felt like I let the team down with two questionable (penalties) on myself and I wasn’t happy. And then I was pretty happy to score.”
That’s the give-and-take with Roussel. He leads the NHL with 98 penalty minutes and most infractions with 29 — 23 minors, four misconducts and two majors — but with 19 points (5-14) in 45 games he’s also on pace to eclipse a career-high of 29 points he established with the Dallas Stars in the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons.
Factor in missing training camp, the pre-season and the first four regular-season games after an off-season concussion during an informal Aug. 30 skate, and the undrafted 29-year-old freeagent acquisition is carving out a critical niche with the Canucks.
It wasn’t always pretty. He struggled early to regain conditioning and took too many reaching penalties and had to be told to curb that bothersome aspect of his game. And he has. However, reputation dictates that Roussel is rarely going to get the benefit of calls. He has four minors in his past three games, after going a stretch of five without an infraction.
Do the referees keep a more watchful eye on him?
“Seems like it — I don’t know,” Roussel shrugged.
“It’s a fast game and they have to make a call quick. But it’s not easy to ref.”
Roussel also draws penalties and whether aligned on the top line or in a shutdown role in the bottom-six mix, he brings penalty-kill value in a pairing with Loui Eriksson.
The Canucks have had perfect penalty-kill nights in six of their past seven outings, with a 14-for-15 effort after a run of allowing five power-play goals over four games.
Roussel has been in the playoffs twice with the Stars in 2014 and 2016, and unlike many players who don’t pay attention to what is said or written about them — or check the standings — Roussel is all in on keeping tabs.
He knows the Canucks have 52 points and are in wild-card spot contention.
“You kidding me? We have to watch and know where we’re at,” he stressed.
“To know where you’re going, you’ve got to know
where you’re at. We had to win (Sunday) to stay in the chase. (Our goal) is not ‘hopefully making the playoffs,’ but ‘making the playoffs.’ ”
Getting there depends on several factors.
Jacob Markstrom must continue his remarkable run of steady netminding, with just three regulation losses in his past 16 games.
A healthy and motivated Elias Pettersson must be an even-strength dynamo and the difference to ignite a struggling power play that has gone 1-for-19 in the last seven outings. And there can’t be an 11-game gap between goals for Bo Horvat and now a 12-game run since Jake Virtanen last scored.
The Canucks also need better starts because their 36 first-period goals are fourth-lowest in the league.
They’re improving in giving up the most third-period goals, but have still surrendered 60, the fourth-most.
The Canucks also must understand what these games mean, to advance the development of young players and resist the temptation to be buyers at the Feb. 25 trade deadline.
“It’s resiliency,” Roussel responded when asked to capsulize the season.
“Our centres are good and that’s the sign of a good team. We just have to find ourselves, be happy with our roles and understand that we’re a playoff team. We’re right there and we’re excited to have everybody healthy.”
Maybe Markstrom put it best:
“I like our group — it’s tight and we play for each other,” he said. “I’ll let you (media) guys speculate, you’re really good at it. We can beat any team on any night, but we’ve got to be better for 60 minutes and have more even performances.”