Canucks make it close, but Lightning show why they’re class of league

Welcome back to reality.

That was supposed to be the storyline Saturday. But Brock Boeser has a way of changing everything.

It was fair to wonder how far the Vancouver Canucks are from being an annual post-season participant — let alone a Stanley Cup contender — when it looked like the sobering news was being delivered at Rogers Arena Saturday night, with the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning holding a 3-0 third-period lead.

Three years to get back to the playoffs? Probably. How many more to get back to 2011 territory? Who knows?

After a pair of encouraging victories, the Canucks found out how the elite go about their business and then did something about proving that they just might shorten the time span to be competitive on a consistent basis.

Not only did the Lightning prove for two periods why they’re atop the National Hockey League standings — and a good bet to win it all — it was the manner in which they are built, and their dynamic game predicated on speed, skill, forechecking and a lockdown defence.

Two early goals allowed the club to play a road game where protecting the lead was of paramount importance as opposed to proving why they’re averaging a leaguebest 3.55 goals per outing.

And with the NHL’s top point producer in Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos tied for fourth, Victor Hedman a Norris Trophy candidate and Andrei Vasilevskiy a Vezina Trophy favourite, the embarrassment of riches was something the Canucks simply couldn’t match until they showed some third-period moxie.

Here’s what we learned as the Canucks fell 4-2:

BOESER CAN GET YOU FROM HERE TO THERE

For everything that’s happening up front with the Lightning, they have six defencemen who are at least six-foot-two, and a trio who measure in at six-foot-five, sixfoot-six and six-foot-seven and weigh more than 220 pounds each. What did that mean?

It meant getting to the net and establishing position was going to be tough. It meant trying to catch the Lightning, and Bo Horvat did that on a third-period breakaway that was thwarted. Troy Stecher did dangle in the slot and found Thomas Vanek for a wraparound goal, so at least there was no quit.

And that looked like a nice story. Then Boeser did his Boeser thing.

The Calder Trophy contender bolted through the neutral zone and ripped home a wrister to turn what looked like a sure loss into a nail-biter until the Bolts ended the suspense with a penalty shot goal.

After all, the Lightning seem to have it figured out about where the game is going and how it should be played. With seven forwards who measure less than six-feet — and a trio at just five-foot-eight — they are a fast-skating menace in the offensive zone and the collective speed allows them to get on top of defenders in a hurry and negate the transition game.

Look at it this way. Tampa Bay selected speedster Brayden Point in the third round of the 2014 draft, and he already has 20 goals this season.

NO POWER IN THEIR PLAY

The only real chance the Canucks had was to draw penalties to allow the league’s sixth-ranked unit to keep them in the game.

However, they didn’t have a power play until the final seconds of the second period, which spoke of an inability to drive the offensive zone — and especially the net — with any level of authority or consistency.

And on their initial power play, they got a gift when Anton Stralman’s soaring clearing attempt caught the far-end netting to provide a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:50.

Aside from Henrik Sedin hitting the crossbar and Boeser getting away a couple of blasts from the high slot, there wasn’t much.

CAPTAIN DEFLECTS ANOTHER PLATEAU

Henrik Sedin gave a brief wave from the bench when his 1,300th career game was acknowledged.

He was already concerned about his club digging a two-goal hole that came because the Canucks couldn’t get out of their own zone.

It resulted in a Chris Kunitz slot deflection of a point shot to open scoring. And when the Canucks couldn’t transition the puck four minutes later, Jacob Markstrom got beat between the pads on a Hedman wrister from the slot before six minutes elapsed.

“When you reach these even (career game) numbers, it’s always something to talk about,” Henrik said before the game.

“It’s not something I put a lot of thought into. Tonight is a big game. It’s perfect. They might be the top team in the league and a good test for us coming off some big wins.”

He was right.