GAME ON
— Canucks need answers —
VANCOUVER — Less than a week into the NHL’s pandemic-condensed regular season, a sense of urgency is already swirling around the Vancouver Canucks.
A disappointing swing through Alberta left the squad with a 1-3-0 record as key players struggled to perform and special teams faltered.
“Even in an 82-game season you don’t want to start this way, let alone in a 56 (game season),” Canucks left-winger Tanner Pearson said on a video call Tuesday.
“You really gotta think about turning things around quicker than dipping your toes in the water and letting things play out. You’ve got to chomp at the bit. Right away, we’ve got to turn the boat around.”
What awaits the team back in Vancouver isn’t any easier — the Canucks are set to host the Montreal Canadiens (2-0-1) in a three-game series this week. Tonight’s game is Vancouver’s home opener.
The Habs’ rejigged roster — including right-winger Josh Anderson, defenceman Joel Edmundson and former Canuck Tyler Toffoli — has been clicking early. The team comes to the West Coast on a high, having swept two games against the Oilers in Edmonton after an overtime loss in Toronto to open the season.
“Everyone knows (the Canadiens) got better in the off-season,” said Canucks coach Travis Green. “They’re a deep team throughout their lineup, they’ve got a lot of speed in their lineup. And they’ve got off to a good start.”
Against a deep team like the Habs, there’ll be an even greater emphasis on each line playing well, the coach said.
Where Montreal has excelled to start the season, Vancouver has laboured.
The Canadiens’ effective penalty kill kept the Oilers from scoring on all 10 power-play chances across a two-game series. The Canucks have allowed seven goals on 21 penalties in their first four games.
Montreal has the fourth-best power play in the league, capitalizing on 40 per cent of its chances with the man advantage. Vancouver is one of eight teams that has yet to score on the power play, despite getting 15 opportunities so far.
“We just haven’t played well enough. That’s the bottom line. If you don’t play well enough, you don’t win in the NHL,” Green said.
“You can’t have half your team playing the way they should and half your team not. We need everyone to play better. And certain players need to raise their game, they know that. And I’m confident they will.”
One Vancouver star looking to improve is Elias Pettersson. After raking in 66 points (27 goals, 39 assists) in his sophomore campaign last season, the 22-year-old Swedish centre has been limited to a single assist this year.
“I think I can do a lot of better stuff out there. I think I’m maybe not playing with the best confidence right now,” he said Monday after a 5-2 loss in Calgary.
Pettersson’s frustration was evident in the loss as he took two uncharacteristic penalties, including a slash on Sean Monahan that resulted in a US$3,987.07 fine from the league.
He sat in the box with his head hung low. “It’s very frustrating now,” Pettersson said. “When we’re not playing our best hockey, we can’t sink that low. We’ve got to find a way to get back to our game and not just let them roll over us.”
There have been flashes of positivity for the Canucks.
Vancouver started the season with a dominant 5-3 victory over the Oilers on Jan. 13, and put in a solid performance in the first period of Monday’s loss. The Canucks held a 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.
Green wants to see his group play that style of game for a full 60 minutes.
“Individually, we need to have probably some better efforts out of some players. That’ll help,” he said. “Our special teams haven’t been great. That’s going to help. And we’ve got to stay out of the box. And that’s going to help.”
TORONTO — Connor McDavid collected the puck in the neutral zone and moved right as he crossed the offensive blue line.
His eyes and body language suggested he was waiting for a teammate to join the rush. The captain of the Edmonton Oilers had other ideas.
McDavid quickly cut back to his left on Morgan Rielly, leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman flat-footed and in his dust as he turned on the after burners. Then to top things off, the game’s best player finished with a lightning-quick backhand forehand move as Toronto chased shadows.
That jaw-dropping goal sequence that capped a four-point night on Jan. 6, 2020, resulted in audible gasps inside Scotiabank Arena — back when fans were allowed to watch live — and even brought Wayne Gretzky to his feet.
The pandemic has provided plenty of heartache, but one silver lining is Canada’s seven NHL teams being grouped together in the North Division for an abbreviated 2021 season. And that means a steady diet of marquee matchups, including today’s first of nine meetings between McDavid’s Oilers and Auston Matthews’ Leafs.
“They’re special talents,” Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “It’s fun, in our case, to coach Auston. But to even just be on the bench for those games is great.
“Throughout the division there’s elite talent on every team. It’s very exciting to have to go against these guys.”
Matthews and McDavid spent time during the off-season down in Arizona training alongside some other NHLers preparing for a schedule they no doubt knew would see them face off a lot more than the usual two meetings of a normal campaign.
“Only positive stuff can come out of that,” Matthews, who scored 47 goals in 2019-20, said of those on-ice sessions. “I’m not sure I can say that I figured (McDavid) out because I don’t think anybody has or will.”
The Leafs, who have wins in three of their first four games, will try to at least contain McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — no slouch himself as the reigning Hart Trophy and Art Ross Trophy winner — Wednesday and again Friday in back-to-back Toronto encounters.
The Oilers, meanwhile, are looking to build on last regular season — and not their disappointing performance during the summer restart — that saw them accumulate the best record among Canadian franchises before the coronavirus forced the suspension of the schedule. But they should also be in a foul mood after dropping three of four at home to raise the curtain on the current campaign, including consecutive 5-1 and 3-1 losses to Montreal.
“We’re still trying to figure our team out,” Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. “We’ve got to get our competitive levels up. It will be good for our team to go on the road.”
The Oilers’ power play was one of their strengths last season, finishing atop the league with a success rate of 29.5%, but went a combined 0 for 10 and gave up two shorthanded goals in those losses to Montreal.
“That’s an area that should be one of our strengths,” Tippett said. “It wasn’t the last two games.”
The Leafs have shown a lot more defensive cohesion in their last two, a 3-2 weekend victory in Ottawa and Monday’s 3-1 home win against Winnipeg, but know McDavid and Draisaitl pose a unique challenge.
“They’re going to be a very hungry team,” Toronto winger Zach Hyman said. “We’ve got to be ready for them, ready for their speed. You have to be aware when you’re on the ice with those elite players, and make sure you’re aware where they are and what your role is.”
Leafs blue-liner Travis Dermott, who played with McDavid in junior, said the idea — easier said than done, of course — is to defend as a five-man unit.
“If he’s skating from their end down low with speed against our defencemen, it’s going to be pretty tough,” he said. “We rely on our forwards to try and get in his way at least little bit, make him take a little bit of a longer route to get to us. That’s been our game plan so far dealing with speed.
“Hopefully we can continue getting in front of guys.”
Dermott has had the unique opportunity to see both McDavid, who was second in NHL scoring last season behind Draisaitl, and Matthews up close in his still-young career.
And having them share this much ice in 2021 will be a treat.
“They don’t come in just to do their job,” Dermott said. “They come in to get better and make everyone else around them better. When I was younger I’d always want to go against Connor because I knew that was going to make me better.”