SERIES SHIFTS TO SINK OR SWIM
Can late changes keep Cup dreams afloat?
Everyone new to the National Hockey League playoffs goes through a learning curve, and Vancouver Canuck coach Willie Desjardins is going through his in a hurry.
Desjardins on Monday: “We’ve played the whole year and (rolling four lines) has been one of the strengths to our game. And now it’s like everybody wants us to change and be something else. That’s who we are and that’s how we play.”
Desjardins on Wednesday: “You’ve got to adjust to the situation. What brought you here doesn’t count. It’s what happens now that’s important.”
After two more losses put them down 3-1 in games to the Calgary Flames, leaving the Canucks staring at a very bad end to what had been a very good season, Desjardins is adjusting. But is it enough? You would require either ignorance or an agenda to argue the main reason the Flames can eliminate the Canucks tonight at Rogers Arena in Game 5 is coaching — that 58-year-old NHL rookie Desjardins is being schooled by Stanley Cup-winner Bob Hartley.
Yes, coaching has been a factor, but one well down the list behind more tangible aspects like the superiority of Calgary goalie Jonas Hiller, the inferiority of Vancouver special teams and the Canucks’ struggle to cope physically and mentally with the Flames’ fierce forecheck.
Still, the stubborn Desjardins is making changes.
Canucks leading scorer Daniel Sedin logged 20:54 of ice time in Game 4 after a shockingly low 15:05 in Game 3, although Desjardins did come out of a television timeout late in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss in Calgary by playing his second line, his third line, then his fourth line before the Sedins’ turn luckily came up again before time expired.
Desjardins changed goalies in Game 4, although he declined Wednesday to confirm that whatever is left of this series will be played by $18-millionUS man Ryan Miller.
Forward Linden Vey was test-flown in Game 4, but will be grounded again tonight to make room for Sven Baertschi, the high-scoring minor-league prospect who should have played against his former team Tuesday.
Inexplicably, Jannik Hansen was still practising Wednesday beside Danny and Hank Sedin on the first line, an experiment tried and failed under three different Canuck head coaches, and the inert second-line duo of Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata continues to be a thing.
And don’t get us started on the defence pairing of Luca Sbisa and Kevin Bieksa.
Some of Desjardins’ moves, like dropping Chris Higgins to the fourth line while inserting Baertschi on the second, are fairly sensational by the coach’s conservative standards.
But, again, they won’t much matter if the Canucks take dumb penalties like they did Tuesday, fail to kill them and continue to play around the perimeter of the Flames’ net instead of attacking the slot to fetch some of the rebounds Hiller sprinkles like seeds in the wind.
Hiller, like his underdog team, has been better than most people here expected. The Flames play to their strengths (like moving the puck quickly in transition to utilize their speed), compensate for the weaknesses (like collapsing around their goal to block shots and dispose of Hiller’s leftovers) and possess, in new forwards Sam Bennett and Michael Ferland, the two-biggest X-factors in the series.
They do not yield anything easily. Yet, the Flames are not the 2012 Los Angeles Kings nor even the 2013 San Jose Sharks. When these big, brawny, deeply talented teams had the Canucks down 3-1 and 3-0, respectively, those first-round series were over.
The polar ice cap and airplane smoking sections had a better chance of making comebacks than the Canucks.
But against the Flames, it seems possible. At least, winning Game 5 tonight seems possible, then we’ll go from there.
Remember, this is a peculiar version of the Canucks, a team that produced its most impressive results this season when they were most needed but least expected — often on the road with depleted lineups against formidable opponents.
As Desjardins noted hopefully: “There’s been lots of times this year where people said: ‘Well, this trip will determine who you are.’ And this one will, and this one will. In all those trips, we found a way. That’s exactly where we’re at now. It’s our turn to step up and show who we are.”
The Flames have made it clear who they are.
Three times in franchise history, the Canucks have trailed a series 3-1 and rallied to win.
Vancouver winger Derek Dorsett did it just last season with the New York Rangers, who survived three elimination games against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round before eventually losing in the Stanley Cup Final.
“Each and every guy in the locker-room believed and we came together, and that’s what has to happen here,” Dorsett said Wednesday.
“You have to have no doubt in your mind that you can win the next game. That’s all that matters — one game.
“Obviously, we didn’t imagine we’d be down 3-1. At the same time, you can’t do anything about what happened in the past. It doesn’t matter if they outhit us, doesn’t matter about the power play and the penalty kill the last four games. All that matters is that we show up tomorrow.”