Schaller scripting success story after season in the dumps

Is this the real Tim ST. LOUIS

Schaller?

Whoever that guy was last year — overwhelmed at the Whistler training camp, slow to find his footing and a frequent scratch in a 10-point season — he isn’t this guy.

The Vancouver Canucks’ fourth-line winger not only had an off-season resolve to return to the effectiveness that made him a free-agent acquisition, he’s a reason the NHL club sported the top-ranked penalty kill — 15-for-16 and a 93.8 per cent success rate — heading into Thursday’s meeting with the Stanley Cup-champion St. Louis Blues.

“I’ve definitely shown my true colours in what I can do,” said Schaller, who is faster, more feisty and a penalty-kill pairing fixture with Jay Beagle. “I chalked it up to a bad year and it was tough. Especially being on a new team. You try to show off a little bit of what you have and I felt like I never did that.

“It was kind of a comeback summer for me. I worked my butt off to make sure that didn’t happen again. It’s been great and I think I’m doing well.”

Part of it was being aligned with Beagle from the first day of camp last month in Victoria and having a defined role. Last season, Beagle suffered a forearm fracture in the fifth game and was sidelined for 24 games. It took until February for the duo to develop the chemistry that allowed the Canucks to vault from 21st to 11th last season on the penalty kill.

Brandon Sutter and Tyler Motte are usually deployed as the other pairing and Tanner Pearson filled in admirably when Motte missed the first four games with an upper-body injury.

“If you want to be good at it, you have to take pride in it and that’s what all of us are doing,” said the 28-year-old Schaller. “And we’re doing a hell of a job. My mentality is we want them (opposition) to dictate how they’ll play off of what we’re doing versus let’s sit back and wait to see what they’re doing.

“Beags is always getting pressure up ice and I read and react. It gets them frustrated and they start trying different stuff and we’ve been getting pucks out quick, too.”

There’s little glory in penalty killing. There are bumps and bruises and broken bones from falling in front of shots. The biggest satisfaction comes from being the difference is any game.

“You have to understand the penalty kill to be good at it,” said Canucks coach Travis Green. “Part of that is what the power play is trying to do and your position. It’s not standing in one spot and hoping you get lucky. There are only so many guys who are good at it. He (Schaller) is quicker and has found a niche on the PK.”

Schaller didn’t have a point through his first five games.

Last season, he moved up and down the lineup and was eventually scratched after failing to score in his first 23 games. His first of just three goals in 47 games came on March 17 in Dallas despite getting a long look earlier on the left side with Bo Horvat after Sven Baertschi was concussed Oct. 24 in Las Vegas. In the off-season, it was fair to wonder what the Canucks would do with the disappointing Schaller.

But Beagle was convinced the player he saw in tough Eastern Conference clashes while with Washington was going to resurface. “He was hard to play against and I didn’t like playing against him and those are the guys you want on your line,” said Beagle. “I knew he was going to gather himself and mentally, too. I love his game and the type of player and person he is. It takes a special person to come in (motivated) and you could tell right away when we skated before camp even started.”