Canucks Live: Snackin' on Kraken, Tocchet talks, Lankinen on a roll

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Say what you will about these Canucks, for the most part they’ve shown grit. Seattle had won four in a row but the Canucks went toe-to-toe with them on Monday at Climate Pledge Arena in the Emerald City, showing enough heart (Conor Garland), courage (Kevin Lankinen) and brains (Elias Pettersson) to get two points with a shootout win, thanks to a winning goal from new lad Liam Ohgren and the heroics in goal from Lankinen.

Here’s a selection of grades from Ben Kuzma’s post-game story:

Elias Pettersson (B)

Better releases, two shots, six attempts, won just 33 per cent of draws

Liam Ohgren (C+)

Got the winner, second-line look, looked solid, set up Karlsson goal.

Marco Rossi (C)

Looking more comfortable. Good PP shot in second. Three shots.
Zeev Buium (C+)

Positioning adventures with Myers but great PP rush for Grade A chance. 

The only “A” given out by Ben was to Lankinen, who saved the Canucks long before putting up a wall and blanking the Kraken in the shootout.

Lankinen was the real story. He was brilliant in regulation by turning aside all 16 third-period shots as the Canucks were continuously under siege and managed but three shots in the frame. They were outshot 39-24 overall.

Lankinen has stopped all 17 shootouts he has faced this season and is now 48-for-54 in his career.

“Obviously, really happy with the win and for Liam to get the goal,” said Lankinen. “My confidence has always been good and I just try to keep an even keel. Enjoy the moments when I can help the team win. I’ve put in a lot of work to elevate my level.”

Pettersson’s goal was his 194th in the NHL, passing Alex Burrows on the Canucks career scoring list to move into 11th place.

But, as Ben notes, the real problem here is still scoring goals. Jake DeBrusk watched last night’s game from , up, sorry, the press box, to try to spark his lack of production, but as Ben notes, he’s far from the only one:

DeBrusk isn’t the only one struggling to find his game and find the back of the net.

Brock Boeser hasn’t scored in 13 outings and has just one goal in his last 20 games. He could also get the lineup hook, but the Canucks are struggling to score with the 23rd-ranked offence and what’s missing most is finding chemistry.

It’s why head coach Adam Foote put Boeser with Elias Pettersson and aligned former Minnesota Wild teammates Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren to find something and the results were mixed in a 3-2 shootout victory to snap Seattle’s four-game win streak.

Another notable point was the scrap between Connor Garland and former Canuck draft pick Jared McCann, who scored for Seattle, letting the Canucks know yet again this was one they let get away.

McCann dropped the gloves with Vancouver’s Conor Garland later in the period. It was a prearranged bout, as Garland elbowed McCann earlier.

“Asked him to go and he said, ‘Yeah,’” McCann said. “And that was the end of that.”

The other big story of the day for the Canucks is tonight’s game against Philadelphia, who have often seemed to make a west coast visit here around New Year’s Eve. Philly Hockey Now cite the game in Pennsylvania where the Canucks four game winning streak was snapped as a reason for optimism for the Flyers.

Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet will be on the opposing bench at Rogers Arena for the first time since leaving the Canucks and taking the job in Philadelphia. So far this season, Tocchet and his team have the upper hand on the Canucks, and are 1-0. Can Tocchet get a win in his first game back in Vancouver?

Speaking of the last game, the last time these two teams met, it was the lowest of low-event games for 40 minutes before taking off in the third period. The Flyers broke two trends in that game. First, they pushed the intensity even further in the third period, rather than backing in. The other, well, they got bodies in front and scored all but one of their goals from the net-front area. Oh, and that game was the start of the 4th line surge we are still seeing today.

The Canucks have one of the league’s weaker penalty kills. While the Flyers were unable to score a power-play goal vs. the Kraken, they have another good chance to get the man-advantage unit heating up on Tuesday. On the flip side, Vancouver has the 12th-ranked power play percentage, an area where they outmatch Philly.

This should be a good opportunity for the Flyers to bounce back after a tough loss to start the trip, as the Canucks have the 25th-ranked GF/GP at 2.76, but also allow a third-worst 3.42 GA/GP. 

Tocchet spoke to the media on Monday and Patrick Johnston will have a column on it later today, but here’s what was collected by The Canadian Press from yesterday’s scrum:

“I was only here two and a half years, but it was a lot of fun,” Tocchet said after Philadelphia practised at Rogers Arena on Monday. “And it’s a great place to live and coach. It really is.”

Named Vancouver’s head coach on Jan. 22, 2023, Tocchet guided the Canucks to the top of the Pacific Division and back to the playoffs in the 2023-24 campaign.

He won the Jack Adams award as the NHL’s top coach that season, but what sticks in his mind is how the fans reacted.

“They show up,” he said. “I mean, I remember in the playoffs, them chanting people’s names. I haven’t really heard that much in other buildings. … You know that’s a passionate fan base when they’re screaming guys names out. That was impressive to me.”

The Vancouver faithful have “endured a lot,” added the former NHL power forward. The team has yet to hoist the Stanley Cup over its 55-year history, despite reaching the final three times.

Still, the city continues to cheer for its hockey club, Tocchet said.

“Great fans. I mean, we just went to the second round, we lost in seven, and there’s a party on the streets. There’s like 50,000 people in Surrey (partying in the streets.) That’s how starved they are and what they’ll do to support a winner,“ he said. ”So how can you not love a fan base like that?”

During in his time in Vancouver, Tocchet amassed a 108-65-27 record behind the bench.

The Canucks followed their 2024 playoff run with a tumultuous season punctuated by personnel issues and injuries, and missed the playoffs once again. Days after the final game, Tocchet said he hadn’t decided whether he’d be back with the team come fall.

“All year I’ve barely breathed,” he said at a season-ending press conference. “During the time off, I was at 4 Nations, you’re trying to get this team into the playoffs, dealing with a lot of stuff. So I haven’t really thought of myself. … I do have to take a breath and go through it. With respect to both sides, you do have to go through the process. You have to.”

The Canucks announced on April 29 that Tocchet would not return.

The Canucks have had some “tough breaks” over the past two seasons, Tocchet said.

“Even myself, like last year, woulda coulda, I played that in my mind,” he said.

“I do feel sorry for the fans. This is the last thing you want to see. But I think (the Canucks) have a plan and they’re going to go in the right direction. Obviously, get some young players in and I think they’re going to stick to a plan.”

Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …