Alone atop the standings, Canucks prepared to keep proving skeptics wrong

VANCOUVER – It wasn’t a silent night, and it certainly wasn’t a holy one, either, for the Vancouver Canucks.

But in overcoming the distractions of the holidays and a looming three-day break, and playing through their mistakes to beat the San Jose Sharks 7-4 on Saturday, the Canucks did something that no Canadian team since the 2005 Ottawa Senators has managed, sitting alone atop the National Hockey League standings at Christmastime.

Canuck players won’t all make it home for Christmas, but they should all be happy. None of them could have dreamed two months ago that this team, out of the playoffs in seven of the last eight seasons and constantly doubted in this one as a legitimate contender, would be 23-9-3 and hit the holiday break on a nine-game points streak (7-0-2).

“We don't talk about it, but as competitive human beings in the NHL, we love shoving it back at people,” Canuck centre J.T. Miller said of skepticism, mostly analytics-based, about the team’s validity. “That feels good for us. We really have done a great job of staying day to day. I love that a lot of us don't feel good about the way we played today. We've created a high standard for each other. Our accountability so far as a group and as a staff, it has raised our standards. We've been talking about developing one. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer. It's a long season; there's going to be ebbs and flows. But we should feel good about where we're at.”

“When we started 10-2 or whatever it was,” defenceman Ian Cole said, “everyone was like: ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ But we think we have a really good hockey team. We don't think that we're playing above ourselves right now. We think that we can maintain this level of hockey. Now, shooting percentage and save percentage and analytics and this and that, like, are there things we can improve? Yes, absolutely. Do we think we can make those changes? Yes. But I love where we are. And I love how we've gotten here. And if we can keep that chip on our shoulder — the underdog that no one believes in — even better.”

With the Vegas Golden Knights’ 4-2 loss Saturday to the Florida Panthers, the Canucks are two points clear of the field in the Presidents’ Trophy race. On winning percentage, the Canucks are tied for second behind only the New York Rangers, who are even with the Knights at 47 points but have played three fewer games then Vegas and Vancouver.

No one has played more games than the Canucks. In the franchise’s 54^th year, Vancouver has never had a .700 winning percentage at the Christmas break. Even after a month-long scuffle that saw the team go 6-6-0 after its surprising 10-2-1 start, the Canucks are on pace for 115 points.

“We put in a lot of work in the summer and camp and to say that we're at the top of the league right now, I think we should be very proud of that,” Miller said. “The break's coming at a great time. You can tell we look tired right now. We've played a lot of hockey games, more than a lot of teams. I'm just glad that we can go into Christmas on a good, solid note. We weren't at our best tonight, but we're finding ways to get big points and set ourselves up.”

Before the first game of the last road trip, coach Rick Tocchet admitted he’d rather his players not look at the standings. He probably wishes they not look at the calendar, either.

They lacked focus at times on Saturday, as if dreaming of a white Christmas and the chance to finally decompress with family and friends. Several players had seats booked on a red-eye flight back east for after the game.

But they executed just well enough to outscore some uncharacteristic sloppiness against the Sharks, who erased an early 2-0 deficit and were down just 5-4 in the third period when Jacob MacDonald skated away from Canuck winger Andrei Kuzmenko to score on a rebound with 6:44 remaining.

But Pius Suter scored for Vancouver on a deflection 2:27 later and Quinn Hughes clinched the Canucks’ league-leading 22^nd regulation-time victory by shooting up and over the Sharks’ roster and into an empty net with 13 seconds to go.

Vancouver is 20-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes.

Kuzmenko, who went from the press box to the first line after being healthy-scratched by Tocchet the last two games, scored goals 5:17 apart in the opening seven minutes. Miller and Elias Pettersson each had a couple of assists and Hughes had a goal, assist and 11 shot attempts.

But continuing a trend, it was players from the bottom half of the lineup who contributed key goals. Besides Suter, fourth-liners Nils Aman and Sam Lafferty scored goals 93 seconds apart after the Sharks had tied the game, and Dakota Joshua, on another superb pass by Conor Garland, made it 5-3 after Fabian Zetterlund had brought San Jose back within a goal.

“I think it feels good, but no one's truly satisfied here,” Lafferty said. “Our focus hasn't really been on (the standings) the whole time. We've kind of been pushing every day so there's that level of discomfort, getting out of our comfort zone every single day. It will be nice to enjoy some time with family here, but I think that's kind of where the focus has been.”

The Canucks can refocus for Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. They have 47 games remaining to keep proving people wrong.