Canucks returning to identity with 'character win' over Senators

OTTAWA — At the end of the unfriendliest game of the season, Vancouver Canucks defenceman Carson Soucy turned and smiled and waved goodbye to Ottawa Senators forward Josh Norris.

Like, thanks for the two points. See you later. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

“I can’t remember what I was saying,” Soucy said sheepishly a few minutes later in the Canucks dressing room. “I think I’ll leave it at that.

“We liked the battle. Honestly, I think our team had a fun game. Obviously, it helps to win, but we kind of liked that intensity. I think that brought the best out of us.”

The Canucks don’t visit the Boston Bruins until Tuesday. But for the opening of their six-game National Hockey League road trip, Vancouver channelled some of that old Canucks-Bruins fury from a decade ago as they beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3.

They won despite superstar captain Quinn Hughes getting ejected halfway through the first period when his professional cross-check brought Norris to his knees and, unfortunately, the Senator’s face against the boards.

The major penalty and game misconduct meant Vancouver played the final 47½ minutes with just five defencemen and without their best blue-liner in Hughes, their best forward in J.T. Miller (personal leave of absence), top winger Brock Boeser (concussion) and star goalie Thatcher Demko (knee).

And they won as the Senators went all “Slap Shot” in the third period, led by unrestrained and unthinking Hanson Brother Brady Tkachuk, who finally succeeded in abandoning his team by taking a fighting major and misconduct with 6:17 remaining.

It looked like senior referee Jean Hebert and junior partner Carter Sandlak simply got tired of trying to control the game in the third period, and the Senators made a lopsided loss look close by scoring a power-play goal with 3:31 to go — after a stunning non-call on Norris for tripping Soucy as he was going to clear the puck — and another at six-on-five with 43.5 seconds left.

Tkachuk had tried to help the Canucks a few minutes earlier by piling on a needless cross-checking penalty when there was already a delayed slashing call going against Senator Nick Cousins, presenting Vancouver with a full two-minute five-on-three.

It was the Canucks’ worst two minutes of the game, and far less fun to watch than the preceding 90 seconds during the delayed penalties when Vancouver players, led by savvy winger Conor Garland, simply kept the puck away from the Senators to run time off the clock while leading 4-1.

“Turns out we needed it,” Garland said later of the time-wasting.

As the Canucks scuffled through October and November, coach Rick Tocchet regularly mentioned the need for the team to play to its identity. On Saturday, under difficult circumstances, it did.

“I think that was a character win,” goalie Kevin Lankinen said. “I think when we are at our best, we play a direct game, we play selfless, we just move the puck ahead and everybody's chipping in. I think that's what we showed tonight. It was nice to see guys stepping up for each other, too, showing character. I think that's a huge momentum builder for this team.”

“It definitely builds some camaraderie and some character,” winger Kiefer Sherwood said after another one-goal, one-assist, 10-hit night. “Listen, we have a lot of our top guys out right now, you know? But in saying that, I thought a lot of the guys came in and played to their identity and stuck with it. That kind of builds character over time. It's hard to win in this league, but at the end of the day, there's a lot of lessons to keep building on.”

Led by the newly-constructed top line of Elias Pettersson between Sherwood and Jake DeBrusk, the Canucks dominated five-on-five scoring chances and goals.

DeBrusk had two goals and an assist in his best game of the season, and Pettersson continued his excellent recent form with another couple of setups and a statement-hit on star Senator Tim Stutzle early in the game.

Teddy Blueger had the other Canuck goal, scoring from Max Sasson’s second-period pass in the 24-year-old’s NHL debut.

“I thought we played a really terrific game,” Tocchet said. “I thought a little bit Hudson (Bay) rules at the end — a lot of cross-checking in front and stuff. But I thought, for the most part, the guys really handled the pressure of it.

“It's an 82-game schedule. You're going to go through a lot of adversity and stuff, and it's the way you handle it. Like I told the guys: block out the outside noise. In 72 hours, things change. Or 24 hours. And you can control it, so that's the narrative that we talked about before the game tonight.”

After a fairly bleak 2-4 homestand, the Canucks won their seventh straight road game. They needed the win. But equally valuable should be the reinforcement in their ideals about identity, and what they can achieve even when missing four all-stars. 

The game felt like it was worth more than two points.

“One hundred per cent,” winger Danton Heinen said. “We're missing a lot of guys. It got chippy there and we had to kind of gut it out at the end. Yeah, it's definitely one you look back on. Those are the games, the tight games, you need to win.”

Defenceman Tyler Myers said: “It should excite us to know that when we have all those guys coming back and we have a full lineup, if we play this way with everyone in, it should give us confidence within our group. It was a good game for us. It's a good start to a tough road trip.”