VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks have evolved so much, so quickly, that the 72 hours between their game Saturday night and the next one on Tuesday will be filled across the city with angry talk about how the home team was robbed by referees in a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.
Before this season, all that outrage and despair was generally channelled towards the team itself, which didn’t need much help from officials or anyone else in order to lose National Hockey League games.
On Saturday, a too-many-players penalty to Canuck Dakota Joshua while his team was already shorthanded led to the Rangers’ second five-on-three goal of the game and another power-play marker 63 seconds later as New York turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead.
And after Carson Soucy’s slapshot tied it for Vancouver with 4:18 remaining, K’Andre Miller won it for New York on a two-on-one in overtime after Canuck Elias Pettersson turned over the puck when tripped skate-on-skate by Ranger Chris Kreider.
The too-many-men call against Joshua, who jumped on the ice (but did not seem to impact the play) when Pettersson was still well away from the bench on the penalty kill, felt harsh. The skate-on-skate contact in OT, as Pettersson was cutting back on Kreider, looked like a penalty.
But fixating on the officiating in a game when each team had six power plays obscures a larger point: Saturday was yet another test aced by the Canucks as they rebrand themselves under coach Rick Tocchet.
After ventilating the St. Louis Blues 5-0 at Rogers Arena on Friday night, which followed a 3-2 Canucks win in Nashville at the end of a difficult five-game trip, Vancouver was playing its first back-to-back games of the season. And the topper against the Rangers was against a genuine Stanley Cup-caliber team that amassed 117 points the last two seasons, was rested and waiting for the Canucks, and had Igor Shesterkin in net.
And the Canucks surrendered just 13 shots in the first two periods, twice rallied from behind and, when they should have been tired, dominated overtime but couldn’t get a puck past Shesterkin before the Rangers’ Miller put one past Casey DeSmith.
“They had two five-on-threes (goals), and they're a great team,” Tocchet said of the Rangers. “I don't care about that. I'm proud of our team; they played their balls off tonight. A long road trip, we come back and beat St. Louis, (and) I thought we deserved better tonight. We gave them nothing other than the two five on threes. I hope the guys take a nice relaxing day tomorrow because they deserve it.”
The Canucks, a surprising 5-2-1 through eight games, play Nashville on Tuesday.
“It's 82 games, right? You're going to have these type of games where, you know, things happen,” Tocchet continued. “But I like the resolve of the team; I really do. It was 3-2 (for New York) and we could have hung our hat, been mad. But Soucy scored the big goal for us. Fans were into it. Overtime was great. That's the way I look at it right now.”
That’s the way the Canucks should all look at it because while every game counts in the standings, and you never know in October which points missed may make the difference in April, there are bigger things developing with Vancouver’s hockey team.
“I think tonight shows that we are building as a team,” defenceman Tyler Myers, who intercepted Adam Fox’s pass and scored shorthanded to put the Canucks ahead 2-1 at 9:06 of the rollicking third period, said of the challenge met on Saturday. “We had a good win last night and could have come in on a back-to-back tonight a little sluggish. But we told ourselves we've got to push through it and drive our legs. What I really liked about our game tonight is it didn't seem like we tried to open things up. We waited for our chances and it felt like we played the right way. We just have to stick to it.”
The Canucks outshot the Rangers 33-24, including 6-2 in OT, and certainly outplayed them at five-on-five. New York’s goals were scored five-on-three, five-on-three, five-on-four and three-on-three.
“I was just going to say what a test that was for us,” Canuck centre J.T. Miller said. “You know, feeling good about ourselves to come in and play a playoff-bound team... waiting for us on a back to back. I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I think five-on-five we outplayed them.
“It was a fun game. I mean, it was an exciting game. You wish it was more five-on-five play that dictated (the result) but at the end of the day, they were just a little sharper, I guess, on their odd-man advantages.”
Miller was one of the Canuck penalty-killers when Mika Zibanejad scored from a scramble at 13:24 to put the Rangers ahead. After the goal, Miller pointed briefly at referees Jon McIsaac and Michael Markovic and said something to them as he skated off the ice.
Asked post-game for his thoughts on the penalty for too many players, Miller said: “I'm going to keep my foot out of my mouth.”
“Yeah, that's a tough one,” Tocchet said diplomatically. “Listen, I remember I was working for TNT (as a broadcaster) and. . . I said I could ref in this league. I can't ref in this league; it's a hard job. I played 18 years in the NHL and I think I know hockey. (But) it's tough out there. You know, it's bang-bang plays. These guys are working their asses off, the refs. I get it. They're going to make mistakes just like I make mistakes and the players. It's a tough one. I thought it was a good game.”
Another important one for the Canucks, regardless of how it was decided.
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