VANCOUVER — You don’t necessarily need to lose players to lose your identity.
Identity is always shifting, sloshing around like water in a bucket that is always liable to tip if you let it. But then, if you’re the Vancouver Canucks and dress an opening-night lineup that includes seven new skaters since the end of last season, well, that’s a lot of new hands on the identity.
The Canucks did not look like themselves on Wednesday when they allowed a three-goal lead to collapse as the Calgary Flames rallied to beat them 6-5 in overtime at Rogers Arena. That was not the Rick Tocchet-coached team that won 50 times last season, allowed six or more goals in only three of 82 contests, and was 42-1-4 when carrying a lead into the final period.
Tocchet barely recognized his team and raised the issue of identity after the game.
“We were heavy in training camp (with a focus) on a lot of transitional stuff, and I was a little worried about this because we got away from our identity,” he told reporters. “The play without the puck was not good. I mean, that’s a year-and-a-half-ago hockey. Our identity, we’ve got to be careful here because we are a good team without the puck.”
They’ll need to be a much better team without the puck on Friday when the Philadelphia Flyers, every bit as hard-working as the Flames, visit Rogers Arena.
It was the Canucks’ visit to Philadelphia in Game 3 a year ago, a 2-0 Vancouver loss that could have been 6-0 and was arguably the team’s worst performance of the season, that provided Tocchet an early come-to-Jesus moment for his players.
The Canucks were much better next game in a 4-3 loss in Tampa, then found their template in a 5-3 win against the Florida Panthers that started an 8-0-1 run that set the course for Vancouver’s 109-point season.
At 2-2 through four games last fall, that Oct. 21 game in Sunrise, Fla., was the closest the Canucks came to falling below .500.
With one loser point from Game 1, maybe Friday will be the nearest they come to a losing record this season. But with all these new players — fast forwards Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Daniel Sprong and Kiefer Sherwood among them — the Canucks need to play with the same priorities they did last season.
For all the training camp and pre-season emphasis on being quicker in transition and more aggressive offensively, for all the goal-scoring talent the team has added, the Canucks have no chance to repeat last season’s performance when they are as careless defensively and easy to play against physically as they were in the second half of Game 1.
No wonder the focus during Thursday’s practice at the University of B.C. was on five-on-five zone play and protecting the middle of the ice.
“I mean, to me, it’s a learning lesson,” Tocchet said after practice. “It was plain as day (Wednesday night). Like, you know, game management. Honest to god, we didn’t go through a guy. That’s one thing I’m disappointed in; I don’t like when guys circle. I think we were circling. It was 4-1, people thought it was going to be an easy night. And there are no easy nights in the NHL.
“Listen, even championship teams will make mistakes, and they’ll get out of their identity every once in a while. It’s (about) how quickly can you get back to your identity? Tomorrow night. . . if you’re talking top-three teams for hard work, then Philly’s top three. They work their asses off, so we’ve got to match that effort and learn from last game.”
Asked about the heavy turnover on the roster since last season, veteran centre Teddy Blueger noted that identity doesn’t automatically transfer from one year to the next regardless of how many or few players return.
“I think we’ve established. . . a certain bar to which we’ve got to keep each other accountable,” he said. “But that’s not automatic. So I think to find that identity, consistency is key — and doing it for a full 60 minutes each game. It’s just finding that consistency and holding each other accountable. It’s a valuable lesson, I think, as long as we heed it and apply it.”
Senior defenceman Tyler Myers said identity is “not something you just have at the top level all the time. You have to come in each and every day and work on it in practice to make sure that you keep it at the level that you want it. You know, I think the way the game went last night will, honestly, ultimately be better for us in the end. I think it’s going to force us to get into the details more, get into our habits and get into them quicker.”
The Canucks culled their pre-season roster to get down to their NHL group for only their final pre-season game one week ago. Tocchet mentioned Thursday the need for “reps” for the newcomers, although centre J.T. Miller declared the previous night that roster churn is not isn’t an excuse for failing to play to your staples.
“There’s no adjustment there — not for will and compete,” Miller said. “That shouldn’t matter.”
But Tocchet also noted after practice that half of the 10 teams that played Wednesday allowed five or more goals. His point: there is a lot of loose play at this time of the season as teams dial in systems and try to rediscover what makes them successful.
“I’m not going to go in after the game and rip the guys,” he said. “I mean. . . they know, they owned it. And it’s like, you know, let them steer the ship here. Yeah, a little bit of a stinker, but we’ll bounce back from it.”
ICE CHIPS – Depth defenceman Noah Juulsen practised Thursday on the third pairing alongside Derek Forbort. It appears Vincent Desharnais is coming out of the lineup one game into his two-year, $4-million free-agent contract after he and Forbort went minus-two against Calgary. . . Centre Pius Suter and winger Arshdeep Bains, recalled from American League, are also options to go into the lineup. . . Kevin Lankinen is expected to make his Canuck debut in goal after rookie Arturs Silovs allowed six goals on 26 shots against the Flames. Tocchet said he told Silovs: “’Listen, if you’re going to be in this business a long time, those games are going to happen.’ He’s a really good goaltender. I mean, he’s fine. We’ve put him in tough spots, and he’s responded, so I’m not worried about him.”. . . In his 10 trial-by-fire playoff games last spring, Silovs never allowed more than five goals.