Even in highlight reel loss to Bruins, Canucks making progress in playing with structure

VANCOUVER – Quinn Hughes was trying to play centre field like Mike Trout, but it’s tough to back up fully when you’ve got to watch for Patrice Bergeron or Brad Marchand coming through the neutral zone.

So when the puck sailed over Hughes’ head and slid into the open net behind him off the stick of Boston Bruin goalie Linus Ullmark, 180 feet away, the Vancouver Canucks became a trivia answer. They’ll be on YouTube forever after Ullmark became just the 13^th goalie in National Hockey League history to score a goal — the clincher in a 3-1 win for the Bruins at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

“Even if I lifted my stick up over my head, I probably wouldn’t have got it,” Hughes said. “You’re trying to play centrefield with the empty net, but you also just can’t go back and play goalie because what if Marchand or Bergeron get it? You have to gap up. He made a great shot.”

Ullmark’s goal – after making 26 saves – and his pure joy at the achievement, skating along the Bruins’ bench to high-five teammates like goal-scorers do, was memorable.

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“It’s one of the dreams I always had that I wanted to score a goal and now I had the opportunity,” Ullmark, the 29-year-old Swede who is having a Vezina Trophy-calibre season behind one of the best regular-season teams in years, told reporters. “As soon as I shot, I saw three guys jumping towards me, and I had no idea where it was. I didn’t see anything. Guys are starting to look up ice and then I see it going towards the net and the rest is history.”

Yes, it is. More Bruins’ history at the expense of the Canucks. They’re never going to let Vancouver forget who won the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

This is how most people will remember Saturday’s game, Ullmark collecting the tip-in from Canuck Brock Boeser, loading his forehand and measuring his shot, then jumping up and down like a kid when he scored.

But it’s not going to be how Rick Tocchet remembers it.

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Just a month into his tenure, he saw how far the Canucks have come in the new coach’s first 13 games – that a Vancouver team that is 27^th in the standings, 31^st in goals against and 45 points behind the league leaders, could hang tough against a Boston team that has lost in regulation only eight times in 58 games.

And it wasn’t just the staying close part; before Bruce Boudreau was fired, the Canucks’ offence allowed them to compete some nights with the best teams in the NHL. But it was the way the Canucks stayed close in a low-scoring game, playing with structure and discipline and a five-man defence corps that included two guys just up from the minors (Christian Wolanin and Guillaume Brisebois) and another (Kyle Burroughs) who has been healthy-scratched 34 times. And, of course, doing it in front of a 21-year-old, sixth-round pick (Arturs Silovs) who was the fourth-string goalie in the organization when the season began.

Tocchet, who has blasted his new team with honesty after several games this season, looked more pleased after Saturday’s loss than he has been after a couple of his initial victories.

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“I was proud of the guys tonight,” he said. “We had five D right from the start. That’s a Stanley Cup-winning-type of team (we were playing). I thought we hung in there. Some of our top guys were a little tired; they’ve been logging a lot of ice time. But we hung in there. A 2-1 hockey game with a minute left (and) we almost make a play to tie it. All positives today for me.

“Yeah, I’m really proud of this team. I’m telling you, on the bench some guys were tired, we had five D, and we stuck with the system and the mindset. And that goes a long way. I’m very encouraged.”

The Canucks were down to five defenceman because Ethan Bear, Hughes’ top-pairing partner, left the game early in the first period after being hit in the mouth by a Matt Grezelcyk shot that deflected into him.

“You feel for the guy first of all because, like, it’s tough when you get hit in the face like that,” Hughes said. “It’s not pretty. But then you kind of regroup and figure out what you’re going to do for the rest of the game. I think I played with all four guys, and as far as the D went, I don’t think we could have played better. That was the best team in the league and you could see it. 

“You shouldn’t be happy with a loss and you can only pat yourself on the back so much because, at the end of the day, we still lost the game. But we were right there, 2-1 with an empty net. One even-strength goal (against). You haven’t seen that from us earlier in the year.”

Not counting Ullmark’s dream shot, the Canucks have allowed only two goals in three of their last four games. They had been that thrifty only three times in their previous 21 games.

Shots were 35-27 for the Bruins, but 20-17 for the Canucks after Boston got goals two minutes apart late in the first period from Hampus Lindholm, on the power play, and Marchand.

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Boeser scored for the Canucks at 7:24 of the third period, swiping in the rebound from Conor Garland’s shot off the side of the net after J.T. Miller hurried Bruin defenceman Derek Forbort into a turnover.

“With all due respect to (the Bruins), I’m sure they’ve had enough pumping their tires this year,” Miller said, inadvertently channelling Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas from the 2011 final. “Our records are a lot different, but we played really well today. After the first, I think we outplayed them. We’re starting to get an identity as a hard-work, no-quit team. If we have that in our blood, we’re going to be hard to handle for a lot of teams.”

The Canucks keep losing defencemen while adding forwards. They acquired winger and former ninth-overall pick Vitali Kravtsov from the New York Rangers earlier Saturday for the bargain price of minor-league prospect Will Lockwood and a seventh-round draft pick.

Tocchet offered no injury report on Bear post-game. Defencemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Travis Dermott recently went on the injured list and veteran blue-liner Luke Schenn has been withdrawn from the lineup as the Canucks protect their asset ahead of next Friday’s trade deadline.

The Canucks visit the Dallas Stars on Monday.

“Everybody’s got to be ready, everybody’s got to pick up the slack,” Burroughs said after logging 23:37 of ice time, nearly twice his average under Tocchet. “I thought we did a pretty good job as a unit, playing the right way.”

But there was no defence against Ullmark’s empty-netter.

“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter,” Burroughs said. “But it does sting a little bit. You don’t want to be on the highlight reel.”

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