Grit and grease: Canucks’ depth players make all the difference in defiant win

SEATTLE — Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet elevated a couple of his depth players, hoping to get his team going. Friday against the Seattle Kraken, the depth players were the team going.

Largely unrewarded offensively despite generally solid play since the National Hockey League season began, the Canucks’ “role” players went off against the Kraken, producing all the goals in a 5-1 win. The gritty game revealed some defiance from a team that had lost three of its last four games in what a lot of people figure is the start of a market correction after an unexpected 13-6-1 first quarter by the Canucks.

“I think everybody’s waiting for us to fall apart,” Tocchet volunteered in his post-game press scrum. “These are nice wins. These are nice wins.”

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Later, he added: “We’ve got to learn how to play tired. And that third period, you know, I thought we held it together and we rolled the lines. Those are the type of statement games that if we play the right way, and we use everybody, we can win those games.”

The Canucks used everybody. But it wasn’t Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes dominating the scoresheet by the end of the night. It was Teddy Blueger with his first goal of the season, shorthanded, and Dakota Joshua scoring his third. It was Sam Lafferty’s deflection and Nils Hoglander’s snipe on a two-on one, and two primary assists for Conor Garland, who had only five points in the first 20 games despite driving possession and the Canucks’ third line. Minor-league callup Nils Aman had a pair of assists from the fourth line.

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All this grit and grease on the scoresheet felt entirely appropriate on a night when Tocchet healthy-scratched Andrei Kuzmenko, last season’s 39-goal scorer, and deployed Lafferty and Anthony Beauvillier up the lineup to provide some speed and directness.

Somehow, Beauvillier was excluded from the group therapy that was the offensive breakout by players from the bottom six.

But if you’d placed a prop bet on Blueger, Joshua, Lafferty and Hoglander scoring – two-way winger Ilya Milkheyev had the final Vancouver goal – you’re winning ticket would have bought you condos in both Vancouver and Seattle.

“Everybody is pulling for each other and everybody’s happy to see the other person succeed,” Joshua said. “And I think the closeness or bond, whatever you want to call it, goes a long way in this locker room. Tonight was a great night.”

“Especially on good teams you notice that,” Blueger, who won a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights last season, said of the bond. “Those (depth) guys really appreciate it when everyone lets them know that their contributions are just as important in a lot of ways — blocking shots, killing penalties. When the top guys make you feel appreciated like that, that goes a long way and makes you want to do it even more. It creates kind of camaraderie where it’s unselfish. That’s kind of the culture and the kind of relationship we want to build with each other.”

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Blueger opened scoring on a shorthanded breakaway at 5:05 of a first period that saw the Canucks shorthanded for half of the first 16 minutes. Joshua’s goal from Garland’s rebound made it 2-0 at 12:07 of the second period.

But the most impressive part of the wire-to-wire win was the way the Canucks, playing their sixth game in 10 nights with a seventh contest looming Saturday in San Jose, closed out the win by scoring three times in the third period while limiting the Kraken to just two shots on Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko.

“This is the first time I’ve been on team this successful at this point of the year,” Garland said. “This is the most fun I’ve had playing hockey in the NHL. When you’re on a winning team, it’s just more fun to come to the rink. You’re always in games. So it has just been a fun year. The third line has been great. My goal is to try to drive the offence for that line and be a hard line to match up. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Yes, Garland used the word “fun” four times in one answer.

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Garland, Blueger and Joshua was the only forward line Tocchet left intact, as he moved Lafferty alongside Pettersson and Mikheyev, and promoted Beauvillier to play beside Miller and Brock Boeser. Aman centred Hoglander and Phil Di Giuseppe after being recalled from the American Hockey League on Friday.

“Honestly, I think everyone pulls for everyone on this team, whether it’s bottom six or top six,” Lafferty said as he reached five goals and 10 points six weeks after his bargain trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve had success. Obviously, our top guys have been excellent all season. But anytime anyone scores, the whole bench is fired up and super excited. One of the keys to being a good team is being happy when other guys have success.”

On Friday, all the other guys did.

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