Canucks’ defensive depth shines in win over Canadiens

VANCOUVER – On one of the first shifts of the game, the Montreal Canadiens dumped the puck without pressure into Noah Juulsen’s corner in the Vancouver Canucks’ zone.

With time to collect it and make a play, Juulsen looked up and saw defence partner Nikita Zadorov skating towards him. At six-foot-six and 248 pounds, Zadorov is hard to miss. But just to make his intentions clear, the mountain of a defenceman also raised his glove to wave off Juulsen and let his partner know that Zadorov would be taking the puck.

He did, skating it up ice at his surprisingly high-speed before snapping a pass in the neutral zone.

Zadorov was feeling it.

“Yeah, I would say he was,” Juulsen said afterwards. “That’s part of our breakout; it’s easier for me to be on the right side skating up on my forehand. But, obviously, he did want that puck. If there were guys on us, I would get that puck. But there was a lot of time so I was fine him taking it.”

With four goals in his first 63 games this National Hockey League season — the last 43 of them with the Canucks after his Nov. 30 trade from the Calgary Flames — Zadorov scored twice in four minutes near the end of the first period to launch Vancouver to a solid 4-1 win against the Canadiens.

Zadorov and Juulsen were excellent as the third pairing on defence. At five-on-five, shot attempts were 14-6 in their favour and the scoring chances were 7-2 for the Canucks.

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Interestingly, Juulsen was just back in the lineup after sitting out two games as a healthy scratch when Tyler Myers returned from a two-week injury. Canucks coach Rick Tocchet had made it clear he took Juulsen out reluctantly, even saying the defenceman didn’t deserve to be scratched.

But on Thursday, against his original NHL team, Juulsen returned to the lineup as Tocchet removed veteran Ian Cole, whom the coach said has a minor injury but could have played. And if Cole could have played, then he certainly would have wanted to.

Amid this seemingly small lineup change, Zadorov had one of his best games of the season.

Welcome to load management.

Did Cole getting scratched further motivate Zadorov to make sure he isn’t the next defenceman to get a rest?

“Well, it could have,” Tocchet told reporters post-game. “I talked to the D today and who knows who comes out? The next guy could be maybe a surprise to you guys. But for us, this is the way we’ve got to go with it. And some guys might not like it, but that’s just the way it is. 

“We’re going to have to keep everybody on their toes. Sometimes the guy coming out, it doesn’t mean he’s playing bad. It’s just that we have to do this right now. I mean, I thought Juulsen was really good tonight, so we’ll have to sleep on what we’re going to do next game.”

The Canucks, now 3-1-1 as they passed the halfway mark of their ponderous, nine-game homestand, play the Flames on Saturday.

“It’s not my decision who’s going to stay in the lineup or not,” Zadorov said. “I don’t think you can get any better (motivation) than to play in the NHL. So I mean, it’s a hard question to answer. It’s not my decision. I’m here to show up and play hard.”

He did tell Sportsnet a couple of weeks ago that he deserves to play every game. “That’s just my opinion.”

But at the moment, the Canucks have seven defencemen who deserve to play every game as the Western Conference-leading team ramps up for what they hope will be an exhaustingly-long playoff run.

Juulsen has been the spare defencemen whenever the blue line has been healthy. But as Tocchet said, the next guy out of the lineup may surprise people.

“The group’s awesome,” Juulsen said. “I’ve been in and out of our lineup a few times this year. . . and they don’t treat you like you’re a different human or anything. We’re all on the same team, all working towards the same end goal. So the group’s been amazing.”

Zadorov opened scoring at 15:38, hitting his spot inside the near post with a point shot that was completely screened by Sam Lafferty in front of Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault. At 19:07, Zadorov made it 2-0 by shooting inside the same post after Canuck Ilya Mikheyev hit him as the trailer on a three-on-two rush.

“When he’s on his game, he can break the puck out by himself and when he gets a shot through to the net, he has a knack for scoring goals,” Canuck centre – and frequent verbal sparring partner for Zadorov – J.T. Miller said of his teammate. “He’s a fun presence in the room, too. We love to give it to him and he gives it right back, so it’s a good environment. And obviously he brings physicality to our team. He has been a big part of our success lately.”

“I like (playing) aggressive teams,” Zadorov said. “I don’t like the teams that are sitting back. Some nights you’re feeling it and some nights you’re not. But, I mean, I’m trying to stay consistent.”

The Canucks have been fairly consistent defensively the last three weeks. Since yielding 40 shots while blowing a third-period lead in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 27, the Canucks are averaging just 24 shots against per game. They are 6-2-1 over that stretch.

The Canadiens got a tip-in goal by Juraj Slafkovsky to spoil Casey DeSmith’s shutout in the final minute of the second period, but managed only 17 shots in total. 

Conor Garland, with an outstanding top-corner pick from his off-foot, and Nils Aman scored the other Vancouver goals.

“Every coach says it: you want a commitment without the puck,” Tocchet said. “But I think we’re protecting the middle (of the ice). When we give something, it’s to the outside. It looks bad, I guess, to people but least we’re protecting the middle. So that’s kind of the thing I’ve seen the last, you know, three weeks. We didn’t give a lot of shots.

“And Casey DeSmith, I mean, every game he’s just been real solid. Whether he’s getting shots or not, he looks good. He looks like he’s seeing the puck, which is nice.”

QUOTEBOOK

Miller, loudly from the back of the dressing room, as Garland was about to begin his scrum with reporters: “You’re on fire. You’re on pace for 40 points.”

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