Canucks 3, Ducks 2: Shooting first, hitting the net pays off

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They couldn’t have scripted a better start.

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The Vancouver Canucks broke from the gate like a thoroughbred Wednesday at Rogers Arena.

Conor Garland hit the crossbar on the first shift, Brock Boeser was then denied by a circus save and the recalled Jonathan Lekkerimaki unloaded a hot shot from the slot. The Canucks had the first five shots and built it to 9-1 and then a 17-5 advantage after the first period.

They finished with 36 shots and just one short of a season high 37. And for a club that ranks 31st with 25.4 per outing, it played a major role in a 3-2 victory over the upstart Anaheim Ducks, who were on a 6-3-1 run and playing the second half of back-to-back games.

It allowed the Canucks to move back into a tie with Calgary for the final Western Conference wild-card spot, but the Flames own the tie breaker with one more victory. More importantly, the Canucks heeded the call from their head coach to embrace the challenge to get their game in order without the injured Quinn Hughes.

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“We’ve got to deal with pressure,” said Rick Tocchet. “We can’t hide. We should be embracing this stuff. We can correct this with a systems game and playing with passion. The year is not done, but you can’t waste games.”

The Canucks did a better job of denying the Ducks off the rush. They played more below the goal line, they attacked much better and held on to pucks longer instead of throwing them away. The first shot that got by Kevin Lankinen was on a deft deflection that changed direction.

However, when the Ducks struck with 6:33 left in regulation time, the Canucks had to worry more about defending that pilling up more shots. And when a game Garland fought Trevor Zebras with 5.6 second left, it proved the Canucks came to play.

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Here’s what we learned as Jake DeBrusk, Teddy Blueger and Carson Soucy scored for the Canucks while Sam Colangelo and Brian Dumoulin replied for the Ducks:

Inside passage to production

Tocchet’s repeated call for driving the middle of the ice and taking an inside route to the net paid off.

All three goals were a result of knowing where to go and how to get there. DeBrusk scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season on the poser play by taking a feed and direct route to the net. He then hesitated briefly to make sure he could pick the top of the net.

Blueger also drove to the slot to snap home a short-side shot on the glove side of John Gibson to end a 28-game goal drought. His last goal was Dec. 19. And then Soucy did the same by pinching from the point to gain better shooting position to make it 3-1. The effort was unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference.

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Is Boeser going or staying?

The Canucks host Minnesota on Friday at 7 p.m. The trade deadline is noon that day.

Will unrestricted free agent Brock Boeser face the Wild or have a change of address? He doesn’t have a contract extension, but the offensively-challenged Canucks are starving for goals in a desperate bid to advance to the playoffs. And, remember, that’s always the goal of the owner.

Even though Boeser hasn’t scored in six games, and has but two in his last 14, he’s still a threat. He nearly connected in the first period and it took acrobatics by Gibson to keep the right-winger from opening scoring and getting to 19 goals.

After driving the middle and taking cross-ice pass from Pius Suter, his quick slot release hit the left pad, popped up and required Gibson to reach behind with his glove to keep the puck from entering the net. Boeser then drove down the wing and hit the trailing Filip Hronek for a Grade chance.

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And then on a second period power play, Boeser put a perfect pass on the tape for DeBrusk to erase a 1-0 deficit. But he didn’t pull the trigger and had just two shots.

“He can finish and that’s been a struggle,” said Tocchet. “He may have to change the way he plays to get more looks. He’s a real good tipper of pucks and good in the slot, but he has been deferring to the outside for a one-timer. His gift is around the net.”

Last season, Boeser had eight tipped goals by mid-March and was in a four-way tie for second overall in that category with Sam Reinhart, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin.

Penalty kill pays dividends

It’s never a sexy subject because it’s grunt work and seldom commands headlines.

However, it’s a big story in Vancouver because a sixth-overall ranking hasn’t been that high in 10 years. And it has become a difference-maker on many nights, including Wednesday, because their pairings are in sync and don’t deviate from the plan to deny the opposition.

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The Canucks went 2-for-2 against, allowed one shot, and are on an amazing run of going 27-for-29 in their last 12 games.

“It’s one of the things when I got here that we had to fix,” said Tocchet. “It’s the system and the chemistry together. The PK is about attack points. I hate a passive PK and you hate seam passes.”

Chain reaction hampers Hughes

Everybody has a theory on what’s keeping the Canucks captain sidelined with a nagging ailment.

However, most probably agree when one part of the body is injured, the trickle-down effect is that it often causes discomfort in another area. That oblique-muscle strain Hughes suffered Jan. 31 could have played a role in additional pain and tightness from a collision March 1 in Seattle.

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Hughes rotated his trunk and stretched out at the bench to loosen up and finally called it a night with 0:00 remaining in the third period. He hasn’t played since and his next appearance is uncertain.

“That has happened, there’s a part of it to that.” Tocchet said Wednesday morning of the chain reaction. “When you’re dealing with something, something else kind of gets affected. It’s injury plus pain and how tight you are.”

The medical community agrees. B.C. physician Dr. Harjas Grewal, a former athlete and hockey analyst, told Postmedia that losing stability on the ice in a hit or in net-front battles requires the oblique to function.

“Those might be plays where he may feel a bit weak or just feel some pain as the muscle activates,” said Grewal.

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More importantly, the Canucks know rest is best for Hughes. They need him now but will really need him when playoff positioning gets more intense in the final 15 games.

“It’s a tough scenario,” said Tocchet. “Eighty per cent Quinn, we’ll take right now, but we’ve got to be careful. He wasn’t himself the last couple of games — even defensively — and we have to give him a chance on the ice where he can do all levels of his game.

“He just has to pick his spots, when to go and when not to go. And that’s hard because he wants to go all the time. Such a great player, but he’s going to have to bide his time. It’s hard to be 100 per cent at this time of year.”

OVERTIME — Gibson left the game in the second period after being shaken up on charge to net by Drew O’Connor, who was called for goalie interference. Lukas Dostal took over.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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