What we learned from the Canucks’ Game 1 win: 5 takeaways

EditorLast Update :
What we learned from the Canucks’ Game 1 win: 5 takeaways

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A game in the Stanley Cup playoffs can flip in a moment. Or 12 seconds, as it were.

In Game 1 on Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks were trailing the Nashville Predators 2-1. There was plenty of time remaining on the clock, but for the first time all evening, an electric crowd sounded just a little bit nervous.

In truth, for about 50 minutes on Sunday night, the Canucks didn’t look their usual, imposing selves. It wasn’t that they played poorly — their defensive game was exceptional and the club played high-energy, physical hockey. Their execution with the puck wasn’t crisp, however, and the game didn’t match the sort of structural, composed pace that Vancouver has won with all season.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

How the Canucks pulled off an improbable single-season turnaround

The Predators hung with Vancouver in Game 1, and in fact, led for most of the evening. The game was played the way the Predators typically prefer, up and down and relatively wide open. And Nashville led, and time was ticking inexorably off the clock.

And that’s when everything changed. A Quinn Hughes wrist shot fluttered through traffic and changed direction, and beat Juuse Saros cleanly. The score was level.

Before the goal was announced in the building, Elias Lindholm got in on the forecheck and forced a turnover. The puck squirted to Conor Garland, who found Dakota Joshua for a deft finish down low. Bedlam erupted at Rogers Arena. Vancouver led, with half a period remaining.

Nashville was game in the series opener. There’s a lot of road to run yet in this series. In a wild, exciting series opener, however, the Canucks showed their mettle, and reminded their fans of what high stakes hockey, and how quickly and dramatically it can turn.

Here are five takeaways from Game 1 of Vancouver’s first-round series with the Nashville Predators.


J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes dominate

It’s just one game, but one key, shaping dynamic that emerged in Game 1 feels like it could be sticky. And it’s the key dynamic between the Predators and the Canucks at five-on-five, which is that Vancouver absolutely dominated when the top of their lineup was on the ice at even strength.

Miller and Hughes, for example, logged 4:54 together in the first two periods on Sunday, and Vancouver out-attempted the Predators 9-1 in those minutes, outshot them 6-0 and controlled a preposterous 99 percent of expected goals. That’s the two-way equivalent of a perfect game, especially when the key game-tying goal came with both Canucks stars on the ice together.

While Vancouver’s ability to throttle the Predators in Miller and Hughes’ minutes is a major edge for Vancouver in this series, one that will continue to be heard from as we get deeper into the series, it’s worth noting the tradeoffs attached to Vancouver’s most significant five-on-five advantage in Game 1.

On the opening face off, for example, after Nashville head coach Andrew Brunette started McCarron and Vancouver answered with their top line, it might’ve been reasonable to assume that Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, who has last change on home ice, had jumped his opponent. After Kiefer Sherwood deflected a puck into the stands in the neutral zone, however, Vancouver’s top line remained on the ice. It was a sign of things to come.

As dominant as Miller and the top of Vancouver’s lineup were on Sunday, this was part of the Predators’ game plan. Nashville opted to punt the Miller matchup, and in all other minutes, Nashville successfully outshot and out attempted Vancouver.

If Brunette is going to play with fire in this manner, the Miller line has got to make it count, the way they did in the third period on Sunday night.

Roman Josi and the pace of the Predators’ breakout

This game was played at a breakneck speed.

Nashville is a high-flying rush team and did an effective job, especially in the first period, of breaking pucks out and generating speed in the neutral zone. The Predators always had a forward waiting high at the offensive blue line, stretching the ice vertically, ready to counterattack.

The game opened in a high-tempo fashion the way Nashville prefers, but the Canucks looked comfortable counter-attacking themselves. Vancouver doesn’t usually generate a high volume of rush chances but against Nashville, they had quality transition looks too, including Elias Lindholm’s goal in the second period.

Nashville didn’t get on the board with a rush goal in the first two periods, but Jeremy Lauzon drew a penalty by aggressively jumping up on a rush chance, which O’Reilly scored on. Anthony Beauvillier was also robbed by Thatcher Demko on a two-on-one chance early in the first period.

Game 1 was played at a tempo Nashville likes but once the Canucks’ forecheck found its legs, they decisively took the game over at even-strength, controlling a greater share of shot attempts, expected goals and holding a 3-1 edge in five-on-five goals.

Tyler Myers and the Canucks PK recovery

For the first 10 minutes of the second period, the Canucks looked ready to take the game over. Fresh off Lindholm’s 1-1 tying goal, Vancouver’s forecheck (with the assistance of their pinching defensemen) finally started to win battles and stack heavy offensive zone shifts. The Miller line, in particular, was dominating territorially, with Pius Suter getting a couple of great chances on the inside.

But just as it looked like the Canucks were about to overwhelm the Predators, they ran into penalty problems. Teddy Blueger took an interference penalty by driving Lauzon into Thatcher Demko on a Predators’ counterattack rush. Carson Soucy followed that up with a holding penalty in the defensive zone. A few minutes later, Filip Hronek took a holding-the-stick penalty.

Nashville’s power play sliced and diced the Canucks’ penalty kill on the first opportunity they had, scoring via a Ryan O’Reilly left flank snipe. The Canucks penalty kill successfully settled in after that.

Nashville’s first unit had great control on its second opportunity but couldn’t translate it into high-danger chances. The Canucks’ penalty kill then gave the Predators entry problems on the final power play they had in the second period and the early opportunity they had in the third after Phil Di Giueseppe’s penalty. Tyler Myers, in particular, was a standout shorthanded on the final three kills.

The playoffs return to Vancouver

The Rogers Arena crowd on Sunday was electric. The atmosphere outside the building was carnivalesque.

It was as if the entire city, clad like an army in blue and black, shook off their raincoats on a beautiful spring evening to descent on False Creek for a celebration of what professional hockey can be like in this city, when the games matter and the team has a shot.

The club pulled out the bells and whistles. A live string quartet played Mozart’s Lacrimosa while a highlight video played pregame.

And then U2’s “Where the Street Have No Names” played pregame. The club hasn’t used that intro music in years, but it was a hallmark of the Canucks’ golden era from 2008-2012. You can’t hear that song ahead of a Stanley Cup playoff game in the city of Vancouver and not get chills.

It had been nine long years since Vancouver hosted playoff hockey, and while tickets were available right up until puck drop, you could sense from the energy at Rogers Arena that Canucks fans in this city were starving to enjoy it.

And when the Canucks delivered the dramatics in the third period, the celebration and the feast of noise was on.

Elias Lindholm and the Canucks third line makes the difference

Vancouver’s middle six was highlighted as a potentially critical edge heading into this series. During Game 1, the Canucks’ third line came through on that.

Lindholm targeted Juuse Saros blocker side and beat him on the rush for Vancouver’s first goal. In the third period, that line connected for a goal that perfectly captures their feisty, workmanlike puck pressure and offensive chemistry down low. Lindholm was fast and aggressive creating pressure as the first man in on the forecheck. Conor Garland recovered the puck and as we saw countless times in the regular season, found Dakota Joshua in the slot for a goal off the forecheck.

Joshua then iced it with an empty netter.

(Photo: Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images)