Could the Vancouver Canucks be on their way to a deep Stanley Cup playoff run?
They eliminated the Nashville Predators with a dramatic Pius Suter goal late in the third period of Game 6, earning themselves a second-round date with Connor McDavid and the imposing Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are heavy favourites in this series, but there should be no sense that the Canucks are some glass-slipper-wearing ball attendee nervously checking the clock.
This Canucks team finished first in the Pacific Division. They beat the Oilers in all four meetings between the two clubs in the regular season. There’s nothing about this team that expresses any “happy just to be here” sentiment.
When the puck drops on this all-Canadian second-round matchup on Wednesday evening at Rogers Arena, the Canucks are going to believe they can win, even if the betting markets, most experts and Dom Luszczyszyn’s model view them as a long shot.
If this party is going to keep raging into June, however, Vancouver is going to need more players beyond their top line and their depth goaltenders to cape up and get going. The Canucks looked too often like a one-line time against the Predators, and that isn’t likely to be enough against a star-studded Cup favourite like the Oilers.
With the Broadway lights of Music City in the rearview mirror, let’s dive into The Athletic Vancouver’s individual report cards for the first-round series. We’ll begin today with the forwards and move on to the defenders and goaltenders tomorrow.
Brock Boeser: A+
6 GP, 4 goals + 2 assists = 6 points
When the puck drops for the NHL playoffs, it’s often said that the ice shrinks, there’s less time and space and most goals are scored in the greasy, high-traffic areas on the inside. This is where Boeser’s steady, year-over-year evolution as a scorer has paid dividends. Boeser entered the league in 2016-17 as a sizzling sniper who relied on shots from distance to score and has slowly transformed into a savvy, clinical net-front finisher.
Three of Boeser’s team-leading four goals were scored right around the blue paint. It’s a reflection of the progress he’s made at hunting rebounds, getting open, absorbing physical contact from defenders and setting screens (including J.T. Miller’s critical goal in Game 3, which he didn’t get an assist on).
Boeser’s Game 4 hat trick, which included two goals in the last three minutes to erase a 3-1 deficit and set the table for Elias Lindholm’s heroic overtime winner, will go down in Canucks playoff lore. He also doesn’t get enough credit for the spectacular no-look backhand pass from behind the net to set up Suter’s Game 6 winner.
THE CANUCKS HAVE DONE IT!
PIUS SUTER SCORES A POTENTIAL SERIES CLINCHING GOAL WITH 1:39 TO PLAY.
via @BR_OpenIce
pic.twitter.com/OJyn3PRjVk— BarDown (@BarDown) May 4, 2024
In addition to all of the offence, Boeser’s two-way form was sharp throughout the series. He was well-positioned without the puck and had an active stick that noticeably broke up Nashville’s breakout attempts. Boeser and Miller were by far the Canucks’ best forwards from the first round.
J.T. Miller: A+
6 GP, 1 goal + 5 assists = 6 points
Miller put his cape on and continued his dominant campaign with a monstrous first-round performance against the Predators.
It’s not just the points, although they were massive, or the clutch moments throughout the series. It’s also the physical play, the 20 minutes a night Miller logged, the way his line dominates the run of play at five-on-five, and the 58 percent faceoff win rate he managed against Nashville.
It’s also that Vancouver’s emotional leader kept his cool when things went poorly, and seemed to find smart ways to keep the mood around the group light when it was required, even at the expense of Arturs Silovs’ dress shirts.
The Canucks are going to need Miller to be great if they’re going to best the Oilers in the second round. There is no question he was great in Round 1.
Elias Lindholm: B
6 GP, 2 goals + 1 assist = 3 points
Vancouver’s third line didn’t control play nearly as well as it did in the regular season (the Canucks were outshot 56-33 and only controlled 36 percent of scoring chances during Lindholm’s five-on-five shifts) but it still made vital contributions in the series.
Lindholm opened the scoring for the Canucks in Game 1 with a rush goal and did an outstanding job on the forecheck in the third period to force a turnover and pick up an assist on Dakota Joshua’s game-winning goal in Game 1. He also, of course, had a slick finish on the OT winner in Game 4. Lindholm was a key cog for the Canucks’ excellent penalty kill. The third line also matched up against the Ryan O’Reilly line early in the series, although the Canucks moved away from that as the series progressed.
Would we like to see Lindholm and his linemates hit another gear at driving play and stacking heavy offensive zone shifts instead of getting decisively outshot and outchanced? Yes, there’s a higher level for them to reach. But two critical goals and top-notch penalty-killing is still a job well done by Lindholm.
Elias Pettersson: C-
6 GP, 0 goals + 3 assists = 3 points
There’s no sugarcoating it: Pettersson needs to be way better if the Canucks are going to beat the Oilers in Round 2.
Vancouver’s Swedish star was soft-matched against Colton Sissons’ line, which should have been a favourable draw, but he couldn’t capitalize. Pettersson went goal-less, which extends his one-goal-in-19-games dry spell going back to late March, and the Canucks were outscored 3-1 during his five-on-five shifts.
Pettersson struggled as a playmaker, was uncharacteristically imprecise as a finisher and lacked some pace and heaviness from Games 1 to 4. Vancouver’s power play didn’t look dangerous enough with his poor execution from the right flank.
Of course, Pettersson was also dragged down by his wingers who couldn’t make plays, recover pucks for him or finish chances. It’s also worth pointing out that even though scoring was an issue, Pettersson’s defensive play was mostly clean and the Canucks controlled play decently when he was on the ice. And if you’re looking for positives, he looked significantly better in Game 5 and won a key battle along the boards to earn a secondary assist on Suter’s goal in Game 6.
Hopefully Pettersson’s improved play at the end of the series can be a launchpad for a much stronger second-round performance.
Dakota Joshua: B-
6 GP, 2 goals + 2 assists = 4 points
Joshua had a monster three-point performance in Game 1. He assisted Lindholm’s opening goal, pulled off a beautiful against-the-grain finish on Juuse Saros to give the Canucks a lead and then tallied an insurance marker with an empty netter.
The physical two-way winger was far less impactful later in the series, however. He wasn’t consistently disruptive on the forecheck (aside from his secondary assist during Game 4), could have done more to drive play and took a pair of undisciplined penalties, including a third-period boarding penalty in Game 5 which the Predators scored on to spark their comeback victory.
Joshua had a solid series overall and wasn’t on the ice for a single PK goal against. After Game 1, however, you were left hoping for a bit more than what he showed.
Conor Garland: B+
6 GP, 0 goals + 2 assists = 2 points
Garland is the key driver on what’s become Vancouver’s second line.
Against the Predators, that line often duelled the Predators’ top line in a soft match. They ate a few dashes and were actually outscored as a line in the series, but given the difficulty of the assignment, they mostly held their own.
In a couple of critical moments in the series, however, it was Garland who made the key play to unlock the Predators defence. His pass to Joshua in Game 1 was key in shifting the momentum of the series, as was his setup to Lindholm in overtime which sealed the miraculous Game 4 comeback.
Garland has contributed as a key down-lineup game breaker, and given his size, those contributions should answer any questions that may have lingered about his ability to make an impact in the playoffs.
Pius Suter: A
6 GP, 2 goals + 0 assists = 2 points
In almost every game against the Predators, Suter found himself on the business end of at least one (and usually multiple) Grade-A scoring chances.
That the versatile forward struggled to finish his chances at times in Round 1 is really the only mark against him. He was, in all other respects, one of Vancouver’s most impactful individual players.
Suter’s defensive awareness and hockey-level two-way IQ were essential components in helping the Miller line dominate play the way they did all series long. When things seem to be on the verge of breaking down, or after giveaways, it’s often Suter who arrives first to put out or at least mitigate the fire.
Suter’s defensive game has brought a different level of robustness to the Miller line. That he had that kind of impact and then scored the series winner as well as another key goal to tie the score in the third period of Game 1 makes him one of Vancouver’s single most important forwards from the opening round.
Ilya Mikheyev has just one goal in his last 56 games. (Bob Frid / USA Today)
Ilya Mikheyev: D
6 GP, 0 goals + 0 assists = 0 points
Mikheyev went without a point despite spending most of the series attached to Pettersson’s hip. It’s wild he’s scored just one goal in his last 56 games given his regular top-six opportunity.
The speedy 29-year-old Russian looks incapable of finishing chances at the moment. He also still isn’t contributing meaningfully to his line in the areas of the game in which he’s typically excelled, like transporting play up the ice or forcing turnovers on the forecheck.
Teddy Blueger: B-
6 GP, 0 goals + 1 assists = 1 point
Blueger probably would’ve played a bigger role in the first-round series if the Canucks had spent more time leading.
As it were, Vancouver regularly trailed (or were tied) in games throughout the series. That sort of limited Blueger’s role five-on-five, even though he finished the series playing third-line minutes despite skating on the fourth line.
Nonetheless, Blueger’s contributions were solid. His work on the penalty kill, in particular, was immense in helping Vancouver eliminate the Predators. And the fourth line that Blueger centres didn’t give up a single goal against at five-on-five, even if, all told, it wasn’t a significant factor in the series.
Phil Di Giuseppe: C
6 GP, 0 goals + 1 assist = 1 point
Di Giuseppe was able to hang with the pace of Vancouver’s first-round series, log a regular shift and pitch in an assist on Nikita Zadorov’s 3-1 goal in Game 2.
His impact wasn’t loud and Vancouver’s fourth line didn’t make a significant impact on the series — it was wildly outshot, although it didn’t surrender a goal against — but Di Giuseppe’s speed and all-around game helped permit the Canucks to keep playing their preferred brand of hockey when their star forwards took a breather. There’s value in that, although they will need more from their down-lineup forwards against Edmonton.
Sam Lafferty: C
6 GP, 0 points + 0 assists = 0 points
Remember the first half of the season when Lafferty was legitimately impactful in a fourth-line role? Back then, his speed, size, physicality and secondary scoring were consistently noticeable and appeared to move the needle. From the second half onward, however, he’s looked more and more like a fourth-line contributor.
Lafferty didn’t make a mark on the forecheck, couldn’t swing momentum with physicality and didn’t generate chances, let alone any points in Round 1. He didn’t seize an opportunity to play with Pettersson in Game 1 and he doesn’t kill penalties, either. Lafferty won’t hurt you when he’s on the ice, which has real value at this time of year, but he’s struggling to offer a distinct identity right now and the Canucks were ultimately outshot 24-13 during his five-on-five shifts.
Nils Höglander: C-
6 GP, 0 goals + 0 assists = 0 points
Höglander was a disappointment in the opening round. He went without a point in six games, generated just two shots on goal in the series and appeared to lose the coaching staff’s trust at times as he averaged just 9:27 per game.
The scrappy, undersized 22-year-old winger didn’t create enough havoc on the forecheck. When he did recover pucks in the corner, he couldn’t translate it into offence — he’d either get checked too easily or turn it over with an errant pass. Höglander was more noticeable in Game 5 but went fairly quiet again in Game 6.
(Top photo of J.T. Miller: Bob Frid / USA Today)
