Canucks now on pace for franchise-best season after big win over Leafs

There’s never a dull moment when the Toronto Maple Leafs come to town, and Saturday night was no different. The Vancouver Canucks and Maple Leafs combined for 10 goals, in a game that included wild momentum swings and plenty of bad blood at Rogers Arena.

Vancouver took home the 6-4 victory.

“It’s a fun building to play in. Driving over here, you see tons of jerseys. People are out on the streets ready to go,” Conor Garland said after the game. “It gets you excited.”

The Canucks jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, with two goals from Nils Höglander and one from Garland. Höglander now has 14 goals on the season, which is a new career high for the 23-year-old Swede.

Elite #HockeyDay celly from Conor Garland who puts the @Canucks up 3-0 in the first 🚨 pic.twitter.com/OqTzHFG6iq

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 21, 2024

It looked like it might be an easy night for the home team until the second period started, as the Leafs stormed back. Toronto scored three times in three minutes and 26 seconds. It was bedlam at Rogers Arena, except this time it was the visiting fans making all the noise.

Rick Tocchet called a timeout and things seemed to settle down from there.

“Just to relax,” Garland said when asked what the message was from Tocchet during the timeout. “There’s no need to panic. A lot of hockey to play. Maybe in years past we would have really gotten nervous or started playing on our heels… Really good response by us after that.”

Vancouver retook the lead on Garland’s second goal of the game with one minute left in the second period, but gave it right back on a Mitch Marner shorthanded goal early in the third.

But that’s when the Canucks’ power play came alive. J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, who were relatively quiet for most of the game, each scored with the man advantage.

Despite giving up four goals, including one he admitted post-game he’d like to have back, the Canucks needed Thatcher Demko to come up big in net. The Canucks were outshot 47-21 in the game.

The game got nasty in spots, with Vancouver taking 18 minutes in penalties. But unlike some Canucks teams of the past, they look quite comfortable when the game gets ugly.

“It’s just nice to see everybody sticking together,” Miller said of the Canucks’ team toughness. “You can definitely see lately guys are just hungry. It’s a hungry group and we’re not gonna take crap from anybody. There’s gonna be guys that have your back and that’s the best feeling.”

With the win, the Canucks maintain their spot atop the NHL standings. They’re now on pace for a 118-point season, which is one point better than the franchise-record 2010-11 season.

The #Canucks are now on pace for 118 points…

That's one point better than the 2010-11 team 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PPtkPmM1Kp

— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) January 21, 2024

More importantly, they’ve opened up a nine-point lead on Vegas for top spot in the Pacific Division.

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