Canucks' Garland sees his quiet impact get loud in win over Canadiens
The Vancouver Canucks’ third line stepped up just like they needed them to on Sunday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
And no player stepped up quite like Conor Garland, who scored the game’s opening goal, and set up another as Vancouver beat the Canadiens 5-2 on Sunday night.
Garland isn’t being paid like a depth guy. He’s the fifth highest paid forward on the team with his $4.95 million cap hit, however he ranks 10th among Canucks forwards in ice time.
However, he’s been finding a way to make an impact all season long, and that was especially true tonight.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Vancouver Canucks on 2023-11-12:#Canucks pic.twitter.com/hrhHcd21mt
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 13, 2023
On the first goal of the game, Garland replaced Phil Di Giuseppe on a line change. He then drove to the net and buried a cross-ice feed from JT Miller.
Our favourite type of sauce.
Miller ā”ļø Garland š®āšØ pic.twitter.com/yO0Oq0S9pR
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 13, 2023
Later on in the game, Garland had the puck on a string in the Canadiens zone. He sent two chances towards the Montreal net before Dakota Joshua buried the rebound.
NET PRESENCE šŖ pic.twitter.com/JNaTLQBy0l
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) November 13, 2023
It was Joshua’s first goal since the opening night of the season.
Canucks’ third line, featuring Garland, is finding chemistry
The Canucks’ top two lines have been garnering a lot of attention, and rightfully so.
Heck, both Elias Pettersson’s line and Miller’s line produced goals of their own tonight.
Because those two trios have been so dominant, it’s overshadowed some of the solid play of the Canucks’ bottom-six.
Specifically, the line of Pius Suter, Joshua and Garland have been rock solid.
So far this season, the Garland-Suter-Joshua line hasn’t been scored on at even-strength. They’ve generated three goals of their own and they’ve outshot the opposition 40-17 when they’ve been on the ice.
On Sunday against the Canadiens, they were the Canucks’ most dominant forward unit.
That line not only scored a goal, but they outshot the Canadiens 11-0 when they were on the ice.
They’re making Rick Tocchet’s decision to keep them together look like another shrewd move.
Teddy Blueger made his season debut for the Canucks against the Canadiens on Sunday. With how well the entire team has been playing, it was interesting to see who he was going to take out of the lineup.
The main candidates boiled down to Joshua and Nils Hoglander, who had both been healthy scratched already this season.
Even though Hoglander has played well, the chemistry that the Garland-Suter-Joshua line showed may have tipped Tocchet’s hand into scratching Hoglander instead of Joshua.
If so, Tocchet was rewarded for that move tonight.
The Canucks’ top six has already proven to be incredibly dangerous. If the third line can continue dominating possession in their minutes, while not giving up many chances against, then the Canucks will continue proving to naysayers that this start isn’t a fluke.
Garland has quietly been impactful for Canucks
A quick glance at Garland’s stat sheet doesn’t scream “$4.95 million dollar player.”
The diminutive winger now has two goals and five points in 15 games this season ā a pace that’s far off of his career average of 48 points per season.
However, Garland’s impact goes beyond the typical counting stats.
The 27-year-old leads all Canucks this season with a shot attempt differential of 58.9%.
That’s especially impressive considering that the majority of Canucks skaters (11 of 18 guys) are still under 50% for the season.
Among Canucks’ who’ve skated for at least 100 even-strength minutes this season, only four Canucks have been on the ice for two even-strength goals or less.
Those guys are Garland, his current linemates, Joshua and Suter, along with Anthony Beauvillier.
Garland is also one of only four regular Canucks skaters who hasn’t been on the ice for an even strength goal against this season.
He might not be the star on this team, but he’s making things happen for the Canucks.
And finally, on Sunday night, he was rewarded.
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