Tocchet credits new drill for Canucks' lack of penalties
It wasn’t that long ago that Rick Tocchet was giving his Vancouver Canucks a warning.
“Might have to start taking ice time from guys that are taking numerous penalties,ā said the head coach in late February.
He was fed up with the constant minor infractions as the Canucks took five more penalties than any other NHL team in February.
The coach’s words had an impact on the team. Since the recent game against the Los Angeles Kings, the Canucks have taken just eight penalties, four fewer than any other team. They have won four of five games during that time.
“We were talking about the penalties we were taking before. Some of them were fair, some of them weren’t fair, in my opinion,” said Nikita Zadorov this morning about the team’s penalty struggles. “Sometimes you get caught in those few game stretch where you get those emotions and they lead to those penalties. I thought we were way better with the stick, we had [a] few bad stick penalties before.”
The team’s improvement in this area has been a big relief to the head coach.
“It’s been huge, for me over the last five, before that you know it’s been driving me crazy,” said Tocchet about his team’s discipline levels after today’s morning skate.
He credits a new drill for at least part of the progress.
“To be honest we started a drill five games ago. Since we’ve done this drill, it’s a stick-on-puck drill, and it seems since we’ve been doing it, guys aren’t taking stick penalties,” explained the head coach, shedding some light on the behind-the-scenes.
“Looks like we’re going to be doing this drill every day, or as much as we can,” Tocchet joked with a chuckle.
The Canucks face a challenge tonight with the Colorado Avalanche in town. The visitors have the NHL’s seventh-best power play, which features star players like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
This makes staying disciplined even more important.
“The power play is so good right now if you look at the top teams,” said Zadorov. “Colorado’s power play is really good, so it’s going to be really important for us to stay out of the box today, you just cannot give the other team a chance for momentum.”