“They played their balls off”: Tocchet happy with Canucks’ effort

The Vancouver Canucks had every excuse to look like the inferior team against the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

They were playing on the second night of back-t0-backs, right after a road trip that took them across the continent.

They were starting their backup netminder.

And, they were playing one of the best teams in the NHL.

Even though the Canucks lost to the New York Rangers 4-3 in overtime, they were the better team at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

They controlled the game at five-on-five, and they controlled most of the overtime period. That was highlighted by two big saves by Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin off of Grade A chances from Andrei Kuzmenko.

The game came down to the Rangers scoring two five-on-three goals, along with the overtime winner despite being outshot 6-2 in extra time.

There’s also a good chance that the Rangers could have been called for a penalty before winning the game seconds later.

The play in question that Vancouver is not happy about: pic.twitter.com/B6L3ryDtSQ

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 29, 2023

The fans booed following the end of the game. There was even some debris thrown on the ice.

Despite the unfortunate conclusion, Tocchet was unquestionably pleased with his team’s effort.

“I’m proud of our team. They played their balls off today,” Rick Tocchet told reporters after the game.

“I thought we deserved better tonight. We gave them nothing other than the two five-on-three’s.”

“I hope the guys take a nice relaxing day, they deserve it.”

Canucks getting offence from defence

You know things are going well for the Canucks when Tyler Myers begins to look heroic.

With the game tied 1-1 midway through the third period, Phil Di Giuseppe went to the penalty box for four minutes after high-sticking Mika Zibanejad.

Shortly thereafter, it was Myers who ended up scoring a beautiful shorthanded goal to give the Canucks the lead.

SHORTHANDED GOAL FOR #57 🤩 pic.twitter.com/PTL6mJGQyk

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 29, 2023

The goal was Myers’ second of the season. He had only scored two goals in 160 games during the two seasons prior to this one.

Carson Soucy also scored for the Canucks late in the third period to tie the game, which was his second goal of the season.

AN ABSOLUTE ROCKET FROM SOUCY 🚀 pic.twitter.com/9ijcFYSTAl

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 29, 2023

The unlikely offence from Soucy and Myers has provided the Canucks with something they haven’t had in a long time – offence from the defence.

As a group, the Canucks have seven goals from defencemen this season. That currently ranks second overall in the NHL.

Last season, the Canucks ranked dead last in terms of goals from defencemen.

Canucks top-six is buzzing

The Canucks have been getting contributions throughout the lineup, but their top two lines are really controlling play.

It was another great night for the trio’s of Elias Pettersson, Ilya Mikheyev and Kuzmenko. They controlled 73% of even-strength shot attempts when they were on the ice.

Pettersson in particular looked dangerous as always. He added an assist to give him 13 points on the season, which is tied for third in the NHL.

J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Phil Di Giuseppe controlled 80% of shot attempts at five-on-five. Miller scored in this game against his former team, and his 12 points in eight games this season just narrowly trails Pettersson.

The Canucks wrap up their homestand on Halloween against the Nashville Predators, a team they just beat earlier this week.