Points to ponder on an eventful day and night at Rogers Arena that ended with the Canucks rallying from a 4-2 deficit and then snapping a 5-5 draw to post a wild and crazy 7-5 win over the Blackhawks on Thursday that extended the club’s win streak to six games:
GREEN’S CALL IS GOLD:‘Sometimes you’ve got to push your group in a hard way, too’
It’s the timeout and it’s called Rule 87. And it reads like this:
Each team is allowed one 30 second timeout per game. Only one team is allowed to use the timeout during a single stoppage of play. There are three 120 second commercial timeouts per period during NHL games.
It sounds simple enough in deployment theory, but it can be the difference between losing your way or finding your game on any night. And, of course, the timing has to be right because it’s a one-shot deal. The Canucks were trailing 4-2 when the coach made a crucial decision to rally the troops.
“I actually used the goal before that and thought about calling it,” said Green. “When they scored the fourth goal and we called the timeout, it was more about telling them I liked the two or three shifts before that. And that (fourth) goal was a bit of a lucky goal and we’ve got to get back to what we did before.
“It might not have been calmly said, but that was about it.”
The result was Antoine Roussel doing Antoine Roussel things on the next draw for his own version of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. He chirped the Blackhawks. He crosschecked rookie Kirby Dach. He went to the attack and his shot hit iron.
On the next power play, and with Bo Horvat providing the screen, Quinn Hughes beat Robin Lehner with a slapper from the point. Then, just 1:25 later, it was Elias Pettersson with a quick release from the slot that went through a maze and found the short side to make it 4-4.
Adam Gaudette would get the 6-5 winner at 15:40 of the third period before Horvat added an empty-netter.
Tanner Pearson said at some point the veteran contingent has to be better at taking the temperature of the game and settle the club down between whistles or during a TV timeout.
“We’ve got a young team and hopefully we get to the point where we do it ourselves and amongst ourselves,” said the Canucks winger. “It was a good call. It settled the guys down and we regrouped and started playing good hockey.”
Added Green: “Sometimes (as a coach) you’ve got to push your group in a hard way, too. When we’re good with the puck our game is a lot better and we weren’t good with it early and when we’re not it looks the way it was.
“After the timeout, we started to get physical and get pucks to the net.”
HUGHES RAISING THE BAR:‘I’ve got a lot of chances and obviously put up some pretty good numbers, but I can even do better’
You expect a level of self-satisfaction when you’ve already proved a number of points.
Quinn Hughes has made those endless size, defensive awareness and durability questions seem rather moot and even laughable. The quick-moving, quick-thinking, precise passing and prime-time playmaking defenceman is in the Calder Trophy conversation for the right reasons.
He triggers the transition with sublime skating and laser passes. He can pivot his way out of trouble, angle off opposition forwards and turn the power play into a potent force as a true No.1 quarterback. And, yet, Hughes wants more. Much more.
And it’s not cockiness. It’s confidence.
He believes his 29 points (4-25) in 40 games are a product of simply shifting the NHL transition gears. Not sure which one he’s in right now, but the 20-year-old doesn’t sound like somebody about to go into cruise control — even though the second half grind is going to bring up all those same questions.
“I had a good first half but I can even elevate even more and that goes along with our team,” said Hughes. “We’re just starting to get really good. I can’t speak to the second half because I haven’t been there yet, but it’s going to be about getting your rest, getting to bed early and eating well. It’s something I haven’t focused as much on in the past.
“If I want to be healthy in the second half and make the impact I want to make, that’s something I need to focus on. I’ve learned where to exert my energy and where not to on the ice if I’m playing a lot. Sometimes, when I’m skating, I’m just going to move it (puck) and let it do the work.
“Last year, I skated every shift and now I’ve got good players around me and that’s just learning — especially on back-to-backs — and maybe the first game I’m just moving it (puck) a bit more. It’s capitalizing more. I’ve got a lot of chances and obviously put up some pretty good numbers but I can even do even better.”
Run all this by Patrick Kane and it doesn’t surprise the Blackhawks sniper.
He saw firsthand at the 2018 world championship how an 18-year-old kid — the youngest player in the event with Team USA — could make the most of limited minutes in 10 games and also look like a veteran. Kane also played with Hughes in the 2019 tournament.
“What I really liked is he wasn’t playing much the first worlds, but every time he got out there, he made something happen,” recalled Kane. “He’s an unbelievable skater — he and his brother (Jack). They way they are on their edges and the way they can pick up speed from in-tight turns is probably the most impressive thing.
“You could tell he (Quinn) was going to be a good player and a high pick. I’m sure Van is happy to have him and I’m sure some other teams probably wished they would have taken him.”
CRAWFORD’S NEW CREDO: ‘If you want to stay in the game, you’ve got to adjust and shape you’re methodology to fit the times’
Marc Crawford did the damage, has done the work and on Thursday he went one better.
The former Canucks coach, who left his position as a Chicago Blackhawks assistant Dec. 3 while the club investigated allegations of an antagonistic history with former players, returned to the bench at Rogers Arena.
In an earlier statement, the Blackhawks said they don’t condone Crawford’s past behaviour, but believe he “has learned from his past actions” because he has been striving to reform himself the past decade with professional counselling that dates back to 2010.
And in an attempt to put some closure to his bad behaviour, he did the right thing and went beyond his broad release statement to offer person-to-person remorse. Crawford didn’t name names, but said he has reached out to players he had wronged in the past.
“I’m not going to get into any conversations about conversations that I’ve had, or anything that I’ve done with players, but I have reached out to many, many players,” he said. “And I’ve heard from many players but I’m going to leave it at that.
“This is an ongoing process and, as I said in my statement, I’m all about making sure that I do the right thing and that I listen and understand and that’s what I hope comes from this — that I understand how anybody is feeling — and hopefully become better for it, they become better for it and the game becomes better for it.”
The investigation started when Sean Avery commented on Crawford’s decorum during the 2006-07 season in Los Angeles in which he was allegedly kicked after taking a penalty. Former Canucks defenceman Brent Sopel alleged that he was kicked and attacked verbally by Crawford. He offered offended players, including O’Sullivan and Harold Druken “sincere apologies” in his response to being re-instated before reaching out players.
To his credit, Crawford commenced counselling nine years ago because the game, its players and society in general was changing. What may have been tolerated by players in the past as the tough-love rite of passage to the pro game was no longer acceptable. The behaviour was going to be exposed sooner or later.
“Whenever you lose jobs, you always reflect on why that happens and that happened here in Vancouver and in Los Angeles and again in Dallas,” added Crawford. “But after the job in L.A., I was not liking where my coaching was and felt from that point that the game was changing and I needed to change along with it.
“It was a changing culture and I was evolving and players were evolving and if you want to stay in the game, you’ve got to adjust and shape you’re methodology to fit the times.
“That was one of the main reasons for it (counselling). On a personal level, I thought I was apologizing too much. I didn’t like that feeling and I still don’t like it — it’s a very uncomfortable feeling. And finding out why I am takes a lot.
“But it’s been good. I continue to put the work in to be a more complete person.”
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