EDMONTON – Eventually, the game has a way of exposing everything you don’t know or haven’t done. Professional hockey highlights your shortcomings, and those sobering lessons often arrive bluntly during the playoffs.
The Stanley Cup tournament is an incredible classroom, but also a school with zero tolerance. You pass or you fail, and there is little gray area between the two.
“It’s the most exhilarating time but also the most exhausting,” one player told Sportsnet. “It’s been a big education being in the playoffs and playing with this group – how hard it is to win in this league and what it takes.”
The player, last spring, was Ryan O’Reilly, who after nine years in the National Hockey League with mostly bad teams was desperate at age 28 to figure out how to win a playoff series.
O’Reilly talked about the euphoria and exhaustion he felt finally getting through the first round with the St. Louis Blues, and the daunting realization that there were still three rounds to go and winning was going to get even harder.
A month after that interview with Sportsnet, O’Reilly lifted both the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy. He learned. So did the Blues and their new head coach, Craig Berube.
A year later, O’Reilly is at the front of the classroom dictating lessons to the Vancouver Canucks, whose young and talented core is suddenly finding out what it didn’t know as the Blues have roared back in this fascinating playoff series after losing the first two games.
O’Reilly and veteran wingers David Perron and Jaden Schwartz were dominant in Monday’s 3-1 win, and have badly outplayed at even strength the Canucks’ top trio of Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller.
Pettersson is 21, Boeser, 23. Both are in their first playoffs. They’ve combined for six even-strength shots and one even-strength goal in four games. Miller has eight even-strength shots and one goal.
“This is a learning process for these guys, and here we are 2-2, best of three,” Canucks coach Travis Green said in Tuesday’s conference call. “And those guys probably haven’t had their best five-on-five yet. I expect them to keep getting better as the series goes on. That’s part of the challenge for young players. When you get into the playoffs for the first time, you’re going to face different hurdles. These guys are taking it head on. They know it’s not easy, but they’re not backing off.
“I love it. I love what our team is doing; I love what we’ve done so far. We’ve talked about getting to this part of the season and how it’s going to help our team. But I can tell you one thing: this is not about a learning process. We are here to win and we have full belief that we can win this series. And that’s what I’m expecting.”
Strong words from the coach who needs stronger play from most of his players, including his stars, if they’re to overcome O’Reilly and an experienced St. Louis team that knows how to win and appears to have rediscovered its championship swagger.
O’Reilly has six points in the series and was all over Game 4, scoring twice and adding an assist. But a better measure of his dominance is that, playing more against Pettersson than anyone, he has a shots-for percentage of 78.6 at even strength. Four out of five shots are being directed at the Canucks net when O’Reilly is on the ice five-on-five.
“I’m not sure I’ve been around many guys that work as hard as he does,” Berube said as the teams rested for Game 5 on Wednesday. “And his hard work is to get better. There are people who work hard just to work hard, but his work is to get better. I’ve said it all the time: his stick is his greatest asset. . . other than his brain. He’s a very intelligent player, but he does so much with his stick, stripping pucks from people, knocking them down, little plays.”
O’Reilly drives the Blues, and he’d be doing so even if winger Vladimir Tarasenko didn’t leave the Edmonton “bubble” on Tuesday due to ongoing shoulder problems.
“But he’s not the only one,” Berube added. “We have a ton of guys, veteran guys here, that are extremely hard workers and very dedicated hockey players. These guys are dedicated players, team guys and they work extremely hard.”
Amid all the fury and animosity of the playoffs, O’Reilly has stayed singularly focused on his formidable two-way game by making the Canucks’ best players largely disappear at even-strength while taking over the Blues’ attack.
He doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t take penalties, never drifts, never concedes a puck battle, never loses focus.
You want to win in the playoffs? O’Reilly is a pretty good template.
“Our guys have learned a lot already,” Green said. “We’ve got 10 guys who have never played playoff games. I know our group, they’re obviously disappointed when you lose last night and the night before, but, man, I think our group is excited to play the next game and looking forward to it.
“They understand we’re in a tough series and that’s the way it should be. That’s playoff hockey. You’re going to win some close games, you’re going to lose some close games. We’re down to a best-of-three against arguably one of the better teams in the league. We’re standing in there toe-to-toe with them. Best of three against this team, we’re excited about the chances of winning right now. I’ve got a lot of belief in our group and they’ve got a lot of belief in themselves, and they’ll be ready to go.”
And if the Canucks are lucky, wiser by the day.
Source:- Sportsnet.ca
