Vancouver’s season would end with a loss in Game 5 of the best-of-7 series at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the West hub city, on Tuesday (9:45 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
“I’m not worried about our group one bit,” the coach said Monday.
The Canucks are in the postseason for the first time since 2014-15. Some of the players are playing in the postseason and facing elimination for the first time in the NHL, most notably 21-year-old center Elias Pettersson and 20-year-old defenseman Quinn Hughes.
The Canucks lost Game 1 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Minnesota Wild and then won three games in a row. And in the Western Conference First Round, they lost back-to-back games to the St. Louis Blues, the defending Stanley Cup champions, and were even after Game 4. Vancouver won the next two games and the best-of-7 series.
“Everyone thought we were down and out and going to be done, and we were ready to go,” Green said. “I can guarantee you our team’s going to be ready to go tomorrow. We’ve just got to win one game. We win tomorrow, we get to play another one.
“These guys, they’ve been in hockey a long time. They’ve all played important hockey games. I hope we play a lot more important games this year.”
The Golden Knights present a particularly tough challenge because of their speed, physicality and depth. Twice in the series, they have shut out the Canucks. They have outscored them 15-8 and outshot them 146-115.
After a 3-0 loss in Game 3, Green said when the coaches had asked for a response from the players, they had always gotten one. He said they got one in Game 4, even though they gave up a 3-2 lead in the third period and lost 5-3. To him, the Golden Knights got a couple of bounces and the Canucks missed a couple of chances.
“I liked our response last night,” Green said. “Now, did I like that we didn’t win? No, I don’t. No one does. But when you ask for a response, it’s not saying you’re guaranteeing a win. I want our team to come ready to play when we ask for a response, and if you do that, you’re going to win more than you lose. Could we have won that game last night? One hundred percent. That’s playoff hockey though.”
Center Bo Horvat, the 25-year-old Canucks captain, has scored nine goals to lead the postseason, his second in a six-season NHL career. Pettersson is second in the postseason with 17 points (six goals, 11 assists), behind Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists).
Hughes has 13 points (one goal, 12 assists), tied for third among defensemen with Cale Makar of the Avalanche, who has three goals and 10 assists. Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists), and Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists).
“I think you can’t go into this game gripping your stick too tight,” Horvat said. “That’s how it kind of goes the opposite way. You’ve just got to go and play the game and love to be in these situations. Embrace it, embrace the moment, and everything’s going to fall into place by itself.”
Win or lose — in Game 5 in particular or the series in general — the Canucks will have made progress, more than most expected. But they can’t think that way, at least not yet.
“Obviously, we’ve taken big steps forward from previous years,” Vancouver defenseman Christopher Tanev said. “Obviously the last time we were in the playoffs was five years ago. Going from that to where we are now is a lot of growth.
“But I mean, we’re obviously not satisfied where we are right now, down 3-1 against a good team. But we felt like we’ve been in every game and been close, obviously except for (a 5-0 loss in) Game 1. Tomorrow we’re going to have to go out and play hard and get the job done.”
NHL.com staff writer Tim Campbell contributed to this story
